Diamond crossings in NY

Here is another video by someone else that shows both legs in use.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6kn8Bd8iDQ

EDIT: Looks like Russ edited his post to include this link (and more), so there's nothing new to see here.

roadster wrote:Russ,I recall a diamond in Henrietta. It's caused by to tracks diverging off of the Henrietta Team track. One East facing point leads towards the SW and what used to be RG&E's supply depot. The other located about 200 ft West of the 1st switch was a trailing point and led off to the SE.

Roadster: The diamond crossing in Henrietta still exists! The trackwork is laid out exactly as you describe. Both tracks continue beyond the diamond for perhaps 200 ft then end abruptly in heavy brush at a fenceline.

Both tracks and the diamond are heavily overgrown but otherwise appear to be in remarkably good shape.

View looking southwest:


View looking northeast (gon and hopper in background are spotted on the Henrietta team track):


Diamond detail:


...FB

I found one deep in an industry in Niagara Falls. On the north side of College Ave. - you can find it on Google Maps if you dig. Two parallell tracks switch back into one, but the south track also splits and curves south into a tail track, with the other lead cuving back north across behind the switch and through into another part of the facility. The tail track is extremely short, only a trackmobile could switch it with modern freight cars.

Nice work Bob!!

And thanks LVRR for the Niagara Falls info......I'll dig anyway, but is that near the Oxy Chemical area?

Thanks,

Charlie

Here?
Also here.
Don't know where the second crane is in the Google shot, maybe its tucked into that alcove behind the red one? Either way, kinda interesting that they use cranes on the tracks for their business.

Nice photos, Farmallbob! Were you there recently? I was there in October of 2011, and almost a week later to the one on what's left of the Falls Road: http://www.flickr.com/photos/russnelson ... 483558463/ . There are some rails on the SE leg north of Mushroom Boulevard, serving a couple or three of the buildings at the western end.

I found a diamond in Albany, on Railroad Avenue: http://www.flickr.com/photos/russnelson/6837084022/ . You practically HAVE to know that it's there, because you can only see a tiny bit of it, and you have to know that what you're looking at is a diamond. Otherwise it's a head-scratcher.

Based on Historic Aerials it appears that both of those spurs behind Mushroom Ave were built between 1965 and 1970 (comparing the Topos for the area)... Kinda sad to know that it took less than 30 years for them to be essentially out of service already... (For that matter, the aquifier pool thing is less than 10 years old based on the 2002/2006 aerial photos.)

RussNelson wrote:I found a diamond in Albany, on Railroad Avenue: http://www.flickr.com/photos/russnelson/6837084022/ . You practically HAVE to know that it's there, because you can only see a tiny bit of it, and you have to know that what you're looking at is a diamond. Otherwise it's a head-scratcher.

I am frequently on Railroad Avenue and have never seen it. I will look for it Saturday when I head over there again.

RussNelson wrote:Nice photos, Farmallbob! Were you there recently?

Thanks Russ! Excellent photos by you of the diamond from 2011!

To your question: Yes, I explored the area just yesterday (Jan 15, 2013).

RussNelson wrote:There are some rails on the SE leg north of Mushroom Boulevard, serving a couple or three of the buildings at the western end.

I couldn't tell how far the SE leg rails still extend - the area behind those warehouses is HEAVILY overgrown; it was impossible to follow the rails much beyond the diamond.

The SW leg however is somewhat less overgrown. It ends abruptly at the fence line at the north edge of the new retention pond. Incidentally the area that is now pond was formerly a large equipment storage lot, part of the RG&E Operations Center. RG&E also maintained CNG vehicle refueling station at the north end of the lot for a time in the late 1970's.

----

Also during my wanderings I discovered another abandoned spur about 1/2 mile east of the Henrietta diamond. This one diverged from the main via a switch (facing point east) located almost directly beneath the Clay Rd overpass. The spur then curves SE thru the brush toward a couple run-down industrial buildings.

The switch is long gone. However the rails - also a derail and operating stand - still exist somewhat hidden in the underbrush.

...FB

FarmallBob wrote: Also during my wanderings I discovered another abandoned spur about 1/2 mile east of the Henrietta diamond. This one diverged from the main via a switch (facing point east) located almost directly beneath the Clay Rd overpass. The spur then curves SE thru the brush toward a couple run-down industrial buildings.

The switch is long gone. However the rails - also a derail and operating stand - still exist somewhat hidden in the underbrush.

...FB

This is the spur that led to the Genesee Regional Market, which used to have several stub end tracks. See the map at http://www.rochester-railfan.net/images ... /z7p10.jpg

ctclark1 wrote:Here?
Also here.
Don't know where the second crane is in the Google shot, maybe its tucked into that alcove behind the red one? Either way, kinda interesting that they use cranes on the tracks for their business.

You got it. Fascinating set of industrial tracks here, all sorts of abandoned factories and things too.

FWIW, if you pan west a bit, that pile of dirt at the end of Lehigh Ct. was once a roundhouse and turntable. It was removed in the early 1960s. Wonder why that street is Lehigh Ct.? Fairly certain this is all NYC tracks.

Thanks guys!!

Benjamin Maggi wrote:I am frequently on Railroad Avenue and have never seen it. I will look for it Saturday when I head over there again.

It's exactly here: http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/node/1400046925

FarmallBob wrote:

RussNelson wrote:There are some rails on the SE leg north of Mushroom Boulevard, serving a couple or three of the buildings at the western end.

I couldn't tell how far the SE leg rails still extend - the area behind those warehouses is HEAVILY overgrown; it was impossible to follow the rails much beyond the diamond.

I tried coming at the diamond from Mushroom Boulevard first. Found the tracks on the north side of the last building which went up to the tracks. Tried to follow them northwest. Exactly as you said -- heavily overgrown.

Also during my wanderings I discovered another abandoned spur about 1/2 mile east of the Henrietta diamond. This one diverged from the main via a switch (facing point east) located almost directly beneath the Clay Rd overpass. The spur then curves SE thru the brush toward a couple run-down industrial buildings.

The switch is long gone. However the rails - also a derail and operating stand - still exist somewhat hidden in the underbrush.

...FB

Yep, I have them marked on OSM as disconnected from the main, and I marked the rails as still-existing-but-disused even with the two buildings close to the tracks. I didn't see them on the aerial photo, so I have them marked as abandoned. But it sounds like you're telling us that the rails still go down along that long warehouse. Haven't done any field work there, so whatever you tell me I will take as gospel.

Russ,

As of last fall, the tracks do not go up to the first building past the Henrietta diamond. That building is at 200 Mushroom (Staples Distribution), and I have been to their side loading docks. While waiting for someone (Norm!) to answer the doorbell, I took a look around the backside. There are no more rails or ties, just ballast. The ROW is still obvious, but starting to become overgrown.

Russ (again),

The old Regional Market tracks do not extend into the market anymore. The new Alliance Door warehouse sits where at least some of the tracks went. Also, the road the tracks would have crossed do not have any rails in them either. The only place I have seen rail is where the buses are parked along the guardrail. I think they would have been the eastern-most double tracks according to the ZTS map.