CSX Charlotte Runner

RG&E (or whatever entity they are these days...) uses the old B&O for HV power lines, therefore the old ROW (including the removed bridge) from Stonewood north was not a candidate for rails-to-trails.

However, the good part is that they go in on a periodic basis and clean out the brush, so it remains a defacto trail. Disclaimer: It's their property - you know the rest...

scottychaos wrote:even if the bridge was still in place, you couldnt make much of a railtrail out of it anyway..it would start nowhere and end nowhere, and only be a mile long.

Of course, with the CSX hojack to the powerplant eventually to be abandoned, you could then have a nice railtrail from Charlotte running west out the Hojack..and then maybe that bridge could have been of use as a feeder trail down the B&O..

but overall, the loss of that one bridge doesnt really hurt the prospects of Rochester's future railtrails much IMO..

Scot

Well, then the trail would dead-end at I-390. I suppose you can do a trail from Island Cottage Road, across Dewey, use the Hojack bridge over the parkway, and at River Street connect it to the riverside trail along the Genesee River the city just finished up last fall. From River St to Boxart Street... as far as a trail is concerned, it really doesn't go anywhere.

Nessman,
im not sure what you mean by " the trail would dead-end at I-390"..
do you mean on the Hojack westbound?

yeah, 390 is a bit of a barrier, but the trail could be routed north up Island Cottage, duck under 390 at Jane road, down the existing 390 trail, and back to the Hojack to continue west.

Looking at the aerial photos on http://local.live.com/, a housing development has been built right on top of the Hojack west of Long Pond!
but other than that, its still mostly intact..

the greenway trail has a few places where you have to revert to streets, a hojack trail would also require that in a few spots..

I biked the Hojack between Greece (started immediately west of 390) to Hilton about 10 years ago..still looks mostly complete today.

Other than that one small housing development west of Long Pond Road, the Hojack ROW appears intact all the way to the Somerset tracks!
about 50 miles away..

Scot

Well, intact until you get to some bridges along the way. One bridge about 75' long in Hamiln - the decking is gone. The trestle over Oak Orchard Creek in Waterport is gone. Much of the ROW has been sold off to utilities and private landowners and some of it is posted "no trespassing". About a mile of it in Hamlin is owned by the county and will be conveyed to the town in the near future. In Hilton - you'd have to take it onto the street (some of it is now a street). So it's unlikely you'll get to use the ROW as a trail west of Dewey Ave. Some landowners may be open to granting easements, others - not much so.

You guys are worrying about a rail trail? Let's worry about that after the last train rolls to Russel.

-otto-

Scot, CP, nessman:

Thanks for all the info on the Charlotte area including the Stutson St. Plaza. Lived for a couple years over on Point Pleasant. My kids were up one weekend and wanted to see "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", which happened to be playing at the Plaza theatre. So, over we went.

So many changes in that area in the past 30+ years. Appears that more are on the way.

What has been done with the area that once held the Charlotte Dock and the old B&O coal yard? Once took some photos of the dock from around Rattlesnake Point, this shortly after it had been abandoned.

TB Diamond wrote:What has been done with the area that once held the Charlotte Dock and the old B&O coal yard? Once took some photos of the dock from around Rattlesnake Point, this shortly after it had been abandoned.

It's now a part with trails going the length of the Genesee River. The coal dock/trestle is long gone - but the foundations remain.

nessman:

Thanks. Only went down to the dock once when it was active. Caught the B&O job pulling empties off the dock. The B&O man at the office told me to come back tomorrow as they would be loading a ship, but, alas, I did not do so. Leaving, I noticed the "coal thieves" at work in the yard.

Don't be in such a hurry to put a bullet in the head of CSX on the Charlotte Branch, boys. While Russel is going and taking the coal trains with it. I expect the branch to remain in service it's full length. The occassional need for runaround moves, equipment and material headed into Russel for the construction project. And the West yard would make an excellent spot to store those Big Blue boxcars away from any traffic concerns. As far as the Rochester yard goes. Locals still serve industries in Batavia, Fairport, Lyons, Newark, Fox Ridge, Jordan, Henrietta, Macedon, and Gates. Not to mention 6 different customers within the city itself, very busy and important interchange with R&S with outbound salt headed throughout the NorthEast and Central States. Now, I'm not saying the Rochester Yard is going to get busier, in fact it's gunna get some what slower. But that R&S interchange is easy money for CSX and the yard and locals will survive while that business remains.

Roadster, I doubt they'd store cars in the west yard too long before the NIMBYs began objecting. The whole area has turned into a recreational and residential center rather than anything remotely like industrial. I can recall when the west yard had two tracks south of the main - I think those were 4 and 6 - two north of the main, 1 and 3, and IIRC there was the Scales track north of those two. The B&O used to tie in to track 4 and occasionally there were cars interchanged there. (I may be a bit off on the numbering, it's been a long time). The south yard had 1 thru 5 and the Mill, with the Mill being closest to the river. Across the river was the East Yard, which consisted of the siding and the Old Coal. By that time, the north yard had been reduced to a single stub track where they parked locomotives and cabooses for the locals.

I hate to say it, but there are no doubt many people who will be only too glad when the rails are gone. Just what we need, more hiking trails. Ha! You wanna walk, go around the block!

Where was (is) North Yard. Where was East Yard?

DJPaige - The North Yard began just north of the depot and extended northward from there toward the Hojack. I've never seen a good drawing or photo that showed it at its best. By the early '60s I think there were 2 tracks left, neither one very long, and by mid '60s it was down to one.

The East Yard was just east of the swing bridge on the Hojack. Back in the early 1900's there was a large facility there, roundhouse, etc. By the mid '60s all that was left was two double ended sidings one on each side of the main - I can't recall for sure which one was the Old Coal but *think* it was the one to the south.

The Rochester Public Library has an extensive collection of photos on line, some of which show Charlotte. For instance, one was taken from the Stutson St Bridge or near there, looking north. There were tracks right along the edge of the river, I believe there was one stub-ending at the south end of the depot. Beware - some of their captions are incorrect, there are a couple shots of the NYC South Yard, but they are labeled as being the BR&P.

Lastly, I have seen a shot - might be from that Lighthouse preservation group - which is taken from about the depot or bridge looking east across the river. You can plainly see there was a yard directly across the river, you can see cars and I believe even a loco although it's been a few years since I saw the photo. Maybe somebody can do some digging and post a few links to either the Stone photos from the library or the lighthouse folks shots.

roadster wrote:. Locals still serve industries in Batavia, Fairport, Lyons, Newark, Fox Ridge, Jordan, Henrietta, Macedon, and Gates. Not to mention 6 different customers within the city itself, very busy and important interchange with R&S with outbound salt headed throughout the NorthEast and Central States.

The thing is, all those locations are along the mainline, which is going to be there anyways - it doesn't cost them very much more to serve those customers, and there's no way the local government could take over that track for redevelopment, if they wanted to. I'd think CSX would abandon a dead branch with no real traffic potential faster than you'd drop a hot potato.

lvrr325 wrote:

roadster wrote:. Locals still serve industries in Batavia, Fairport, Lyons, Newark, Fox Ridge, Jordan, Henrietta, Macedon, and Gates. Not to mention 6 different customers within the city itself, very busy and important interchange with R&S with outbound salt headed throughout the NorthEast and Central States.

The thing is, all those locations are along the mainline, which is going to be there anyways - it doesn't cost them very much more to serve those customers, and there's no way the local government could take over that track for redevelopment, if they wanted to. I'd think CSX would abandon a dead branch with no real traffic potential faster than you'd drop a hot potato.

No doubt if the Charlotte Runner didn't have Kodak and Russell Station, it would have been sold off or abandoned.

What I'm wondering is when CSX will abandon the Falls Road Industrial that hasn't been used in years - only one customer... a recycling plant... as well as the "old main" that went to the Kleen Brite plant.

Trust me, if there was no reason for the line, CSX would drop it faster than I can press the "enter" key. Food for thought here, is the trackage in the City of Oswego from the Main to the Port has been out of service for a number of years. And low and behold it's now seeing limited service by a local delivering covered hoppers to the pier. Same for the Falls road in Rochester. It's been locked out of service for over 3 years now. I had the duty to operate the last train out to the recycle center and back with 3 empty boxcars. Wether it may be a Federal law which requires a line to be dormant for a specific period of time before abandonment I don't know. Or they maybe just ignoring it, untill the tax base cost more than the value of the property. I don't know.