B&H 422

[scottychaos]

just sharing a photo!
railpictures.net rejected it, but I still think its worth sharing!
Scot

http://forums.railfan.net/images/lawrence-BH422.jpg

[dj_paige]

Very nice picture!

What is the other locomotive in the picture?

And what was the reason railpictures.net rejected it?

[scottychaos]

thanks Paige,
the other engine is B&H Alco S1 #5.
the B&H still has the 2 ancestral S1's on the property,
#4 and #5.

railpictures.net has a notoriously picky acceptance policy..
they rejected this one because they said it was "too dark"..
of course, a million perfectly lit 3/4 view "roster shots" of Norfolk Southern C44-9's are perfectly fine!
but a rare alco..nope, dont want it..
oh well..

although, I dont fault them for being strict..they DO end up with great photos that way! and they dont have any junk photos.
so its fine..

here are some more photos of the S1's..

[dj_paige]

On B&H numbers 4 and 5, does the script writing on the cab say "The Champagne Trail"? Does B&H actually serve wineries?

Regarding railpictures.net, I have found them to be extremely picky too. So far, only one of my photos has made it

[murray83]

great picture

i admire the railway for its policy on keeping its alcos clean although i doubt u'd see any grime with the black paint and all

[joshuahouse]

On B&H numbers 4 and 5, does the script writing on the cab say "The Champagne Trail"? Does B&H actually serve wineries?

Regarding railpictures.net, I have found them to be extremely picky too. So far, only one of my photos has made it

Yes thats what it says, they used to serve what was then Taylor winery in Hammondsport on the original B&H track.

[scottychaos]

Paige,
yes, the B&H used to serve many wineries in the HAmmondsport area..
its last big customer (before being taken over by the LAL) was the Taylor winery..I think the winery closed down..
trains no longer run at all between Bath and Hammondsport, although the tracks are still in place..

here is a condensed history of the B&H, from the book "Keuka Lake Memories" by William Reed Gordon.
(paraphrased by me! )

Erie railroad came through Bath in 1854.

approval for a line from Bath to Hammondsport came from New York State on January 17, 1872.

The B&H was originally 3-foot gauge, and interchanged with the 6-foot gauge Erie in Bath!

Erie was the B&H's only connection to the outside world.

B&H was opened on June 30, 1875.
Line of Road: Bath to Hammondsport NY
9.8 miles
Sidings, etc. 0.5 miles
gauge - 3ft
rail: 30lb and 40lb

passengers were hauled to the steam ships and resorts on Keuka Lake, and freight interchanged with the Erie.

in 1879, the railroad owned 3 locomotives of 18tons. each a brooks 2-6-0.
4 passenger cars and one baggage car.
6 freight cars.
28, 729 passengers carried in 1879.
2,746 tons of coal to Hammondsport.
1,170 tons of grapes from Hammondsport to Bath.

in 1883, the original 2-6-0's replaced by 2 Baldwin tank engines.

1888 - line is standard gauged with 60lb rail.

B&H owned a total of 16 different steam locomotive before 1949.
(not all at the same time)
first 5 were 3-foot gauge.
probably not more than 3 at any one time.

1949 - GE 44ton diesel number D-1 arrives.
diesel D-2 - plymouth
diesel D-3 another GE 44ton.

and thats it from that book..
that book has a LOT more info on the B&H than what I wrote here!
lots of photos too..
I picked up a pristine copy at a Monroe ave book shop this past summer!
the Rochester library has it.

anyone know the more recent history?
when did the GE44tonners leave and the S1's arrive?

by my count, C424 422 is the 22nd locomotive operated by the B&H..
and I dont think the B&H ever operated more than 3 locomotives at any one time.

Scot

[bwparker1]

Scot,

I think, and quote the word think, that Taylor Winery would not have been served by the B&H, at least where the winery is in its current location. Winery's that are "on-line" are the Pleasant Valley Winery and really on-line is the Geat Western WInery, maker of Champagne, the Old Gold Seal Winery.

It is a quite a complex, also the site of Mercury Aircraft/industries.

i was curious in this day and age if either where still in business.

Mercury seems to be

http://www.mercuryaircraftinc.com/

Not sure about Great Western/Plesant valley, no websites that work.

Cheers,
Brooks

Anyone is the region able to shed any light on this, any LAL folks know the history of customers?

[scottychaos]

here is some info on Taylor:

http://townofurbana.net/Urbana_History.htm

looks like the winery shut down in 1994.

I think there are 2 Taylor wineries..on on-line search brough up refrences to "Taylor-2"..
I think "Taylor-2" is the MErcury aircraft plant.
and the "original" Taylor was the larger facility served by the B&H..
In Rheims.

there is an aerial photo in the book "Keuka Lake Memories" that says "Taylors and Pleasant Valley Wineries" and shows the B&H mainline running right through the middle of the facility..
with many sidings, spurs, and boxcars laying about.
even looks like there might be a small yard.
using the "NYS Mapping Gateway" webpage shows much of the facility there today, with the B&H tracks still running through the middle of it all.

So that must be the main "Taylor winery" of the B&H.

I looked at the Mercury aircraft page, got their address, plugged the address into mapquest, and that brought up a much smaller facility closer to the lake..So I think the Mercury aircraft winery is not the same winery as the large Taylor winery served by the B&H..
the large one is just a few miles south of the smaller one that is now Mercury.

another aerial photo in the book says:
"The Taylor Wine Company Plants at Rheims. The view is West. And D-1 is working the siding into the warehouse"

the book ws published in 1967!
so it doesnt have any recent information..
Scot

[bwparker1]

Sorry Scot, I was confusing Bully Hill with the Taylor Name. The Complex is quite impressive.

I think that may be making GreatWestern Champagne or at least tasting it there, at least that was the appearance when my wife and I drove by last winter. Obviously, closed at the time, but it seemed that it would be open seasonaly.

Brooks

[joshuahouse]

I should have mentioned before that the visitors center (which should have been open when you were here Parker) has a very nice HO scale layout of the Bath and Hammondsport. This was made by one of the model railroad clubs in the Rochester-Buffalo area and is an operating layout perhaps 8x15 or 10x20 rap around, good for distracting bored children.

[Matt Langworthy]

The Alco S-1s arrived on the B&H in 1970. By that time, there was an increase in heavy tank car traffic from the wineries and the old 44-tonners (plus the Plymouth D-2) just couldn't keep up with the the surge, even when MUd. The rails from Taylor/Great Western south to Bath were also relaid in the late '60s to heavier weights (200lb?) for the new tankers. Even the S-1s MUd on large moves although this was rare. I moved to H-port in '76 and #4 seemed to be the preferred S-1 at the time. By the early '90s, that had flip-flopped and #5 was the engine of choice. In fact, #4 was out of action in during most of '91 due to a dead battery. By the way, the pics look great! I'm glad LA&L has decided to keep the S-1s in the "heritage" color scheme 'cause it's one of my favorite paint jobs.

[Aji-tater]

200lb rail is not correct. I don't know what they have, but it's certainly not 200 lb. And you may have seen the 2 switchers doubleheaded, but from the photos it does not appear they are equipped for MU. There is a difference.

[nessman]

The switchers on the B&H are not MU equipped.

[Matt Langworthy]

Oops! Sorry about the term MU- I meant doubleheaded! It's been a LONG time since the only time I saw the S-1s operating together. It was late in the summer of '77. The train was monstrous by B&H standards of the day. It was mostly tank cars, a few boxcars and 1 full TOFC flatcar- at least 20 cars in total. I never saw a train that big on the original mainline before that or since. Traffic began to decline not long after that when the wineries were sold...

The 44-tonners did not MU, either.

Thanks for the correction on the rail, too. After some research, I found that the rail from Taylor/Great Western to Bath is 132 lb.