What is this Abandoned ROW from N Tonawanda to Lockport NY

Just west of Lockport crossing West Avenue, east of GM at the Sommerset Spur I've always wondered about the abandoned ROW that goes under the Falls RR heading north.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1657664 ... a=!3m1!1e3?


Tracing back to NT did it branch off the other line that parallels Erie Ave. at about the Twin City Hwy?


https://www.google.com/maps/@43.038995, ... !1e3?hl=en

What line was this that headed north and under the Falls RR. and where did it eventually end up.
Can initially follow some trackage but gets swallowed up by Mother Nature.
Could be. good show for "Mysteries of the Abandoned"

I think I have the coordinates correct for reference.
thanks
Mark

International Railway (interurban) to Olcott.

During Conrail times before they began ripping and tearing, this was referred to as the Gulf Line Industrial, which branched off the ex-Erie Lockport Branch near Hinman Rd. The short section that remains is now part of the Somerset RR but only follows the Gulf Line ROW until the high bridge over Eighteen Mile Creek - The Gulf originally stayed south of the creek, the bridge was part of the ROW that was built to create the Somerset Line for continuing service to Somerset Power Station when the Hojack was abandoned.

Your second map shows some of what is left of the above mentioned ex-Erie Lockport Branch in North Tonawanda running up as far as Niagara Sheets, which if it is still active I believe is the last active customer on the line. There are a few other spurs along the way (Battenfeld, for example) but I can't find evidence that they are actively using rail anymore. Coincidentally also at the location you linked in the second map (Twin Cities Memorial/Erie Blvd/Wheatfield St) is also where the Wurlitzer running track split off to serve the organ manufacturer, this line was previously the NYC Lockport Branch running from the NYC line near the old yard in North Tonawanda, crossing the Erie's Lockport Branch and continuing up to meet the Falls Road at Junction Rd.

Thank you to both filling in the blanks. ( or most as I continue to absorb this info, creating more questions ).

The IRC, as it came out of NT on its way to Lockport did it mostly parallel the NYC ? Again I'm using Sat views to try my luck at tracing . Maybe I'm way off on my understanding.
You mention the route of the IRC took it under the Falls road where I was looking. on my previous post but I also see a reference to the IRC crossing 18 Mile creek on a bridge on the south side of the Vande Mark Chemical plant that can be seen here. So this is an additional ROW of the IRC heading out of Lockport on its way to Olcott ?

https://bridgehunter.com/ny/niagara/bh48454/

https://www.google.com/maps/place/South ... 6785?hl=en

thank you

WRT the NYC and IRC/Erie/EL being parallel between NT and Lockport, it depends on your definition of parallel. They were both primarily straight lines, however as I said they ended up in majorly different locations within the Lockport area and somewhat different areas of NT. The NYC branch came out from their NT yard (which is essentially the existing Niagara Branch) crossing Oliver Street between Thompson and Christina, and followed a straight-as-an-arrow path (compass North-Northeast) to meet the FRR at Junction Rd. The IRC/Erie (what is the current Lockport Branch) exited the Erie yard at the location of the current branch crossing Sommer Street, crossed the NYC branch south west (compass) of the Twin Cities Memorial crossing, and followed an equally straight path (albeit more compass Northeast) until Hinman Rd in South Lockport (where the Gulf line diverged) and went into the end-of-line at a yard neighboring the canal. Basically the trajectories they separated at when they crossed at Twin Cities was the trajectory they continue on into Lockport, and this divergence can be seen in current maps by looking at the scar left by the NYC branch (the "Wurlitzer branch" as named by Conrail and before CSX removed it completely, as it was truncated back to the Wurlitzer factory under CR) https://goo.gl/maps/K1MDdL6LPtVfkYiv5

WRT the bridge in question, I can only specify names as Conrail referred to them as in their track charts, so apologies if the originating railroads' names for these lines are incorrect.
The bridge was part of the Olcott Branch (per Conrail's name, although why a branch not much longer than the creek is wide needed its own name is beyond me) was a connection between the Erie's Gulf Line I previously mentioned, and the NYC's Lowerton Branch, which was the line that serviced the industries on the north side of Eighteen Mile. The Gulf Line ended at a dead end after crossing Gooding Street, just before the hard bend of Harwood/Jackson streets. This bridge would have been a reverse move off the Gulf at that dead end and crossed over to the Lowerton Branch.
The Lowerton followed Mill and Chapel streets before making a hard turn at the canal, where it followed Van Buren for a ways before crossing the canal at the same location where Lake Ave now crosses (Lake Ave originally continued straight to a diagonal intersection with Van Buren and crossed there) before connecting to the Falls Road. I think the bridge you're asking about would have been Erie owned, with I'd assume Erie having trackage rights to serve the customers on the Lowerton. This was also the ONLY interconnection between the Erie/IRC and the NYC within Lockport, that I can find.

In the Sanborn thread I believe I mistakenly said that Conrail had built the "Olcott branch" as it didn't show up in the earliest available track charts from the '70s, however this is obviously in error as the line shows up on topos from much earlier and has a build date of 1889.

ctclark1 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 11:38 pm The Lowerton followed Mill and Chapel streets before making a hard turn at the canal, where it followed Van Buren for a ways before crossing the canal at the same location where Lake Ave now crosses (Lake Ave originally continued straight to a diagonal intersection with Van Buren and crossed there) before connecting to the Falls Road.

I was on my bike along the Canal Trail and did some off path wandering being new to the area and could tell there's tracks buried (under the asphalt) between Van Buren and Niagara Fiberboard. The former connection mentioned in the quote above at Lake Ave (a green sign at Market Street says "Matt Murphy Bridege")

This overhead google maps view shows the "scar" (love that term for this) the subdivsion/peel off from Falls Road came between a couple properties at that Lake Ave/Market intersection https://www.google.com/maps/place/2+Lak ... 4117?hl=en
You can see the diagonal line in the grass and then follow that to the current Falls Road in the trees.

Also, to the original poster of this thread (or any reader of this I suppose), if you haven't been at street level yet of the IRC Gulf Line crossing of Route 31, the underpass of the IRC is there. There's another one just west, a bit behind that red house/Otto Park Place. Quite lush greenery in the current street view, but driving past now gives a good look. https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1649492 ... 6656?hl=en

A north bound/south bound?

Great info from all but here I’ll ask a question that should be apparent but is confusing to me———
I’m finding I’m mixing up trolley ROW with rail lines .
The details on the ROWS around Lowertown and then connections to the Falls RR indicate freight but would any of these be utiluxed 80 years ago by both?

And I’m “presuming “. - I know I know . The IRC ROW we first talked about out west of town headed north under the Fall line was strictly trolley headed to Olcott?
Thanks for your input .

I don't know all the details of the IRC, but comparing topo maps from 1897 through the 50s, the notation on the Lockport Branch can be confusing, For example, in 1897 it's labeled New York Lake Erie & Western Lockport Br, in 1901 it shows both Erie RR Lockport Branch and Buffalo & Lockport Electric RR with a separate track shown in the same ROW, in 1905 it only shows the B&L Electric as a single track, which continues until 1950 when it's labeled International RR, by 1967 it's labeled as Erie-Lackawanna (and obviously Conrail in 1980). I know the labeling on Topo maps wasn't always perfect, but parts of that series of labels are, well, perfectly confusing. If I were to interpret this myself without any background info, I'd think the NYLE&W built first, then the B&LE built an adjacent track, then the NYLE&W abandoned and took up their lines, and then bought the lines back from the IRC when they folded. I have no idea if this is correct or not.

Specifically referencing the Gulf, Olcott, and Lowerton branches around the Eighteen Mile Creek area... in 1902 the Gulf Line appears to be a street-running line, and the reverse over the creek is shown, with a line extending north off the Lowerton is shown as Electric RR. By 1950 the line extending north is gone, as it would remain until the Somerset line was rebuilt in the former ROW. So to try to clear up your confusion, I believe the answer to your question is that the trolley lines and rail lines are one and the same, as far as the IRC Trolley line and Erie freight lines are concerned.

The IRC ROW you refer to under the Falls Road is the same as the Gulf Line I've mentioned. I would "presume" (in the same fashion as you) that the line was built by the IRC with the intention of connecting the southern B&LE line to the Olcott Branch extending north over Eighteen Mile. It was then passed onto/purchased by the Erie when the IRC folded, with the northern part of the Olcott Branch being abandoned/removed. (This would explain why Conrail referred to the short section over the bridge as the Olcott Branch, then...)

As an aside, if I were any better at finding better historical reference information and at "decorating" the ground in Trainz RR Simulator, I would consider building the IRC branches as a route. There's a great number of ideas I've had for doing stuff like this, but I fully admit I'm no good at finishing... I've started a number of projects around the Buffalo area and never get past laying the track and signalling... But I suck at the actual scenery.

Looking at Topo maps and sat views - would there have been a bridge to serve the long gone line to Olcott in the same area as the Somerset RR bridge over Jackson Street?

In regards to interurbans - Charles Woolover's "Existing Stations " site shows the old Buffalo Lockport and Rochester station on State Street in Albion

http://ny.existingstations.com/w//images/0/0d/899.jpg

Growing up in Albion I always noted the rails sticking up through the pavement - I wonder if still there?
I do see via sat view the old concrete block power house for the interurban that was located on E State and Butts Rd is long gone.
Mark

Fireman43 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 11:06 pm Looking at Topo maps and sat views - would there have been a bridge to serve the long gone line to Olcott in the same area as the Somerset RR bridge over Jackson Street?

I know that Conrail/SSR built that massive green bridge new, which you might have gathered as well, but as for where the original was located exactly, I do not know.

In regards to interurbans - Charles Woolover's "Existing Stations " site shows the old Buffalo Lockport and Rochester...

Riding on Route 31 in the westbound land as a passenger I was eyeing the Falls Road along the way and I noticed what appears to be north/south bridge abutments - where the BLR Interurban turned to cross over the Falls Road just west of where Telegraph road heads off of Route 31, but before Schwabs Roadside Market. Easy to see with leaves off the trees, it's yellowish. The approximate coordinates 43.204593, -78.521227. The overhead may just show the tree line with an unpaved road north side of the tracks.

You are absolutely correct about the remnants of that abutment . Crossing over both the FRR and Telegraph Rd.
I notice it every time I go by - actually was looking at it via street view last night!

I was on one of the Medina RR Museum Fall Foliage trips for the first time this October and noted the abutments. When I investigated old topo maps, it looked like they were meant to be a proposed and begun, but never completed, realignment of Rochester Rd (31 west of the split) into Middleport. The reason I say that is because the beginnings of the curve to them clearly veers off of Rochester Rd shown here: https://www.historicaerials.com/locatio ... 98/1966/16 and you can follow the path here into Middleport - https://www.historicaerials.com/locatio ... 31/1958/15 I had originally thought it might be RR related but earlier topo maps show no telltale signs of a ROW in that area, you'd usually see the contour lines following a ROW path, but before Rochester Rd showed up in the 1950 map there's literally nothing there.

Fireman43 wrote:Looking at Topo maps and sat views - would there have been a bridge to serve the long gone line to Olcott in the same area as the Somerset RR bridge over Jackson Street?

Every map I can find points to the IRC/Erie bridge you linked on Bridgehunter as being the only bridge over 18 Mile Creek until SSR/CR built the long bridge. It really does appear that this was part of the Olcott branch that the SSR later reused for part of the new ROW to the power plant. This would also help to identify why the the diverge would've been set up in that pattern, if the IRC had originally had a station in that stub-end area between Gooding and Harwood/Jackson. From that stub they could have split up to Olcott or down to Tonawanda in either direction without too much hassle. When the Erie ended up with the line they could probably fit one or two cars in there with an engine, just enough to handle a customer on Mill if needed.