FGLK Route History - ex-PRR

Montour Falls-Watkins Glen, 2.13 miles application for abandonment 10-12-83. Dismantle approval date was 07-21-86.

Horseheads-Montour Falls, 16.2 miles, abandoned in 1975 account washout.

Hall-Seneca Castle abandoned in 1978

Bellona-Hall abandoned in 1982.

Bellona-Seneca Castle was operated under the NYS LDL subsidy program 1977-1978. Total subsidy for 1977 amounted to $126,927.00.

Paul, I don't normally question your information because A. you have considerable resources and B. you were there to witness alot of things I was too young to see. With that being said, I checked out the Conrail system maps at http://www.multimodalways.org/archives/ ... 0Maps.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and noticed that Horseheads-Montour segment was in place until 1981. Were the CR maps erroneous?

Valid questioning and thank you.

Did further research and find a ICC Date NIR for the Watkins Glen Secondary Holding Point MP 3.57-Montour Falls MP 13.97 of Oct. 5, 1983 with a track dismantle approval date of Dec. 10, 1984.

One can therefore assume the 1975 washout was repaired and the track placed back in service rather than being abandoned.

The E-L had trackage rights over the Elmira branch HO-Watkins Glen so possibly one reason the repairs were made was to accommodate these rights.

There was a derailment a couple miles south of Montour high up on the bank - IIRC a couple of loaded boxcars and a hopper went into the woods around the time of the '75 washout. They laid there down the bank for years and may still be there (might have been buried in place). That was pretty much the last straw for the Elmira Branch. I don't recall seeing any trains north of the Holding Point after the winter of '76/77 and the line lay out of service until it was approved for removal. I do seem to recall seeing a couple of track cars going north from Horseheads a couple of times during that time, probably just taking notes for the impending abandonment. The last couple years the brush was too thick for anything to pass. There was also very little traffic to Shepard-Niles in Montour for the last few years before that segment was removed - just a gon or two, and IIRC the scrap trains used the S-N siding for their operation. My grandfather retired from S-N.

Looks like from Watkins Glen High School to Montour Falls, and again a block south of the frieght station is now a hiking trail, the Catharine Valley Trail. Has a couple of bypasses but takes you to within a mile of the Holding Point. I did see one kind of odd curve to it that may be the result of just grading a path through a washed out area.

That C&O pool power shot is interesting. It's entirely possible then that Finger Lakes 1751 could have been to town once before, when it was C&O 6128.

TB Diamond wrote:Valid questioning and thank you.

Did further research and find a ICC Date NIR for the Watkins Glen Secondary Holding Point MP 3.57-Montour Falls MP 13.97 of Oct. 5, 1983 with a track dismantle approval date of Dec. 10, 1984.

One can therefore assume the 1975 washout was repaired and the track placed back in service rather than being abandoned.

The E-L had trackage rights over the Elmira branch HO-Watkins Glen so possibly one reason the repairs were made was to accommodate these rights.

You're welcome. I agree with the EL theory. PC may have also preferred to keep the Horseheads/Southport area traffic on its own rails. I was very disappointed to discover (circa 1985 or '86) the rails had been removed in Montour Falls. Given the lack of traffic between the salt mines and Holding Point, the abandonment made more sense to me when I got older.

lvrr325 wrote:That C&O pool power shot is interesting. It's entirely possible then that Finger Lakes 1751 could have been to town once before, when it was C&O 6128.

Interesting indeed! Does anyone know how long that power pool lasted?

That 5944 will confuse some folks - looks like a GP9 with the air brake compartment door from a GP7.