Anything left of Sayre, PA???

Is there any activity or yard use in Sayre, PA??? All the big shop buildings are gone and the large group of tracks behind the station are now just 2 tracks.

GE Rail services has a facility there, and they also stage cars for Cargill Salt and some Coal I think. So definitely not as busy as LVRR days but there is some activity.

Google GE Rail Sayre and you'll find some stuff...

BWP

Last I knew the only origional shop buildings left in Sayre are the assembly hall, the store house, the car shop and the paint shop. This info is dated by about two years, however.

I was born and grew up in Sayre and still have family there. The last time I was there was last summer so I don't know if this is still accurate.

While 99% of the yard and it's buildings are gone I was surprised by the amount of train activity through the area. I forgot to bring a scanner with me on that trip but I heard several trains a day coming through Sayre. Whether that volume has increased, decreased, or stayed the same I can't say for sure now.

Sayre is definitely not what it used to be, but it's not a total rail ghost town yet.

Why did CR or NS tear out all the yard like it is now? Even pics from the late 1970s/early 1980s show the yard busy. Did they move operations elsewhere?

Neither CR nor NS had anything to do with the demolition of anything in Sayre as most of it was not conveyed to CR in the first place or was handed over to local interestes early in CR. It was industiral authorities who got rid of the dinosours.

Today, NS runs through Sayre from Gang Mills yard with Ithaca coal trains, Mehoopany freight, and at least the Southern Tier local or turn. GE has a car rehab facility and has hundreds of cars scattered around the yard. You can often find a set of engines humming away near the old station or south of the station on the NS yard tracks.

It is a ghost compared to the past, but there can be some interesting action as the Ithaca coal trains might even get mid train helpers or at least helpers on the hind end. (I did catch one severeal years ago north of Spencer with mid train units!)

actually, about 99% of the yard remains...not 99% gone.
(as far as actual trackage is concerned)

well ok..maybe 80-90% remains..not 99%,
but far more remains than has been torn up.

the only major area of yard trackage that is totally gone is the Auburn Division yard tracks, from the Sayre station out toward the shops..
most of the rest of the yard trackage is still there.

Most people today view the Sayre yard from the vicnity of the Sayre station and the old walkbridge/engine terminal area..and yes, from that vantage point, the yard appears wiped off the face of the earth.
but between the old Walkbridge location heading North all the way to Waverly, very little has changed in the way of yard trackage..its all pretty much still there.

Most building are gone however.
Here is a report from 2003..I dont think much has changed since then.

http://www.trainweb.org/gggrs/Sayre.html

except apparently the yard has recently been cleared of freight cars!
I have to see that!
check out this recent report about goings-on in Sayre..
sounds like NS is putting the yard to use!

http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?bo ... 4;start=20

Scot

And here are some pics of the "Big Shops" and the walkbridge coming down in the late 80's..very sad.


http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22841

http://gold.mylargescale.com/Scottychao ... alkbridge/

Scot

From the 70's to today about 98% of Sayre is gone. Tracks, buildings, connections, activity, loops, storage, classification, individual shop yards, the back side yard, the freight station tracks, etc.!!! All the way back in the 20's, 30's and 40's tens of thousands of people worked worked there daily with all kinds of trains for all directions. So to count back to then, today would be less than one tenth of one percent of what it used to be.

Scot:
The Auburn Div. yard was referred to as SC Yard.

Henry,
im not sure how you are getting 98% gone..but ok...I guess we are just measuring differently!

From my observations, I would estimate its about 70% gone in terms of structures.
but only 10% gone in terms of track.

If a housing developement or a Walmart was built on top of the yard, like in Pen Argyl, then I could agree with 90% gone..
but that hasnt happened..
the whole yard is still sitting there.

In terms of employment, well ok then..its 99.9% gone!

Scot

Sayre may not be dead yet. This is a cross link to Railfan.net. Apparently, there are rumors floating with respect to NS increasing activity in Sayre. The yard has been cleared of the GE storage, etc. It'd be great if it comes true!

http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?bo ... 4;start=20

I checked the other forum listed above and there is a lot more dreaming and rumors there than even here! Sayre is hampered in that it is not parallel to the S.T. line but serves well anything (coal, salt) to and from Ithaca Secondary or south for Dupont and Sylvania in Towanda the the paper plant in Mehoopany. After that, it is just storage area for whatever NS wants to store where GE doesn't. And, yes, I noticed last week how little GE has stored there now compared to a few months ago.

And, yes, my assessment is jaded. The land is still there but the LV isn't; nor is CR which was a ghost of LV. Having ridden in and out on the D&H's Bing based Sayre Turn several times, having walked the yard in LV days and CR days, having been in the buildings and seen the people working--even though it was the 70s'--Sayre is very, very diminished to me, much more than 90%!

Lived in Sayre for most of the summer of 1949. Explored the shop complex with some cousins and once peeked through a open door of the power house. The rumble of trains being put together and cars being classified went on twenty-four hours a day. A portion of the Sayre complex State Line-Athens is intact, but most has been lost forever. Will not speculate what percentage of tracks remain, but will suggest that it be recorded while the opportunity exists.

Emptiness is in the soul of the beholder.