Rochester & Southern Railroad (RSR) Discussion

nessman wrote:

scottychaos wrote:just a guess: they are probably using it for parts..which can be a slow process.
eventually all the usable parts will be removed, then the carcass scrapped.

scot

I'm guessing there aren't many usable parts - being in a fire for that long changes the metallurgy of the various components making them unsuitable for anything other than scrap.

maybe, but the fire was also external to the locomotive, not internal.
the outer shell could have taken the brunt of it, and the internals might be fairly intact.
we dont know hot the insides got..saying it must have been "too hot" and components are now useless, is just a guess.
but we have both said we are only guessing, so we covered that.

Scot

By the looks of it, it's possible the engine can't even be moved, the bearings may be destroyed. But it greatly depends on the actual temperatures reached around the locomotive.

Scrap is way down, so even if the insurance has paid off it probably can't hurt to sit on it a while and see if the price comes up before cutting it up. Or see if someone wants to make a genset unit out of the frame.

As a note on the geeps, later 567 blocks will take 645 power assemblies fairly easily. That makes most of their parts standard with other, later EMD locomotives.

Before the track north of Matthews & Fields Lumber was removed, how exactly did the trains get north or it? Did the lumber company come after the rest of the track was abandoned? Otherwise, spotting a car there would block the rest of the line north. I see no place where a passing siding allowed trains to go past the lumber yard.

The track that exists today is (was) the "main" and in B&O times extended north to the Hojack, crossing Britton, Denise and Latta roads.

At that time, Matthews & Fields owned property on either side of the main and was served by a spur off of the main into the northwest side of the lumber yard. The switch points faced north towards Britton Rd.

Not sure of the timing, but I think RG&E owns most of the B&O north of M&F and M&F purchased anything in the "middle" between their two properties. Please correct me if that's not the case.

In even earlier times, there was a spur off the main that also crossed Stonewood on the east side to serve some customer up to the '50s or '60s. The reason I mention this is the structure is still there (at least it is on Google Maps). The location of the sliding door on the exterior of the building facing the track is still evident. Presumably it was used to access a parked box car. That spur is long gone.

I don't recall any passing siding (but certainly there could have been way back when). The B&O had tons of run-around tracks south of Stonewood (if they really wanted to use them), but had no need as gravity is your friend.

In the pre-Staggers days, the NYC (PC) received only the occasional car, as did the one customer on Latta Rd. (the name escapes me at the moment, but someone will chime in, I'm sure), so M&F was "usually" the last customer switched before heading back to Brooks Ave. A typical operation would have the local crew leave Brooks with the Kodak stuff on the head end and the M&F box or bulkhead flat tucked in behind the caboose. Kodak would be switched with all of their outbounds (usually empties) left still inside Kodak or on the main or in the siding between McCall and the Ridge. After (temporarily) finishing with Kodak, the crew would head to Stonewood with one or two M&F loads and the caboose.

Upon arrival, the short train was cut off north of Stonewood and tied down a few car lengths south of the M&F switch. The engine(s) then headed into the M&F spur to retrieve one or more empties, then spotted the loads, and finally reassembled the train for the ride back to Brooks. Here's where the magic happens. As assembled, the engine is on the north end of the train (the wrong end). How to fix? Yes, you can use a run-around, but that's too much work. Take the engine(s) back into the M&F lead and in the clear, re-align the switch for the main and knock off the brakes on the train. It's downhill to the lake, remember? The train starts to roll. Once it clears the points, the caboose handbrake is applied to bring it to a stop, the engine(s) leave the spur, couple on, make the air and head home.

Gravity is indeed your friend. I'm guessing that would be a prohibited practice today.

Ben, the lumber company has been there decades, but expanded after the track was removed. The track they used most recently - that is there now - is the former main. Previously, the train would cross Stone Road northbound and there was a trailing point switch on the west side where they would back the loads in. At that time the entire lumber yard was west of the main.

IIRC, there was a downgrade and the cars could be rolled out of the spur when picking up empties, or they could be shoved south across Stone Road and the engine could run around on either Stone Road or Lower Long - both of which rejoined the main up at Dock Junction.

I guess I didn't type fast enough!

Oh well - with both of us saying essentially the same thing, you have confirmation!

Great minds think alike ...

CPSmith wrote: In the pre-Staggers days, the NYC (PC) received only the occasional car, as did the one customer on Latta Rd. (the name escapes me at the moment, but someone will chime in, I'm sure).

M&F was BL-80, Greece Lumber on Latta Rd. was BL-81, and the NYC interchange was BL-83.

In the early 60's there was still a small volume of interchange between NYC and B&O down there.

... and into the '70s (PC) as well as my photos will attest. Do you have a cheat sheet with those customer codes? I've been looking for those for forever.

BTW, I'll be back in Fairport in May. See you then.

Here's a sample regarding our current discussion. This was a Saturday move, lighter than most. The crew has finished its Kodak work and is leaving for the day. In order, 9610, a single M&F load (NP boxcar), the caboose, and a string of Kodak go-aways to be left on the main between McCall and the Ridge while the crew heads north.

Remarkably, Wehner Mower is still a going concern 50 some odd years later !!
...

I don't have a list of the firms, just recall them from back then. I may have a couple old switch lists which mention some of the ones up by Emerson St.

Looks like they just got done removing Uptonville Team Track in that pic. Also I see they have an SW9, not a real common thing for here.

What's with the car on the crossover?

The hopper is a leftover from a derailment - they split the switch shoving into Kodak and put 4-5 on the ground. I have photos for two separate instances, both splitting the same switch with the same results.

CPSmith wrote:Not sure of the timing, but I think RG&E owns most of the B&O north of M&F and M&F purchased anything in the "middle" between their two properties. Please correct me if that's not the case.

According to Monroe County's GIS Parcel Viewer - the G&W / RSR owns up to a few hundred feet north of end of track. From that point to the Lake Ontario State Parkway, oddly enough, it's owned by CSX (likely because they are the successor company to the B&O). The county tax assessor's website shows the owner as the Baltimore and Ohio with an address of CSX in Jacksonville - paying about $6,300/yr in taxes.

I surmise the power lines along the ROW are there under some kind of lease agreement.

North of the parkway to the Hojack ROW - it's owned by Greenleaf Apartments just to the west of the ROW.

CPSmith wrote:... and into the '70s (PC) as well as my photos will attest. Do you have a cheat sheet with those customer codes? I've been looking for those for forever.

BTW, I'll be back in Fairport in May. See you then.

Here's a sample regarding our current discussion. This was a Saturday move, lighter than most. The crew has finished its Kodak work and is leaving for the day. In order, 9610, a single M&F load (NP boxcar), the caboose, and a string of Kodak go-aways to be left on the main between McCall and the Ridge while the crew heads north.

Remarkably, Wehner Mower is still a going concern 50 some odd years later !!
...

Any other pictures like this of the PC down there?

Thank you to all for your helpful responses!

nessman wrote:According to Monroe County's GIS Parcel Viewer - the G&W / RSR owns up to a few hundred feet north of end of track. From that point to the Lake Ontario State Parkway, oddly enough, it's owned by CSX (likely because they are the successor company to the B&O). The county tax assessor's website shows the owner as the Baltimore and Ohio with an address of CSX in Jacksonville - paying about $6,300/yr in taxes.

I surmise the power lines along the ROW are there under some kind of lease agreement.

North of the parkway to the Hojack ROW - it's owned by Greenleaf Apartments just to the west of the ROW.

I long suspected the R&S didn't purchase the ROW north of M&F, so thanks for the confirmation. This does beg the question: why? Was GWI uninterested in the business north of M&F? Was the track too badly deteriorated?