When was the main routed around Batavia, NY?

Did a search........and didn't come up with much...so here's my question:

NYC mainline pretty obviously went through downtown Batavia, New York at one time.

You can tell the bypass over by the reservoirs isn't the original route and Google Earth confirms it...the old ROW is clearly visible.

When were the mains re-routed around downtown Batavia, NY?

Post-WWII, maybe as late as 1960s. I just picked up a file with an old map showing the original routing of all the lines in the area. TB Diamond might know the exact date -

Seems that it was in the late 1950s. Strictly vague recall, however, as I do not have my reference material out here in the desert this winter.

Of course if you were there you could just look at a construction date on one of the bridges on the new line, too. But now that you say that 1958 rings a bell, I think that's the year the NYC passenger station was built (which still stands).

The ex-NYC passenger station in Batavia appears to be used by the CSX m/o/w department. The building still bears most of its "New York Central" aluminum-lettered sign. The passenger platforms, overheads and elevator were removed at some point in the past.

Was the bypass built with four tracks?

The station lost that lettering sometime in 2008.

Yes, the bypass line is 4 or more tracks wide. Not hard to look at with Windows Live Local maps.

It included a yard and new track connection into the old mainline west of town - which I thought was odd because they could just as easily have connected to the line shared with the Erie and come out in just about the same place - but I'm sure there was a good reason at the time.

I don't know an exact date, however, I've seen footage that essentially showed that this bypass's first years were NYC steam's last, so that should it into the right neighborhood anyway.

lvrr325 wrote:The station lost that lettering sometime in 2008.

Really? Damn. Well, the last time I saw it, it was "New _ork _entral" anyway...

lvrr325 wrote:The station lost that lettering sometime in 2008l

One of these days, railroads are going to realize that to them, "old crap" and "outdated signage" are, to us, "valuable antiques" and they'll start putting their old crap up for sale on E*Bay. For example, I'd bet that they could create a market for date-stamped rail sections, which would sell for a lot more than scrap steel prices. They gotta stop thinking of us as "annoying pests" and start thinking of us as "artifact customers".

"Wait, don't throw out that hunk of junk, some railfan will pay top-dollar for it!"

A 30' stick of 143# rail, sliced into 1/4" thick slices results in a piece of metal weighing .33 pounds. Assuming that whatever you slice the rail with will consume 1/4" of metal (per slice), a 30' stick will generate 720 slices. Sold at $5 a slice will generate $3600 in cash.

TELL me a place where a single stick of rail is worth 3600 bucks? Add a $5 "data application" surcharge to have the railroad's initials, the rail's location when removed from service (and date), and the rail's height & weight info stamped into the surface.

Now you just doubled the stick of rail's value to $7200.

The availability of such products decreases in inverse to the rise in the price of steel. Currently, http://www.scrapindex.com/metal/usa/steel/index.html shows the most expensive steel at $264/ton. A 30' stick of 143# rail weighs 1430pounds, results in a net scrap value of $188.76.

Hmmm I wonder if I could find a stick of rail somewhere...

It was done in the late 1950s.

I'm sure lettering is in someone's garage, barn or basement.

FWIW, you'd burn so much torch gas or so many cutting discs to cut that rail you'd have to sell the chunks for $10 a shot and any railfan who's ever walked the tracks wouldn't bother because he'd know he can find one cast aside and walk away with it for free.

No one gets an answer to this I'll try and swing by next time I am out there, in March.

[quote="lvrr325"]The station lost that lettering sometime in 2008.

Sounds right as the last time I saw it was in October, 2007.

Always felt it a bit odd that the NYC decided to place their passenger station directly opposite of the Lehigh Valley station when they built the bypass.

Strange, too, that the New York Central lettering survived for almost 40 years after the demise of the NYC.

Possibly the price for scrap aluminum has risen recently?