LV Niagara Falls Yard

News article:

http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communi ... 000338.ece

NIAGARA FALLS — The abandoned yard of the former Lehigh Valley Railroad is an asset waiting to be developed for the benefit of the Niagara Falls area, according to Assemblyman John D. Ceretto, R-Lewiston. “We are one step closer to fully using the region’s assets — the bridges, the Canadian market and the Niagara Falls International Airport — to help grow our economy and strengthen the region’s shipping and agricultural industries,” Ceretto said after a meeting last week with agricultural interests, freight forwarders, and city, county and state officials interested in developing the former railroad property near the northeastern corner of the city.

fair use quote added by moderator

Interesting read, someone at the Buffalo News did there homework on the Lehigh. As for the proposal, I don't know where all this business is that Niagara Falls is missing out on. I'm not entirely clear on what they want to redevelop the Lehigh yard into. I guess they want to put a rail yard back in?? Did they not look right next door and see that CSX already owns and operates a yard there??

The property, owned by the state Department of Transportation, consists of about 65 acres along Lockport Street. The DOT wants to develop 15 to 20 acres of it as a maintenance center for Amtrak passenger trains that serve Niagara Falls. Ceretto believes the remaining 40 acres or more could be developed into a transportation hub for agricultural products and for the handling of other freight, particularly for shipments to and from Canada.

I don't hear Amtrak begging for a maintenance center in the falls. Not that it couldn't use one. Haha.

How many Amtrak trains go through Niagara Falls a day anyways? Doesn't seem justifiable to have a maintenence center there.

How much local agriculture goes out by train?

SimTrains wrote:Interesting read, someone at the Buffalo News did there homework on the Lehigh. As for the proposal, I don't know where all this business is that Niagara Falls is missing out on. I'm not entirely clear on what they want to redevelop the Lehigh yard into. I guess they want to put a rail yard back in?? Did they not look right next door and see that CSX already owns and operates a yard there??

The CSX yard has a couple of challenges. Most notably, there already is some development next to the CSX yard, limiting the acreage available for development. Also, there is a road that runs parallel to the CSX yard. The road could be moved further north (in undeveloped areas), which will increase the budget for the project. The LV yard has alot of open space, so IMO it makes more sense to develop that area as a transportation hub.

From what I was told today, I guess it's not much for new news anyway, proposals for that property have already been made in the past that never got built and this isn't much different.

SST:

Two Amtrak trains start and end their cross-state runs in Niagara Falls every day. In addition, the cross-boarder Maple Leaf runs thru Niagara Falls twice daily on its Toronto-NYC route. Finally, both the NYS rail plan and the current FRA Planning study envision addition frequencies in the coming years. Trains are currently serviced on open tracks and any needed repairs are a challenge especially during NF winters. The closest Amtrak maintenance facility is in Albany. The maintenance facility is badly needed and Amtrack will be happy to have it.

I do not know what agriculture products ship from NF or what freight forwarding needs are, but local businesses are apparently interested.

Tony

It would seem more cost effective to work something out with CSX for using the old Frontier diesel shop rather than buildinga brand new facility. It would probably require some rehab after being shut down, but still probably quicker and cheaper. But hey, it's only tax dollars, let's go for brand new!

BR&P:

Perhaps Amtrak is wary of having a remote maintenace site (requiring 4 moves a day). I doubt the cost of rehabing a derelict building with environmental issues would be cheaper than what Amtrak is consideing.

Tony

Its good to read that people are trying to figure out how to redevelop the land into something that generates business for the city. There are several potential possibilities, bulk transfer comes first to mind. Time will tell if someone more will come of this.

I just don't like it when the media jumps on a story, or makes one up or whatever, when there's already been a disscussion & plan for the site, or another proposal, or another side to the story & they conviently ignore what came before as if it never happened because it would take too much work to uncover all the facts, or possibly contradict someone's agenda. That's the press for you, they usually only get it half right anyway.

Must be a lot of railfans with Pulitzers then.

I always thought the old LV yard was the one that ran north from the bridge (today it's a single industrial track and housing project). The area described in the article runs east-west along Lockport Street, and I thought that was the old EL yard. Maybe I got them backwards?

joshuahouse wrote:Must be a lot of railfans with Pulitzers then.

Well no......but most of us are probably wise enough to notice half-assed journalism.

Charlie

The LV yard north of Suspension Bridge was the original LV yard in NF. When NY Central and LV moved out of Downtown NF., the state replaced the LV yard with one parallel to the NYC yard east of the bridge along the Falls Branch. I don't know the date without some research.

Per Lehigh Valley Railroad Company General order No. 807 Zone E dated 12 August 1963 the new Suspension Bridge yard in service effective 08:01 Tuesday 20 August 1963.

At the same time the old Suspension Bridge yard was abandoned.