West Shore severed as a through route

[quote="SRS125"]Out of an odd question how much of the West Shore is still in place and being used I only know of a few locations.

Jordon, NY-Jordon Industral (Old Westshore/NYC Yard)

Rotterdam JCT

Fairport-to-Churchville

Clockville, NY The NYC realinment to the West of Clockville where the NrYC Tied into the Shore to by pass the grade crossing threw town.[/

SRS125; Don't you mean Churchville,NY? Clockville,NY is about 3 miles
south of Canastota and never had any rail service (although the LV once
ran close to there).


STEAM ON
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O-6-O wrote:

SRS125 wrote:SRS125; Don't you mean Churchville,NY? Clockville,NY is about 3 miles
south of Canastota and never had any rail service (although the LV once
ran close to there).


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I could not think of the town close to clockville so I used the closer of the following villages.

Lets see active west shore trackage:
Jordon Industral
Canastota
Fairport-Churchville
Rotterdam Jct

Amsterdam has a segment of the West Shore right?

In Canastota, the NYC built the raised ROW and overpass to negate the old grade crossing. The only track inservice there besides the mains is a short industrial track on the former NYC mains alignment, that I am aware of anyway. There is another short segment of the West shore in service in Macedon NY, from Canandaigua Rd, east across Rt 350 and stub ends at the Former Tyco/nee Mobil Chemical plant just north of Macedon. CSX currently services the Plaint manufactoring there, usually Mondays and/or Wednesdays depending upon needs.

On another note, the Jordan Industrial is also part of the NYC water level route mains not the West Shore. The Industrial is the remaining segment of the controled siding which ran between CP 306 and CP 308. The West shore ROW is still visible just to the North of the Feed Mill at Jordan just to the north of the plant paralelling the thurway about 500 ft north of the CSX mains. The only possible West Shore track here may be the lead into the plant which may have been a crossover track between the NYC mains and the West Shore

I always wondered about that feedmill. Thanks for clearing that up.

Charles

Isn't the WS line still technically operating out of the north section of the Frontier Yard where it services American Axle & MFG along with feeding either the mainline or the Belt Line?

The WS bike path in Akron starts on RT 93 and goes all the way to Wherlie Dr. in Clarence....paved. My dad recently told me that a bridge has been put in place over Ransom Rd in Clarence which would "reconnect" the line and make it continuous. I have not been out that way so I'm not sure about it. But I plan on flying on Thursday so I'll check it out for verification.

The Peanut line is paved from Akron JCT west to almost Transit Rd [rt78]. My friend that lives in the neighborhood that the path terminates says that the path will be paved from the neighborhood to Transit Rd this spring. It won't likely move west due to cry babies along the row.

From Akron JCT east, is a mobile home community, a former grain or cement elevator business[viewable from the air only], Akron Park and then the Thruway exit at Pembroke.

The rails that existed on Buffalo Crushed Stone property have been pulled up. The rails still exist under Harris Hill rd and continue west to Transit Rd then Genesee St and then stop just before Sonwil. Then the resume after Sonwill behind Calspan/General Dynamics all the way to but short of Dick Rd in Depew/Cheektowaga. No further rails exist until you get to Harlem Rd. The WS rails appear to be buried underneath the Walden/Harlem intersection and continue west into the Yard. Conrail and CSX use the rails occasionally to store various cars. I've seen periodically a shove/caboose in Conrail blue.

The rails that make up the east and west wye for the Gardenville line are still in place and are in use while CSX switches cars for the Transmodel complany on Sonwil and Quebecor printing. I haven't been over to view the line in a while but you might see them pulling 30 cars or so when they're done.

Thanks Roadster: Yes WS in Canastota is long gone. This piece ran from
main line mp 269 east to Vernon,NY and was abandoned shortly after
the arrival of Conrail. I'm from Oneida and this piece of the Shore is
my "home" track. The WS bridge over the O&W and Oneida Creek is
still there and is about all thats left from my childhood .

Fairport to Churchville

Macedon track

1/2 mile in NH on NYS&W

RJ to Pattersonville

thats all folks.......

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I forgot to mention that the east wye coming off the Garndenville tracks has been paved over at Sonwill. Rail are still there but underneath. When CSX is switching they usually one engine at both ends. They usually pull up to Sonwill with about 100 feet to spare.

The switch has also been pulled and therefore the wye does not connect to the WS east of Sonwill. I can't remember if the western wye is connected or not. Whether it is or isn't, it's not accessible due to a large tree growing in the middle of the track.

Ther is a guy who lives off Pump Road who worked for the West Shore out in Jordon He's in his 80's now be recalled that there was an interchange there it was also a shared yard between the NYC and WS.
Thats why I thought to list it as being a part of the west shore line.
I had a teacher in school whos grandparents were both the Station Master and Fraght Agent for the NYC in Jordon shoretley befor the yard closed The last name for the couple was Welch.

Thats quite understandable that the WS and NYC mains shared a small yard in Jordan. There were small yards in most of these little towns years ago. I still remember the remains of the Clyde, and Savannah yards and the MOW camp cars in Savannah, the West Shore yard in Newark. On another sad note, The WS trackage from RJ west to Pattersonville is out of service pending abandonment.

roadster wrote:On another sad note, The WS trackage from RJ west to Pattersonville is out of service pending abandonment.

I guess this means that Cushing's is no longer shipping by rail. We used to take an awful lot of crushed stone ballast out of there.

There are remains of the concrete bridge pier next to the meat packing plant in Savannah where the West Shore crossed the main. One of my Fathers friends grew up on that street on the south side next to Rt31 that ends befor the main line.

I am almost 100% certain that in the last days the line to Vernon was served by one of the traveling switchers out of Utica.

There was a guy that went to Oneida, Sherill (Oneida Silver Knife Plant) and think he also did Vernon. Vernon was still active in 1977, but not sure how long after that. Sherill may have lasted a little longer, but the Oneida business lasted into Summer, 1983 I think. There was an Agway just west of the Route 46 bridge which was end of track.

At Utica, there was a short spur left between the east end of Utica Yard and New York Mills. The east end is now gone, but the West end (Mills Industrial) is served by NYS&W. The east end was closed by CR in March, 1982 and was last served by CR TRain WVUT-52's crew. This is the crew that went down the old EL to Sherburne or Sangerfield. UT-52 also took over the PC work on the Mills Industrial about Spring of 1981. The middle portion from the Broad Street Industrial Tracks to the EL (later CR, NYSW) diamond was cut about 1971 when PC got rights over EL to access the now orphaned Mills Industrial Track. The diamond was replaced with a connector track and PC crews would run their bob-tail switcher and transfer caboose down the middle of Schuyler Street.

Cactus Jack; Some confusion here. The Knife Plant is in Oneida, near
Sunset Lake(nowhere near the Shore) but the O&W main did pass by
it. Sherrill business( OL main factory) did have a coal trestle but I believe
that went away in the late 60's or maybe the early 70's. CR did run the
line for awhile but 1983 I think is a stretch. ( I may be wrong though)
Did CR operate out of Utica or Dewitt? Is there a public place to find
abandonment info of RR in general? Thanks

HAPPY HOLIDAYS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

STEAM ON
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The West Shore never crossed the mains in Savannah. The WS ROW paralelled the mains from Browns Crossing east of Clyde along the south side, (ROW is still visible) and continues this path east through Savannah and just east of the current RT31 overpass curves towards the southeast where it eventually leads to Port Byron. The bridge abutment you see in Savannah by the meat processor is the remains of the old Syracuse/Rochester trolley line which Rt 31 generally follows between these cities. The WS crossed to the north of the mains just west of BonaBridge Rd, Jordan where the bridge abutements are still in place, and then paralelled the mains along the North side, between the mains and the current NYS thruway. Now my question is, when the WS and the NYC mains get side by side by the NYS fair groundswhere did the WS pass through Syracuse? Being the NYC originally ran through downtown Syracuse. Was the bypass and current CSX mains part of the old WS row?