On this date in Rochester rail history...

Fabruary 27, 1978

Conrail was cleaning up from a 36 car derailment just east of Howard Road, by Dolomite's quarry. All 3 tracks were blocked so all traffic went either via the West Shore, or via the Falls Road. There was also a minor derailment on the Long Branch, and at about 6PM the State Street job derailed fouling Avenue B.

Regarding the 1978 derailment, did Conrail run any detours over the Southern Tier Mainline in that era? I know they did in later years, but I don't know if CR had adopted that practice in the '70s.

None that I am aware of. It was fairly simple to run a train from Buffalo to "the Bridge" and down the Falls Road, or bypass Rochester down the West Shore. Most mainline crews were qualified both ways, at worst they might have had to get a pilot between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Going down the old Erie would have involved more crews and would not have gotten the train to where it was headed.

I'm going to guess that easiest plan was that any traffic originating in or destined for Rochester used the Falls Road, while traffic not needing to specifically stop in Rochester took the Shore. Still would've made for quite the bottleneck, considering single tracks and slower speeds on both bypasses. The biggest issue I see could've been any Amtraks since either bypass would've put them on the wrong side of either Buffalo or Rochester requiring turnarounds or reversing moves. Unless Amtrak really wasn't a concern at that point and just cancelled any applicable trains. That's if they could run passenger trains on either route anyway.

The solutions to a major derailment varied with the specifics. I'm not sure what was done on this particular occasion, but sometimes Amtrak was sent down the Shore, and a stop was made at Henrietta and passengers were bused to and from the downtown depot.

As for freights, keep in mind that the Falls Road was at that time still a secondary main line and some trains regularly were routed that way anyway. It DID add to the dispatcher's headaches but it was not a major problem to send a few more via that route.

Also, some of the lesser trains could just be held at Frontier or Dewitt for a day or so until things were open again.

Yep, I was on one of those Amtrak detours. Most passengers on a late train were quite annoyed that train was detouring and cabs would meet us, but this young railfan was thrilled to get a chance to ride the West Shore on Amtrak. We stopped near Chili Road and there were taxis to meet us. Worked out great for me as I had left my car at the airport on the way out of town. West Shore was quite smooth and it was quite a hoot to ride through Pittsford and Brighton.

StLouSteve wrote:Yep, I was on one of those Amtrak detours. Most passengers on a late train were quite annoyed that train was detouring and cabs would meet us, but this young railfan was thrilled to get a chance to ride the West Shore on Amtrak. We stopped near Chili Road and there were taxis to meet us. Worked out great for me as I had left my car at the airport on the way out of town. West Shore was quite smooth and it was quite a hoot to ride through Pittsford and Brighton.

When was that? I was construction inspection at a bridge over westshore on I490 in 1991 and saw one westbound Amtrak went by. I am not sure if it was charter train or not...

March 6, 1978

B&O derailed 7 cars between Brooks Road and Ballantyne Road. This forced cancellation of CR's salt train. Congestion at Goodman Street yard led to ML9 dropping 82 cars east of CP35 (CP 373) on Track 4 (empty salt cars), and FD4 dropped 76 cars at Chili.

March 6, 1979

High water and flooding at Newark. Water was 10 inches over the top of the rail. Trains were being shoved through at very slow speed so the locos were not under load and (hopefully) did not short out the traction motors.

March 7, 1978

Sometimes when the yard at Goodman St was congested, a yard crew would be used to gather a large number of cars which would move in a given train and take them a few miles out, to make more room in the yard. On this day, the first trick East Base crew was getting some overtime, as the plan was to take 80 empty Caledonia salt cars up to CP35. The yard crew had switched to bigger power, the Alco 7606 and 2 GP9B "mules", 3821 and 3813. As the power rolled by the tower, the ICC inspector who had just arrived noticed some loose bolts on the fuel tank securement of the 3821, and crippled it on the spot. Everything came to a halt while that engine was set out, and the job was completed with the 2 remaining units.

March 7, 1979

How busy could Goodman Street be? Afternoon shift saw the West Base crew go down to just east of CP30, at Brighton, and bring in 26 cars which a road train had left. Eastbound IHSY also dropped off 26 cars, the Fairport Traveling Switcher arrived with 10 cars. The Genesee Junction job showed up with 25 cars but outlawed on 3 Main Track at the east end, requiring the East Base yard crew to pull the train in. BUSE7X brought 31, and the First Belt from Charlotte had 83 but THEY outlawed at the east end, requiring the East Base crew to yard THAT train as well. And all that happened in not much more than an hour. Also arriving later were the Middleport job with 11, CRC2 with 3, and NFD2 dropped 14. And to show how lopsided things were, the entire shift, the only outbound cars were 19 cars CRC2 took out for the west side of the city. What an afternoon - the circus was too big for the tent!

BR&P wrote:March 7, 1978

Sometimes when the yard at Goodman St was congested, a yard crew would be used to gather a large number of cars which would move in a given train and take them a few miles out, to make more room in the yard. On this day, the first trick East Base crew was getting some overtime, as the plan was to take 80 empty Caledonia salt cars up to CP35. The yard crew had switched to bigger power, the Alco 7606 and 2 GP9B "mules", 3821 and 3813. As the power rolled by the tower, the ICC inspector who had just arrived noticed some loose bolts on the fuel tank securement of the 3821, and crippled it on the spot. Everything came to a halt while that engine was set out, and the job was completed with the 2 remaining units.

March 7, 1979

How busy could Goodman Street be? Afternoon shift saw the West Base crew go down to just east of CP30, at Brighton, and bring in 26 cars which a road train had left. Eastbound IHSY also dropped off 26 cars, the Fairport Traveling Switcher arrived with 10 cars. The Genesee Junction job showed up with 25 cars but outlawed on 3 Main Track at the east end, requiring the East Base yard crew to pull the train in. BUSE7X brought 31, and the First Belt from Charlotte had 83 but THEY outlawed at the east end, requiring the East Base crew to yard THAT train as well. And all that happened in not much more than an hour. Also arriving later were the Middleport job with 11, CRC2 with 3, and NFD2 dropped 14. And to show how lopsided things were, the entire shift, the only outbound cars were 19 cars CRC2 took out for the west side of the city. What an afternoon - the circus was too big for the tent!

It's hard to believe that Goodman Yard was that busy. CSX only runs less than 2 jobs a day out of there and Charlotte is operated once in a blue moon. That's funny. Wouldn't the Middleport job work out of Frontier Yard or Lockport Yard considering that they are much closer? That's like an hour ride back to the yard.

Conrail6467 wrote:It's hard to believe that Goodman Yard was that busy. CSX only runs less than 2 jobs a day out of there and Charlotte is operated once in a blue moon. That's funny. Wouldn't the Middleport job work out of Frontier Yard or Lockport Yard considering that they are much closer? That's like an hour ride back to the yard.

Actually by 1978 things were already in decline. The salt traffic was then moving through Rochester instead of Batavia, but that was large blocks of cars not requiring a lot of switching. In 1967, there were 24 daily jobs working out of Rochester, (counting Traveling Switchers, Kent Street, Otis, and Charlotte). And that does not count work trains, extras, road relief, or other unusual additions.

Going back even further it was even more active. Somewhere I have a list of the Rochester jobs in the early 1940's. Three Belt jobs a day to Charlotte, 3 Fairports, 3 West Base jobs, 3 Hump jobs, 2 or 3 Middle jobs, 2 or 3 Coal Yard jobs, 2 or 3 crews in the GFR alone...the lost went on and on.

The Middleport was a Traveling Switcher from Rochester west to Medina altho it could go to Middleport if needed. It did the work at Albion, Fancher, and Medina. There was a Brockport job which did Spencerport, Brockport and Holley. Both those jobs returned to Rochester assuming they did not run out of time.

Lots to mention this day!

March 15, 1978

A "hospital train" was assembled to move 91 crippled cars to Utica for repair. The power came from Buffalo and arrived Rochester about 11PM.

The Car Shop crew, CS2, was doing their usual chore of making up the outbound piggyback pickup for TV45 the next morning. Shoving west up the lead, the crew failed to notice the switch was lined for Track 14 instead. Track 14 was where the flats which faced east were being loaded, and at the east end there was the ramp for the trucks to be backed up onto the flats. The lead car of the shove went in on Track 14, over a blue flag, up the ramp onto the first flat car, and tipped over. One of the trailers on the car that tipped was full of brand new Xerox copiers! Some discipline was handed out for that!

The Second Belt crew derailed 1 car on the Old Way track at Ridge Road.

An Extra Traveling Switcher was used to take the First Belt train from Kodak to Charlotte. In some manner, they managed to flatten the wheels on the First Belt caboose, 18372 (one of the green "platform" cabooses)

March 15, 1979

Train SEBU was dropping off cars at Goodman Street. While pulling west to double cars on to a second track, one axle derailed at the switch by the tower. and tore out the crossover to the switching lead.


March 15, 1993

Rochester and western NY was digging out from a very heavy snowfall. Railfans had the option of a couple plow moves to chase. Conrail had a plow extra going west, and by some stroke of luck there was a Union Pacific engine in the consist - this was before run-through power made UP locos a dime a dozen around here. So quite a bunch went west to record that.

The other option was the Ontario Central. The Alco and the former MILW wedge plow were made ready and headed east. Only one railfan elected to chase ONCT, but found the shortline far more accommodating than Conrail. Not only did the crew stop at several crossings to suggest the next good photo location, they also agreed to wait several minutes before continuing, to be sure the photographer had time to find his spot and set up. How's that for shortline service? Much of the line had snow 3 to 4 feet over the rail, with occasional drifts even higher. Plowing was done at about 20 to 25 mph over most parts of the line, often looking like a white comet.

There is an old ONCT abandoned Russel Plow in Victor just past the Firehouse and the current FGLK in service tracks. The Pass. Sta. is on your left and the plow will be on your right stationed on what looks like an old viaduct.

Yup - that's the plow used that day. A former Milwaukee Road steam engine tender, filled with crushed rock. FGLK apparently has no use for it, since the Russell plow they have also has wings and a flanger so it is more versatile.

The RGVRRM should take in that ONCT plow. Would make a nice piece.