Pennsylvania R.R. north of Penn Yan, N.Y.

Can anyone explain the reason why the 120 lb. rail remains intact for miles north of Penn Yan on the former Himrod Jct. to Sodus Bay Branch, yet the rails appear to have been out of service for decades? The rail appear to have been cut at a location out in the middle of nowhere! All grade crossings have long since been paved over, but the rail still crosses these rural roads. Who owns this right-of-way? Quite the mystery to me!

The rails are still in place from Penn Yan to Bellona and are owned by the Finger Lakes Railway. The tracks are out of service. Past Bellona, the rails are long gone. The rails are in place and active from Newark to Wallington (Ontario Midland Railroad). North of Wallington, they're still in place, but landlocked and out-of-service on account of the elimination of the Rt 104 crossing, and remain in place up until Sodus Bay.

I think there was a feedmill in Bellona that was serviced by Conrail. I do remember CR servicing something up there. I then heard it went under and the tracks were never torn up, just out of service, as Les mentioned.

Charles

I took a look this summer, and the tracks are still there but they're being swallowed up by weeds. The line did go to an old feedmill in Bellona but it saw less than 100 cars per year by '95 so service ceased when FGLK took over the line that year.

It's my understanding that the remaining tracks north of 104 were taken up 1-2 years ago. However, I have not looked myself, so I cannot be certain of this.

JR

I may be able to check the remains of the PRR north of Newark later this week. I'll be chasing OMID on Friday... if they run a train!

I am still trying to find info on the NYC Dresden Branch and its terminus in Penn Yan. Does anyone have any info on this??

Brooks

bwparker1: Have posted some info for you on the PY-Dresden branch in the NYC forum.

That info is visible here:

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... sc&start=0

Don't you mean "130 lb rail" instead of "120 lb rail"? Rail on that line was 130PS.

bwparker1 wrote:I am still trying to find info on the NYC Dresden Branch and its terminus in Penn Yan. Does anyone have any info on this??

Brooks

I finally found my answer:

Sorry to bring up a really old thread, but I finally found an answer to my question in the last post. The bridge that carried the old New York Central Crooked Lake railroad back to the north side of the Keuka Outlet was a spur that served various industries... the building that I had always wondered about was built by the Penn Yan Gas Light Company... Some great information at this links...

http://www.crookedlakereview.com/articl ... dumas.html

"John Conklin & Sons went into bankruptcy in 1916. Much of the property had by then been sold off, part of it to the fledgling Penn Yan Gas Light Co., which in 1899 built a small Normanesque stone castle on the site of the old malthouse (that structure having burned in 1894). Another parcel went to Wolcott Cole, who soon after the turn of the century built a brick bean house on the Outlet's bank."

http://hahn.zenfolio.com/abandoned_home ... #h1e76caf1

A photo of the old gas light property.

- BWP

The connection between the PRR and NYC at Penn Yan, N.Y. isn't in the 1945 PRR CT-1000, list of Stations & Sidings at
http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/rail ... 1-1945.pdf

All of these are code 8322:
Penn Van, N. Y. (Station and Public De-
livery) 119.8
•• (Freight Station and Siding) 119.8
•• (Geo. W. Haxton & Son No. 2)t 119.9
•• (Finger Lakes Cider & Vinegar Co.Jt 119.9
•• (Fiero & Monnin)t 119.9
8322 .. (G. L. F. Farm Products, Inc. and
Vineyardist, Inc.Jt 120.0
•• (Clinton Produce Co., Shay Oil Co., Kinkaid Produce Co. and Barden
& Robeson Corp. No. l)t 120.2
•• (J. D. Moore Coal Co.Jt ...•..••.•........ 120.3
•• (Barden & Robeson Corp. No. 2)t .. 120.4

"t" is really a Dagger, meaning "For Individual Use".

Since the footnote for "Plant Connection with Erie R.R. appears at 2 of the Salt Companies at Watkins, where the Erie must have had trackage rights, the absence of a similar note in Penn Yan must mean no connection on May 1, 1945. The previous edition was Nov. 1, 1923.

The Canandaugua Lake branch to Lake Landing does show in this list.

nessman wrote:The rails are still in place from Penn Yan to Bellona and are owned by the Finger Lakes Railway. The tracks are out of service. Past Bellona, the rails are long gone. The rails are in place and active from Newark to Wallington (Ontario Midland Railroad). North of Wallington, they're still in place, but landlocked and out-of-service on account of the elimination of the Rt 104 crossing, and remain in place up until Sodus Bay.

Not completely out of service. The current Bing orthographic photos show 6.5km of cars stored on these tracks, almost continuously from Penn Yan to Loree Road (they left gaps at farmer's and road crossings). The Bing oblique photos shows the line still brushed over. The current Google orthographic photos show the line still brushed over. The Google street view shows the line brushed over at Havens Corners Road (first road south of Loree), and the tracks still paved over. From these four sets of imagery, I conclude that the Bing aerial is most recent, and there really are cars stored there. Or if not presently stored, then recently stored.

nydepot wrote:I think there was a feedmill in Bellona that was serviced by Conrail. I do remember CR servicing something up there. I then heard it went under and the tracks were never torn up, just out of service, as Les mentioned.

And as far as I can tell, the tracks on the north side of Bellona Station Road which came into the mill from the north are still there. Like many industrial tracks, they weren't scrapped by the railroad because it didn't own them. And when the railroad is being scrapped because its customer went out of business ... that leaves the heirs and assigns of the customer to know that they own the rails, which I expect most don't.

jr wrote:It's my understanding that the remaining tracks north of 104 were taken up 1-2 years ago. However, I have not looked myself, so I cannot be certain of this.

Yes, there are no tracks north of Wallington.

BR&P wrote:Don't you mean "130 lb rail" instead of "120 lb rail"? Rail on that line was 130PS.

Yes, specifically Bethlehem Steel Company, Steelton, OH, February 1929. Been there, photographed it. Has anybody seen any rail that is NOT OH (Open Hearth)? If I have, I can't recall it.