Railroads near or in sight of the NYS Thruway

[RussNelson]

there was an Auburn and Port Byron Trolly which ran along rt 38 to Port Byron, NY as well.

Oh-ho!! Thanks for pointing to that one! You can see where it leaves rt 38 here:
http://www.rutlandtrail.org/mapview.cgi ... =2&dot=Yes

The trolly line from Rochester to Syracuse ran into Port Byron

This trolley line is on the old topo maps:
http://www.rutlandtrail.org/mapview.cgi ... =2&dot=Yes
Not much doubt about its route; at least on that one topo map. I'm speculating that the modern route of 31 between Clyde and Lyons is the old trolley bed. I base this on no historical information but instead on my experience tracing railroads on maps. If you think I'm whack, please say so. Try looking at this: http://rutlandtrail.org/gmap.cgi?lyons- ... y.ny.track

I can't find the route of the trolley west of Lyons. Maybe it ran alongside roads to Rochester?

[eehiv]

Here some RR crossings on the lower NY Thruway:

MP 113.3 - Overpass over grade of Catskill Mountain Railway (narrow gauge)/Canajorie & Catskill and Catskill Creek
MP 90.7 - Overpass over Catskill Mountain Railroad (Ulster & Delaware/NYC)
MP 90.6 - Overpass over grade of NYO&W branch to Kingston
MP 86.2 - Overpass over grade of Wallkill Branch, NYC
MP 72.8 - Overpass over grade of New Haven line to Poughkeepsie Bridge
MP 56.1 - Overpass (filled in) over grade of Erie Branch to Newburgh
MP 54.75 - Overpass over grade of NYO&W branch to Cornwall
MP 51.6 - Crosses grade of Erie Connector from Vail's Gate to Harriman (abandoned before thruway was built, so no overpass or bridge)
MP 31.5 - Overpass over Erie RR Main
MP 29.9 - Overpass over Erie RR Main
MP 25.5 - Overpass over Erie Connector to Spring Valley

EH

[scharnhorst]

there was an Auburn and Port Byron Trolly which ran along rt 38 to Port Byron, NY as well.

Oh-ho!! Thanks for pointing to that one! You can see where it leaves rt 38 here:
http://www.rutlandtrail.org/mapview.cgi ... =2&dot=Yes

The trolly line from Rochester to Syracuse ran into Port Byron

This trolley line is on the old topo maps:
http://www.rutlandtrail.org/mapview.cgi ... =2&dot=Yes
Not much doubt about its route; at least on that one topo map. I'm speculating that the modern route of 31 between Clyde and Lyons is the old trolley bed. I base this on no historical information but instead on my experience tracing railroads on maps. If you think I'm whack, please say so. Try looking at this: http://rutlandtrail.org/gmap.cgi?lyons- ... y.ny.track

I can't find the route of the trolley west of Lyons. Maybe it ran alongside roads to Rochester?

I don't think your crazy. If only I had a map and the time I would sit and try and draw a lines in areas where the rail and trolly lines ran but I'm limited to only a few hours a day to my activitys.

[SST]

I just drove the I90 to NYC and of course I forgot to bring the GPS list with me. I've driven this route many times as most of us have but for the first time I actually saw three working trains which I've never seen before.

I caught a stone train somewhere before Syracuse. A westbound CSX frieght somewhere in the Mohawk Valley area and another south of Albany along I87.

I'm curently out in Riverhead LI and yesterday went to the LIRR Riverhead station/museum. An eastbound LIRR train came through. Pretty cool. Tomorrow I make the trip home back to BUffalo so hopefully I"ll be lucky to see trains again.

On the way down on the south side of I90 I noticed a ROW running parallel. It appears to have been converted to a walk/bike trail. I saw a new pedestian bridge sitting on stone block abutments going over a creek. I think I saw it near mm180......ish. Not quite certain about that.

Who's railroad was it?

[SST]

I just got back and as I drove back along the I90 I reconfirmed what I saw. At MM 188.2 westbound you could see a steel bridge [maybe trestle] with a wooden fence. This path went on for several miles. In the fall when all the leaves are off the trees this path will stick out big time.

[scharnhorst]

I just drove the I90 to NYC and of course I forgot to bring the GPS list with me. I've driven this route many times as most of us have but for the first time I actually saw three working trains which I've never seen before.

I caught a stone train somewhere before Syracuse. A westbound CSX frieght somewhere in the Mohawk Valley area and another south of Albany along I87.

I'm curently out in Riverhead LI and yesterday went to the LIRR Riverhead station/museum. An eastbound LIRR train came through. Pretty cool. Tomorrow I make the trip home back to BUffalo so hopefully I"ll be lucky to see trains again.

On the way down on the south side of I90 I noticed a ROW running parallel. It appears to have been converted to a walk/bike trail. I saw a new pedestian bridge sitting on stone block abutments going over a creek. I think I saw it near mm180......ish. Not quite certain about that.

Who's railroad was it?

The Stone Train that you saw had 50 car loads and was droping it from Belle Isle Yard all the way down past Port Byron some place. They tied it up in Jordan that Saterday and sent it back West that Sunday empty about 7:30a.m. that morning. There has been a Tie Gang with about 30 pices of equipment working the area they should be finishing up near Belle Isle Yard behing the NYS Fair Grounds by next week????

[nessman]

I just got back and as I drove back along the I90 I reconfirmed what I saw. At MM 188.2 westbound you could see a steel bridge [maybe trestle] with a wooden fence. This path went on for several miles. In the fall when all the leaves are off the trees this path will stick out big time.

West Shore RR.

[RussNelson]

I just got back and as I drove back along the I90 I reconfirmed what I saw. At MM 188.2 westbound you could see a steel bridge [maybe trestle] with a wooden fence. This path went on for several miles. In the fall when all the leaves are off the trees this path will stick out big time.

Is that just east of Fultonville? Specifically, right here:
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=42.93702,-74.28123&z=16&t=T

[march hare]

Yep, that's the West Shore, recently opened as a bike trail.

Eventual plans are for a continuous bike trail across NY, using large portions of the West Shore ROW.

Some glitches have come up here and there, like not being able to get across Guilford's line at Rotterdam Junction.

A few miles farther east, you can see one of the more unusual uses ever for an abandoned ROW. In the late 80's the I90 bridge over Schoharie Creek collapsed (10 fatalities). For a while, at least one direction of traffic was routed onto a temporary road along the West Shore ROW, using that line's through truss bridge over the Schoharie.

It's still visible now, but without any background info, you'd just assume is was a ridiculously over-engineered bike trail.

[boblenon]

the NYC line from Syracuse to Churchville ( http://rutlandtrail.org/list.cgi?nyc-sy ... e.ny.track )

The Westshore - Orginally PRR but NYC, mostly abondoned.

the Erie-Lackawana from Rochester to Syracuse ( http://rutlandtrail.org/list.cgi?el-roc ... e.ny.track )

That would be the Waterlevel Route from Syracuse to Rochester, then the Falls Road from Rochester to Brockport. EL deffinatly own that ... unless you count the NYC & EL being part of Conrail...

the Lehigh Valley from Owego to Weedsport ( http://rutlandtrail.org/list.cgi?lv-owe ... t.ny.track ) (which crosses I90)

LV - Branch to Fiar Haven, NY for ice from ontario lake if I recall. The bridge over the thruway was removed ~1990 I think (recalling back to childhood)

and the Lyons to Weedsport Trolley (the actual name of which is probably different than that) ( http://rutlandtrail.org/list.cgi?lyons- ... y.ny.track ).

Part of the Rocehster, Syracuse and Eastern interurban. Ran east of of rochester from the current site of Can-Of-Worms through East Rochester, Fairport, Egypt, Macedon, Newark, Lyons and onto Syracuse (as on your map Russ). The RSE was part of the BeBe Syndicate of Interurbans ... they also operated the one from Port Byron to Auburn.

[ginosrailpage]

It was a very common practice for power companies to purchase former
trolley ROWs. In the Capital District alone, the FJ&G Electric, Schenectady Railway and Eastern New York all sold their ROWs to a power company. There is also the Saratoga & Schuylerville RR which has power lines on much, if not all of it's former ROW...

Gino DiCarlo

Nice job, Nessman!

Anybody have any information on this point:
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=42.51263,-79.19070&z=17&t=T
and this point?
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=42.47922,-79.26524&z=15&t=T
There is clearly a former railbed crossing the thruway at these two points. It's marked on the topo map as a power line, but .... power companies don't bother with bridges, cuts and fills. I DO NOT have it in my database of NYS Railroad Routes (http://russnelson.com/nyrr/) so I'm interested in any information anybody might have. I suspect an interurban between Dunkirk and Silver Creek. Both of them had trolley lines, but I see no mention of an interurban.

[RussNelson]

Part of the Rocehster, Syracuse and Eastern interurban. Ran east of of rochester from the current site of Can-Of-Worms through East Rochester, Fairport, Egypt, Macedon, Newark, Lyons and onto Syracuse (as on your map Russ). The RSE was part of the BeBe Syndicate of Interurbans ... they also operated the one from Port Byron to Auburn.

Do you know the route of the RS&E between Macedon and Lyons? Where did it cross the Erie? Did it go through Palmyra?

[boblenon]

Im not sure of the exact routing for the RS&E. I know it went through Newark & Palmyra between macedon & lyons. Various parts of Rt-31 are the former right-of-way for the RS&E - such as Blue Cut just west of lyons (where 31 flys over the CSX main).

[RussNelson]

Makes perfect sense to me. Between Macedon and Lyons there are no hills on 31 to speak of, and it's very gentle and curvey. Absent further information that's how I'll draw it. For example, in Palmyra, the trolley ran on Main St., which is 31.
http://www.palmyrany.com/images/BobLowe ... 3-1906.jpg

Haha! Gee, look at what I just found: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.03516,-77.11458&z=16&t=T Something tells me that 31 wasn't always the trolley bed. Can't tell what it is. Maybe it's that constant hammer pounding on my head?

[boblenon]

I did some more looking myself today -

Out of macedon (which I can only figure it was rt 31), it takes "Trolley Rd" to the south-east, then takes a more southern route to Atwater st. from there it takes Wood Ln (or Trolley Bed on that map) into Newark. Im not sure of the routing through newark, but it makes sense that Rt31 east to lyons is most likly the route. From lyons, 31 east is the row until Cr-250, where it continues N/NE along Trolley Bed.


As for the specific routing in lyons and newark, im not sure.

Follow the dashed line ... http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=43. ... ayer=DRG25