Trackside bars in NY state?

The Black Diamond in Victor reopened maybe a year ago, after being closed for two or three years. It's not open all the time, or even every night, appears to be a family-run thing. I have not been in there since it reopened so can't comment on the fish fry.

Otto Vondrak wrote:You really have to visit Marge's to understand this... a whole row of lakefront houses were hemmed in by the Hojack in their front yard... trying to imagine long freight trains parked at Sea Breeze while the crew grabs a bite at Don's Original or Vic and Irv's...

There used to be a picture of an RS-3 and about a dozen freight cars parked at Sea Breeze on the wall at the old Bill Grays (next to Vic & Irv's)... and it really brings Fran's words to life. The old Bill Gray's building was torn down a few years ago. I haven't been inside the new one yet... so I don't know if the picture was saved or not.

BTW, I lived down the road from November, 1999 to November, 2000 and the old timers in the 'hood commented how slowly trains on the Hojack crept along due to track conditions.

Although this map dates back to 1920, it will give the railfan who is not familiar with the Rochester area a good idea of how crowded Sea Breeze is/was. The Hojack remained in place until the late '70s and it was on a narrow spit of land separating Lake Ontario from Irondequoit Bay. Marge's and the neighboring houses on the northside of the Hojack were literally trapped between the rails and the lake. Not a good place to be if one was claustrophobic!

The Erie Depot in Owego NY is a bar/restaurant but no view of the tracks from inside.

http://www.dinosaurbarbque.com/nycIndex.php

Located at 636 W 131 Street, if you face out the front of the restaurant, you can see Amtrak trains whip along the Empire Connection (former NYC West Side Freight Line). The food is good and there is a wide selection of beers on tap.

Of course, the second Dinosaur BBQ in Rochester is trackside- to the former Lehigh Valley and to the Rochester Subway... but the rails were torn up years before the restaurant came to town. Still worth a visit!

-otto-

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the Potsdam Depot. It was a bar from (at least) 1975 through 1980. They moved the depot away from the tracks and put the building up for sale. It was vacant for many years, when finally a local restaurantrepreneur put "Mama Lucia's" in the Depot. It's still close enough to the tracks that they could put in a siding across US Highway 11 and run a train up to the depot (just kidding, but no, really, they could and wouldn't it be great if they did?). Since you can get wine and beer at the restaurant, it qualifies for this posting, I believe.

Otto Vondrak wrote:http://www.dinosaurbarbque.com/nycIndex.php

Located at 636 W 131 Street, if you face out the front of the restaurant, you can see Amtrak trains whip along the Empire Connection (former NYC West Side Freight Line). The food is good and there is a wide selection of beers on tap.
-otto-

I second the recommendation of Dinosaur!!

Speaking of Potsdam, is the Hoot Owl in Canton still open? This was/is
the NYC Canton train station. In all my happy hours there in my college
days I never saw a train. Good thng though with all the drunks stumblin about there.

Has anyone mentioned the Station House II on Halstead Av as you get off the afternoon rush? It was relocated there in the early 80's after the original apartment building it was in burned down by the Harbor. It would be nice if there were a bar in the station there, which is for sale.

I'm pretty sure there's a bar or two near the Larchmont station as well. Harrison also has a bar near the station, forget what it's called. I don't think either of these bars at these stations have a track view, though.

Of the two bars that are on Halstead Avenue in Harrison, Uncle Henry's and the former Sidetraxx, only the latter had a track view. Uncle Henry's has food as well as drink, but no clear view of the tracks. Sidetraxx is now called "My Place."

-otto-

My all-time favorite trackside watering hole was the Gulf Summit General Store. While not actually a bar, they did sell ice cold Gennessee. Some friends and I became good friends with the owners (retirees from Yonkers, who lived in the home above the store) and they were more than happy to let us hang out on the front porch of the store and watch the trains top the grade.

They eventually sold the store by the mid-80s, and the last time I was up there it was converted into a non-descpript residence. But it was very cool in the late 70s and early 80s!

The Driftwood Inn, 421 River St. , Charlotte. It's across the street from the Charlotte Runner and the ex-NYC station, which I notcied has been painted up very nicely. I have not been in the bar for decades but patrons inside the bar were startled when the runaway train flew by on 12/23/01 and derailed moments later on the curve where the tracks cross River St.

Charlotte Station itself was in the process of being converted into a restaurant last I heard... but you could get pretty bored waiting for a train to go by...

O-6-O wrote:Speaking of Potsdam, is the Hoot Owl in Canton still open? This was/is
the NYC Canton train station. In all my happy hours there in my college
days I never saw a train. Good thng though with all the drunks stumblin about there.

Yup...it's still open. I was in the area from '98-'02 and was in there a few times when the train went by. Also fun was waiting at the tracks for the train to pass at 2am with a bunch drunk kids coming into town.

How about the Lantern Inn in Wassaic on the Metro-North Harlem Line?