Stuff left in Olean after 8/3/07

railwatcher wrote:Our own #420 moved one of the plows with it back towards the plows.

The 420 is configured for long nose forward operation.

Picture by Brad Sawyer.


Note the F.

And this one by Bob Brooks:

http://www.lalrailfan.net/gallery/displ ... fullsize=1

What ever did happen to that plow that was destined for the FGLK? I did not see it the last time we were by Geneva Yard.

pablo wrote:There used to be a mountain of flangers and plows there, within the last four years or so. Can I assume that those have been moved?

Olean's yard is nice for a variety of reasons, but in case no one has mentioned it, here's another one: Conrail or NS went through with a magnet and picked up all of the crap that was laying around, and so you won't (or, at least, you didn't) see spikes and other railroad-related garbage around as a hazard when walking.

Dave Becker

The Olean yard also benefits from being somewhat new... at least in railroad terms...

The old yard was an absolute mess.

There were two multiple track classification areas, basically end to end.

I'm assuming after the abandoment of the Oil City and Rochester lines the end nearest St. Bonaventure University was just left unused.

Back around 1978 I took a walk through the abandon yard area and trees were growing up through the tracks and in one area a business had pushed a road right through the abandon yard at a 90 degree angle to the tracks taking away rails for several yards on either side. Sorta funny. You had tracks on one side of you, this road cutting right through the yard and then the tracks continuing on the other side of you.

At that point I'm guessing this old yard was about 8 tracks wide. One interesting thing was that the scales were still sorta present in this old section of the yard even though it was apparent that they had not seen service in many, many years.

I'll be in Olean tomorrow so I'll stop by the yard and see what is still there.

I drove by the Olean Yard today. The two PC boxcars and all the equipment in the pictures of Page 1 are still there.

At the sand tower, a snowplow, a flanger and a Jordan Spreader are there. All are yellow and have CR reporting marks.

The numerous stored freight cars that had been in the yard have been removed. The yard is quite empty now.

Chris

NS has a whole ton of MOW stuff stored in Elmira. Might be where some of that stuff went.

thebigham wrote:I drove by the Olean Yard today. The two PC boxcars and all the equipment in the pictures of Page 1 are still there.

At the sand tower, a snowplow, a flanger and a Jordan Spreader are there. All are yellow and have CR reporting marks.

The numerous stored freight cars that had been in the yard have been removed. The yard is quite empty now.

Chris

Thanks for the update.

Any signs of the PC baggage car?

Yes, it was still there.

Chris

As far as all the old cars that were there for a few years, we pulled them out months ago. At least the ones that passed the car departments inspection. The rest on 9 class are due to be cut up on site. I heard the combine car was bought by the WNY hysterical society but was unfit for transfer. Not sure what it's fate will be. The M&W has been picking up everything it can along the right of way during the last month or so. It's been dropping most of it between GJ and Gravity. I doubt they will leave much that the WNYP will be able to use. The sand tower at Olean hasn't been used in at least 10 years, most likely more. The yard itself is in great shape. It's one of the nicest yards anyone will have the chance to work in. Great for kicking.

The green PC boxcar near the sand tower is now gone.

A yellow snowplow is near the sand tower.

One of the NS leasors was at the sand tower.

My friend took a drive-by Olean the other day. From what I understand, the PC boxcars and RPO have been moved to another track. One thought was possible disposition. Anyone know, does the RPO have friction bearing trucks?

Otto, I am sure I read that it did have friction bearings.