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  • Former L&HR track layout at Pequest, etc.

  • Discussion of the L&HR and its predecessor the Warwick Valley Railroad for the period 1860-1976 at its inclusion with ConRail
Discussion of the L&HR and its predecessor the Warwick Valley Railroad for the period 1860-1976 at its inclusion with ConRail

Moderator: David

 #1191867  by walterconklin
 
Hello,

My friend and colleague, Doug Relyea, is working on an extension of Richard Shirey's 1940s L&HR route for the Microsoft Train Simulator platform. Doug asked me about the former L&HR track layout at Pequest, at Buttzville, at the furnace across the Delaware, and at Townsbury.

He wrote me,

"Somewhere I saw a clip from the county atlas for Townsbury showing a run around track and two sidings. I call it a runaround because it was too short for a passing siding. A post on the internet claimed the L&HR and DL&W were connected thru the furnace trackwork. Someone had mentioned a creamery near Buttzville and Bridgeville. I think it was just east of the road underpass by Bridgeville as something long and rectangular shows there in the 1938 aerial photos with a siding."

Can anyone please provide me with an overview as to the track layouts at the aforementioned locations?

Thank you in advance of your help.

Sincerely,
Walter Conklin
 #1192439  by Paul Miller
 
Furnace across the Delaware? I'm not sure the LHR itself ran across the Delaware other than the SEP bridge to Easton The PRR via the Bel-Del may have run over the bridge at Foul Rift for the coal plant over there in Martin's Creek. did you mean the Pequest Furnace across the Pequest Creek in Pequest/Buttzville area? The DLW and LHR both served the Pequest Furnace but it disappeared in the early 1900's, definitely not around in 1940. Pequest had a long (3200ft)passing siding (Petty's) from Buttzville Bridge over Pequest to Pequest Road. Then Pequest Passing Siding carried on northwest of Pequest Road for 1840 feet. There was a storage track for P.S. Kramer at one time as well totalling 635 feet.These were all existing in the 1940's. Townsbury proper had a passing siding for freight of small length, probably still there in the 1940's even though the station/depot disappeared in 1936-the signal towers for the passing siding are still on the ROW. There was originally a creamery in Belvidere that got moved to Bridgeville/buttzville. It sat northeast of the Rt 519 crossing, called Hixon's creamery. i believe from memory it sat to the right of the mainline looking northwest towards Great Meadows. i've seen it labeled as being in Buttzville or Bridgeville in different references. There was no creamery at Buttzville Station site proper to my knowledge. It did have a loading track separate from the mainline. If you have access to the Sanborn Fire Maps out of Princeton University they will show you track layouts for a lot of the places you mentioned.