Friends of the Lehigh Valley,
My RR interest is principally in 19th century railroading and steam in the first half of the 20th century. One of my RR hobbies is finding/exploring & walking old, abandoned or little used track that hasn’t been torn up. I’d much rather walk old track than go to the gym.
I live in northern Virginia and last fall attended a conference in southern NY. I asked a local person about any RR museums and he mentioned the LV in Sayre, PA. The museum was closed but I sort of stumbled on what is left of the Sayre yards. Wanting to find our more about the LV, I bought two of Mike Bednar’s books, "LV Facilities Vols 2 & 3" and found that I had eaten at the restaurant pictured on page 16 of Vol 3.
I plan to return to that area this year and next for seminars and hope to use free time to explore. Therefore, I am asking for any help in finding original LV tracks that may still exist. I’m trying not to waste time looking for track that is long gone. Therefore it would also be very helpful if you know of existing track, if you could please refer to towns or a street address that is shown on mapquest.com so that I can drive to it with a GPS. By the same token, if you know where LV track has been torn up, please tell me.
1. Manchester: If you look on mapquest.com at Sayre, PA, the old LV yards are clearly visible. On page 34 of LV Facilities Vol 3 there is a picture of the Manchester yards that are described as “two and a half miles long,” yet if you look at Manchester, NY on mapquest, there is almost nothing showing that resembles a railroad yard. Were the Manchester yard tracks completely pulled up? Is there anything left? If there is anything worth looking at, can you please give me a street address in Manchester so that I can drive there with a GPS?
2. I see from the bird’s eye view map on page 3 of Vol 3 that the LV mainline ran up the east side of Seneca lake to Geneva. Is there any of this mainline track still in existence? Did the mainline go through Ithaca? My Kalmbach reprint of the 1928 RR atlas shows a LV line from Van Etten to Geneva west of Ithaca. Is any of this track still in existence?
3. An NS maintenance-of-way worker told me there was some old track on the west that went up through Watkins Glen? What railroads ran up the west side of the lake? Are they still in use? By whom?
4. Are there any other LV yards or branchlines anywhere that still have existing track?
5. The LV mainline track ran south from Sayre through Towanda down through Tunhannock to Scranton. Is there any of that original track still in existence?
6. Lastly, does anyone know of any other abandoned (but not torn up) or little used track worth exploring in PA or NY?
Nothing gets my history juices flowing like walking old abandoned track, and imagining what steam behemoths ran there.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me and thanks to Mike Bednar for his marvelous books and helping preserve the history of the Lehigh Valley!
My RR interest is principally in 19th century railroading and steam in the first half of the 20th century. One of my RR hobbies is finding/exploring & walking old, abandoned or little used track that hasn’t been torn up. I’d much rather walk old track than go to the gym.
I live in northern Virginia and last fall attended a conference in southern NY. I asked a local person about any RR museums and he mentioned the LV in Sayre, PA. The museum was closed but I sort of stumbled on what is left of the Sayre yards. Wanting to find our more about the LV, I bought two of Mike Bednar’s books, "LV Facilities Vols 2 & 3" and found that I had eaten at the restaurant pictured on page 16 of Vol 3.
I plan to return to that area this year and next for seminars and hope to use free time to explore. Therefore, I am asking for any help in finding original LV tracks that may still exist. I’m trying not to waste time looking for track that is long gone. Therefore it would also be very helpful if you know of existing track, if you could please refer to towns or a street address that is shown on mapquest.com so that I can drive to it with a GPS. By the same token, if you know where LV track has been torn up, please tell me.
1. Manchester: If you look on mapquest.com at Sayre, PA, the old LV yards are clearly visible. On page 34 of LV Facilities Vol 3 there is a picture of the Manchester yards that are described as “two and a half miles long,” yet if you look at Manchester, NY on mapquest, there is almost nothing showing that resembles a railroad yard. Were the Manchester yard tracks completely pulled up? Is there anything left? If there is anything worth looking at, can you please give me a street address in Manchester so that I can drive there with a GPS?
2. I see from the bird’s eye view map on page 3 of Vol 3 that the LV mainline ran up the east side of Seneca lake to Geneva. Is there any of this mainline track still in existence? Did the mainline go through Ithaca? My Kalmbach reprint of the 1928 RR atlas shows a LV line from Van Etten to Geneva west of Ithaca. Is any of this track still in existence?
3. An NS maintenance-of-way worker told me there was some old track on the west that went up through Watkins Glen? What railroads ran up the west side of the lake? Are they still in use? By whom?
4. Are there any other LV yards or branchlines anywhere that still have existing track?
5. The LV mainline track ran south from Sayre through Towanda down through Tunhannock to Scranton. Is there any of that original track still in existence?
6. Lastly, does anyone know of any other abandoned (but not torn up) or little used track worth exploring in PA or NY?
Nothing gets my history juices flowing like walking old abandoned track, and imagining what steam behemoths ran there.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me and thanks to Mike Bednar for his marvelous books and helping preserve the history of the Lehigh Valley!
) Rest of the ROW is private land, most being Cow Pastures or densely wooded and impassible, including a few down bridges.
