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  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

 #1419546  by charlie6017
 
For the longest time, I wanted to walk the long OOS area of the R&S tracks north of the Dewey Ave. road
crossing and I did just that on Sunday (1/29). I never had been to Dock Jct., and I wanted to check it out because
it's rather impossible in the warmer months with vegetation around. So I bundled up and grabbed my camera.

First photo is looking north and then looking south, this location is my point of entry, which is a pocket park
on Bennington Drive (near Haviland Park), which parallels the tracks between Dewey Ave. and Stonewood Ave.

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 #1419547  by charlie6017
 
I started walking to the north toward Dock Jct. and here are a couple photos looking that direction. Just
beyond that large puddle to the right is the large bridge that carried the Dock Branch over the ex-NYC and
now CSX Charlotte Runner. The second pic is a close-up looking toward the bridge.

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 #1419548  by charlie6017
 
Here are a few views looking at the bridge and of course to the right of the bridge is the Dock Branch that
looped around to the north to the Genesee Docks.

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This view is looking at the line of houses nearby, to give perspective as to where this geographic location is.

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 #1419556  by charlie6017
 
Finally, a look to the north at the Dewey Ave. road crossing followed by a look to the south toward
McCall Road. Apparently the R&S moved the end of track another 50-100 feet further south from the
last time I looked (some time in 2016).

That's it for the photos, I was rather frozen by the time I was done but it was worth it! :-)

Charlie

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 #1419573  by BR&P
 
Charlie, good photography, sad photos. Despite having grown up there and having been up and down those tracks hundreds or maybe even over 1,000 times, some places I can't even recognize any more. Image

So let's compare. Here's Charlie's photo from today:
B&O Dewey Ave Charlie Photo.jpg
B&O Dewey Ave Charlie Photo.jpg (150.8 KiB) Viewed 4934 times
Here's a 1965 shot from almost the exact spot, courtesy of CPSmith:
B&O Dewey Ave CPSmith photo.jpg
B&O Dewey Ave CPSmith photo.jpg (480.33 KiB) Viewed 4934 times
And here's a photo by me, taken in about 1962 slightly to the left of the other view (Note the "Champion" sign in CPS's shot and the edge of that sign in mine)
2016-08-26 09.36.22 - Copy.jpg
2016-08-26 09.36.22 - Copy.jpg (786.03 KiB) Viewed 4934 times
Progress sucks, doesn't it! Image
 #1419576  by charlie6017
 
BR&P wrote:
Progress sucks, doesn't it! Image
Sigh.......you said it, Don. :(

Those are great photos you posted. Oh, to have a time machine! Coal was such a moneymaker, but that ship has
literally sailed.

Charlie
 #1419633  by CPSmith
 
Great shots, Charlie. I have to agree with BR&P, it's just getting harder and harder to tell where things were.

Your ears must have ringing - BR&P and I (and a few others) were swapping photos/info of the belt just a couple of weeks ago. In addition to the color pic (zoomed and cropped, hence the below adequate quality - sorry), I provided a couple of pics from the fall of 1973, taken on the belt from just behind the glass factory on Bennington (Pfeiffer Glass back then, something else today). The weeds were starting to absorb the unused sidings, but not to the extent as in your photos of today. A weed-whacker would have sufficed in 1973. Looks like you'll need a chain saw now.
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 #1419634  by BR&P
 
The first boat at the docks was usually in early April. Coal started showing up a couple weeks before that. It was always a sign that spring was REALLY here when the first trainload of coal arrived at the dock yard in late March. Another indication was when the Buildings department took the big board winter covers off the windows of the dock office building.
 #1419649  by charlie6017
 
Thanks CPSmith, it was fun wandering about getting those pics and imagining "what was", and likewise
thank you for your shots as well! It's so unfortunate coal stopped being such a large player in both industry
and all other uses. 75 years ago it was such a staple of railroad business, but barely exists as a part of it today. :(

Charlie
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