Track layout in Bath, NY

Hi Listers...

I'm working on a model railroad plan for the old B&H interchange with the Erie Lackawanna/Conrail in Bath in the mid/late 70s. I'm interested in the layout of some of the industries in Bath, specifically the Babcock Ladder Company. Does anyone recall where *exactly* the spur to Babcock was located? I picture showing the Babcock spur would be worth a great deal to me. Thanks for any information you can provide.

-pat moore

Pat-

Go to maps.google.com and search for Bath, NY. You can go to the "satellite" view and see photography that lets you zoom in pretty close- you should be able to get some of the information you're looking for unless the tracks you're asking about are now buried under the expressway...

-otto-

Otto Vondrak wrote:Pat-

Go to maps.google.com and search for Bath, NY. You can go to the "satellite" view and see photography that lets you zoom in pretty close- you should be able to get some of the information you're looking for unless the tracks you're asking about are now buried under the expressway...

-otto-

Hi Otto...

Been there...done that. I was amazed, actually, at the clarity of the images. Very useful! The problem is that it the imagery is relatively recent and long after the spur to Babcock was ripped out. I can only speculate where the spur was located based on what I see in the imagery.

I went through there countless times on Rt. 17 in my younger days and remember almost always seeing a freight car sitting the spur to Babcock Ladder, but I can't for the life of me remember exactly where the spur was. I was hoping another list member would have a more vivid memory, or even better yet, have a picture with Babcock in the background that actually shows the spur or a freight car on the spur.

Thanks for the reply!

-pat

Here is a recent photo of the area.

http://lalrailfan.net/gallery/displayim ... =55&pos=14

The larger view (click on the photo) larger view will reveal more detail.

I'll see if I can get a good look of the area on my way back to Rochester (hopefully sooner rather than later)

Here is another photo of the area:

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-b/bh04dgd.jpg

Luther Brefo wrote:Here is another photo of the area:

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-b/bh04dgd.jpg

Thanks, Luther. I've seen both of those images. I've been scouring the internet for the last six months trying to dig up old photos of the area, but to no avail.

Somewhere, somebody must have an image that shows the spur for Babcock Ladder! Ah well, the thrill of the chase is one of the things that makes this hobby so much fun...

-pat

Pat, just a shot in the dark, but have you tried the local library and/or the town historian?

The library does not have much along those lines but the Steuben County Historical Society and the Steuben County Historian are in the old library which shares the same parking lot as the new library. Unfortunantly I can't recall much from the 1970s era in the collections there, but I could be wrong. Dr. Joe Paddock (Historical Society) would be able to give you better information about the collection, and he also worked on track gangs back in the late 30s or early 40s.

Did the EL have track maps like NYC or Conrail?

-otto-

I'm surprised Matt Langworthy hasnt chimed in here. This is his world. You may want to send him a PM and ask him.. He seems to be very knowledgable on the B&H and is usually very friendly and enjoys discussing the B&H.

railwatcher wrote:I'm surprised Matt Langworthy hasnt chimed in here. This is his world. You may want to send him a PM and ask him.. He seems to be very knowledgable on the B&H and is usually very friendly and enjoys discussing the B&H.

Thanks for the compliment! However, I have little more to aid Pat because he and I have already discussed the B&H question here and a second query about the Champagne Trail in this thread, too.

think i found what you're looking for... its conrail zone track spot maps for the albany division in 1989. if the link doesnt work, sorry. copy and paste is how i get by. I'm not that familiar with the area, hopefully it's of some help. http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/rail ... 2-1989.pdf

After a bit of looking around through the ZTS document I found that Bath begins on page 18 of the PDF, and runs through 23. Over all a very interesting document, and a hell of a find! From what it seems to be saying, the B&H had to have some sort of rights on Conrail at that tie to be able to operate its two different, separate sections, which can make your modeling all the more interesting.

All...

I forgot to close out this topic, so here goes...

I paid a visit to the Babcock Ladder Company in Bath earlier in the summer to find out what I could on the location of the spur back in the 1970s. As it turns out, the answer was hanging on the wall in their office. They had a picture of the ladder company taken from up on top of the hill that overlooks that part of town, which was basically as good as an aerial photo. The picture shows that the siding you still see today is the same spur that was there 30 years ago. Other pictures in the Bath Heritage book at the Steuben County Historical Society support this same conclusion.

What threw me off is that recent aerials and satellite imagery showed the siding as being double ended, which it was not back in the 1970s. As it turns out, Stanley Clark had the siding double-ended back in the mid-80s after Babcock stopped using rail, in order to provide a run-around track for his ill-fated passenger excursions. Also, all traces of lumber storage and unloading platforms have been erased in the last 20 years.

Mystery solved.

I also spent several hours tracing the path of the original B&H down to H'port. Sad to see how nature is steadily reclaiming the right-of-way, but I guess as long as the rails are still in place there is always a ray of hope.

-pat moore