Location: West Shore (NYC) water tank at Genesee Jct

Somewhere between the PRR crossing and B&O crossing of the old West Shore was a water tank. I can't find it. I know the PRR had one on thier line. Any ideas? There was a bunch of stuff: water tank, pump house, bunk house, car shed, section house, etc.

Thanks.

Charles

Charles - You certain this stuff was located between the PRR crossing and the BR&P/B&O/R&S overpass??

Over the years I've explored virtually the entire area around Genesee Jct. Other than the turntable pit and a possible building foundation nearby (the GJ tower?), I've found no evidence of any significant structures.

Further, the WS tracks gain about 30 feet in elevation from just west of the old PRR diamond to the BR&P overpass - a distance of about 2,500 ft. This climb is via double track width earthen fill. Seems unlikely a lineside water tank, car shed etc. would have been located along this relatively steep incline.

Could perhaps instead this stuff been located between the Genesee River and the PRR crossing? The 1920 USGS map of the area (http://docs.unh.edu/NY/rstr95sw.jpg) shows nothing beyond a small building in the north-east quadrant just east crossing. (However the USGS map doesn't show the turntable pit, nor its lead, either.)

...FB

Yes I'm certain. Remember the yard was there to the B&O and the buildings could have been there too. The original NYC valuation photos for buildings have.been for sale on eBay and there were indeed many buildings located between the river (crossing shanty for Scottsville Rd.) and the bridge for the B&O. Even more buildings than I listed.

Plat maps from 1924 and 1904 don't have enough detail for that area except the various stations and tower.

Charles

Example of all the buldings there.

I have purchased some of the val pics being offered on eBay. I did not buy the Genesee Junction pics though. However, the exact location of the structures photographed is easy to determine. One each pic card is a number that records the chaining which is the method of measuring distance. Take that number and divide it by 5280 and you will have the exact milepost location of the structure in question. H.T. Guillaume

Charles - you purchased the Genesee Junction pics. I figured out that you were the winner. So look on the pic cards for the chaining numbers. Genesee Junction chaining should begin with 1910+ - - -. Divide that number by 5280 and you will have the exact milepost location of the structure. For example, if the chaining is 1910+145 the milepost is 361.77. I know that all of those valuation pic cards indicate the chaining. Let us know what the locations are for the various structures at Genesee Junction. H.T. Guillaume

FarmallBob: is there any reason you don't use my historic USGS maps at http://rutlandtrail.org/mapview.cgi ? The advantage of them over the full map scans is that you don't have to download and view a huge jpeg image. Plus you can use the red crossed circle to point to very specific points on the map. Plus you can switch to the modern topo maps or imagery for the same location.

I worked hard to put that together and I feel a bit unappreciated if people don't use it.

Here's the turntable location: http://www.rutlandtrail.org/mapview.cgi ... =2&dot=Yes

Just a bit east of the East River Rd crossing; on the south side of the tracks, there are a number of smallish concrete footings - which to me reasonably looks like they could be the footings for a water tower.

http://maps.google.com/?ll=43.097403,-7 ... 19&vpsrc=6

For the times ive been near the actual jct; ive never seen any remains; other than the turntable pit. Perhaps it was on the track that went to the turntable; so they could refill after turning the power?

I'll look them up but in the meantime, could you explain the math again? How does (1910+145)/5280=361.77? I can't get 1910, 145 and 5280 in any combination to equal 361.77.

Thanks.

erie2937 wrote:Charles - you purchased the Genesee Junction pics. I figured out that you were the winner. So look on the pic cards for the chaining numbers. Genesee Junction chaining should begin with 1910+ - - -. Divide that number by 5280 and you will have the exact milepost location of the structure. For example, if the chaining is 1910+145 the milepost is 361.77. I know that all of those valuation pic cards indicate the chaining. Let us know what the locations are for the various structures at Genesee Junction. H.T. Guillaume

OK, try this. Divide 1910145 by 5280. You have to take out the "+" sign. 1910145 divided by 5280 = 361.76988. It is really simple but until you figure it out the numbers make no sense. An engineer's chain(civil engineer) is 100 feet long. So 52.8 chains equal one mile. Railroads use chaining to measure linear distance. I hope this helps you. H.T. Guillaume

The plus sign is probably supposed to be a comma or some type of delimiter

1910+145 is really 1910145, and 1910145/5280= ....

OK, so the water tower (original post) was 1908+145.

So 1908145/5280=361.39

Great. Where's MP361 now

Given the crossing shanty for Scottsville Rd was 1908+500, that means the water tank was just east of the river.

boblenon guessed again and won!

Charles

dj_paige wrote:The plus sign is probably supposed to be a comma or some type of delimiter

1910+145 is really 1910145, and 1910145/5280= ....

I've only ever seen chaining expressed as two numbers with a plus sign between them.