Status of Milliken Power Plant, Cargill Salt, Cayuga Lake

After the power plant shut down in 2019 is anything going on ? i know one idea was to use it as a Data Center - but even THAT received opposition.
Not familiar with what a data center actually is - is it like the Crypto Center in Dresden.

In regards to the Salt Mine i see labeled now as Cargill Deicing Technology.
So the salt mine is the final customer for that rail line? Are there any customers in Ithaca proper?

Mark

There are no customers in Ithaca at this time. Ithaca Central currently has 2 customers- Cargill and ADS. The latter is just north of Broad St Extension in Waverly.

Always bittersweet to follow the ups and downs of diff lines. Especially this one with what little I know how the line up the east side of Cayuga was basically abandoned , then rebuilt to serve the new power plant, now on the decline again save cargill as a customer.

I’ve read most all the different books on Thompkin Counties rail lines previously mentioned in threads that give great details and a glimpse into this history.

It was absolutely abandoned, the LV had to reinstall track to serve the power plant. They were making more money by then leasing out the ROW and adjacent property for lakeside camps.

It was in really nice shape in the 90s from about Van Etten on up. Somebody could be running a dandy dinner train going north out of Ithaca. Views there's no other way to see.

Could even set up folding chairs on flatcars to follow the Cornell rowing races !

lvrr325 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 22, 2022 5:51 am It was absolutely abandoned, the LV had to reinstall track to serve the power plant. They were making more money by then leasing out the ROW and adjacent property for lakeside camps.

It was in really nice shape in the 90s from about Van Etten on up. Somebody could be running a dandy dinner train going north out of Ithaca. Views there's no other way to see.

I'm surprised that it isn't a tourist operation. One could even work with the lake tours, so train up, and boat back down.

Just maybe, if we ever see Amtrak reaching Scranton, they could extend it up to Ithaca to capture all the college traffic to and from NYC plus get NYS to kick in toward the cost.

Sarcasm?

lvrr325 wrote:Sarcasm?

Well, it wouldn't cost anything, the government would pay for it!

lvrr325 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 22, 2022 5:51 am It was absolutely abandoned, the LV had to reinstall track to serve the power plant. They were making more money by then leasing out the ROW and adjacent property for lakeside camps.

Very interesting. My questions:
1. When was it abandoned and torn up? (maybe in different years?)
2. When was it reactivated with the new rail for the power plant?
3. Regarding the income from the lakeside camps, did the LV have a choice regarding reactivating? Or was the law such that if there was a customer above a certain size they had to reactivate?
J.S.

pumpers wrote: ↑Thu Dec 29, 2022 3:37 pmVery interesting. My questions:
1. When was it abandoned and torn up? (maybe in different years?)
2. When was it reactivated with the new rail for the power plant?
3. Regarding the income from the lakeside camps, did the LV have a choice regarding reactivating? Or was the law such that if there was a customer above a certain size they had to reactivate?
J.S.

1. Track from Ludlowville to Aurora was removed in 1950.

2. Ludlowville to Lake Ridge was restored in 1952 to accommodate Milliken traffic.

3. I have no idea whether NYS or the Feds could force them to restore the rails but I'd guess there was alot more revenue from coal traffic than seasonal camps.

Under the LV the trains yarded in Ithaca and 2-3 pups hauled cuts of cars up to the plant, or there was enough work to station the engines there.

Conrail came in and rebuilt it with welded rail, it was a nice smooth ride in 1994-ish when I rode up from Sayre, unlike the former main below Van Etten that was still the same LV jointed rail it had been and you felt like you were on a ship at sea.

I'd have to go into the old company files again and look at how they were leasing out the property. The track and it's clearances is maybe 15-20 feet wide tops but the ROW was wider and from what I recall they leased some parts as driveways and others people had camps and homes on. I would imagine they probably made as much or more income from the rental as they did running trains over most of those lines. But the coal trains would bring more revenue than the local freight service had.

Peeked my interest to look again thru my Thomkins County RR books .
So much history -I didn’t realize on the stretch of line on the way north had actually been 2 salt mines .




The International Salt plant in Ludlowville burned in 1962 so I’m looking via sat view to see what’s left. I see now a recreation area .
Reading Salt Point was also known by the locals as UP Point in deference to Utica Club Beer. Quite a complex


By this picture below in the background are the remains of the concrete plant on Portland Point but apparently again absolutely no remaining evidence.



Finally , looking again on sat view to the power plant.
Not sure how old the view is but appears a string of cars there?
Would they be using the line for storage?

The final photo in the above post was of Lehigh Valley Railroad local IL-1. I took the photo on October 8, 1973 and Herb Trice used it in his book The Gangly Country Cousin on page 116.

PJT

So many Interesting pictures - I should have credited all the pictures I used including yours , I think the other snaps may have been from ‘History of Railroads in Thompkins County’ by Hardy Lee or David Marcharm’s ‘Ups and Downs of a Rural Line - Elmira ,Cortland & Northern RR .

In regards to your photo, looks like you climbed up the embankment to take it?
(But again 50 years ago )

I note how close the ROW is to the lake edge. Pretty common along Cayuga ?