Dexter Sulphite Pulp & Paper location?

Again, they had their own in-plant railroad. Assume near Dexter but could be elsewhere. This would be a functioning plant well after WWII. Thanks.

Charles

Dexter & Northern near Dexter, NY. Utilized a Vulcan 0-4-0T No. 12 from 1918 into the mid-1960s when the paper plant closed. The Vulcan was subsequently purchased by the owner of Skyline Park off NY Rt. 17 between Owego and Tioga Center. Idea was to construct a loop and operate the loco as an amusement ride. Understand this never occurred prior to the closure of Skyline in the 1980s. The Vulcan was then sold to Jerry Mead and operated on his Tioga Central out of Flemingville. The locomotive was sold to the railroad museum at Industry in the early 1990s where it remains to this day.

Am sure a more complete dissertation will be forthcoming from other members of RR.net.

I believe https://www.historicaerials.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; perhaps has what you need here. There's a wye off the NYC branch on the topographical maps. The site isn't working so great for me right now, but the yard at the end is approximately here.

44.008630, -76.037723

Looks like there was also a bridge to Fish Island. I bet when the location is confirmed, that it's going to be on this island.

44.005937, -76.040853

The abandoned right of way to the NYC is clearly visible to the east of the yard, along with another right of way that's labeled "Electric R.R." on older maps. I assume that was the interurban from Watertown.

Is this it?

https://b-m.facebook.com/story.php?stor ... 3178856034" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The contemporary picture would put it at approximately 44.004780, -76.042665.

These images would appear to put the mill not on Fish Island, but a tad downstream:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/497014508853129720/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That would put the mill here: N 44 0' 22" W 76 2' 55"

As a sidelight, the village of Dexter rebuilt the street in the "square." In the process, they dug up a lot of rail, likely from the streetcar line, but possibly also from the railroad. I took a couple of pictures of the pile of rail, but have no idea where they are.

So that one was called Dexter Sulphite Pulp & Paper?

There were three paper mills in Dexter, I believe. All appear to be served by the same connection to the Central. There's the one you've pictured on the West side of the highway bridge, and two just out of view on the opposite side of the bridge in your photo, on the two halves of Fish Island.

There was the first mill that I first linked to, which lasted well into the postwar years and was ran by the Sulfite Corporation (Which is why I thought I had a match with the timeline and a similar plant name). This one was pictured on Fish Island in that picture I linked to, since the power dam is a match.

And there was a second on Fish Island that was operated by the Sulfite Corporation until just after WWII, when they sold it after acquiring the mill I first linked a picture of. It was bought by the Frontenac Paper Corporation before being destroyed shortly afterwards by arson.

Here's a picture of Fish Island.

https://www.facebook.com/dexternyhistor ... =3&theater" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The one in the northwest of the island is the one pictured in the Facebook post that I first linked to, that was acquired by the Sulfite Corporation postwar. The one to the southeast on the other half of Fish Island is the one destroyed by fire around the late 1940's.

The rail bridge to the island can be seen to the east as can the connection to the other half of Fish Island, which is primarily why I'm linking to it if the subject of the thread is the 3rd mill to the west. And if it's of any interest to anyone, the truss span in the NW corner of the island, which was left in place on the old highway alignment to enable access to Fish Island when the new bridge was built, is closed and in its last days. So if anyone wants to see it before it's gone, best hurry.

Looking through Historic Aerials at the topo maps may just confuse things, but here goes.

Most of the maps appear to have used the same imagery up until 1960. One major exception is noted below.

Those maps show the yard on the east side of town, but don't show any rails (NYC or trolley) reaching into "downtown" Dexter. As I mentioned, I know there were rails there as I saw where they had been dug out during the roadwork at the "triangle."

The 1943 map, however, shows rails running all the way to the plant on the west side of the village, possibly both NYC and trolley. It depicts three tracks in a sort of a yard on the south side of the building.

Histories of the trolley line make a point of the trolleys going to the Dexter mill(s). It does look like the trolley line went to the mill on the west side as well.

The 1960 topo map shows the line as largely abandoned, but does depict it as reaching the west side mill. Street running may have been a reality on what is now Water Street.

I caught that topographical map showing the west plant being served by rail a little bit earlier, too. I was wondering earlier how a paper mill existed at that time without rail service (Even today, that's a rarity), and it was partly why I wasn't sure the west plant was the right one here.

Is it technically a trolley, or would interurban be more accurate to describe the electric passenger service? Country running is associated with interurbans, obviously. But the run was relatively short and if speeds were lower and they were using equipment more associated with streetcar lines, referring to it as an interurban like I was doing might be inaccurate

And if the thread starter doesn't mind this sidetrack, is it accurate to assume this electric passenger line shared the New York Central branch line for a portion of its trip or at least had its trackage directly adjacent to the Central? The topographical maps make me believe that might be the case.

I know that between the villages of Brownville and Dexter the two were widely separated, but that shows up on the topo maps.

I suspect that they did not share any rail. The trolley likely included some street running through Brownville and Glen Park

This map shows the trolley line being mostly on the south side of Main Street from Watertown through Brownville:
http://rutlandtrail.org/gmap.cgi?black- ... y.ny.track

There are a bunch of historical photos at this site - several show the trolleys or at least the tracks.

https://www.pinterest.se/pin/497014508850397027/

Ain't railroad archaeology fun?

tree68 wrote:These images would appear to put the mill not on Fish Island, but a tad downstream:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/497014508853129720/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That would put the mill here: N 44 0' 22" W 76 2' 55"

This was at the Sulphite Pulp & Paper factory.

https://www.facebook.com/dexternyhistor ... =3&theater" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.facebook.com/dexternyhistor ... =3&theater" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It can be seen in the photo that you've posted, proving that this is the correct factory.