Gardenville Yard, Cheektowaga NY

Thank you for the add!

I’m one of those folks that feel I was born too late (1968).

The Gardenville Yard in Cheektowaga was pretty much history by the time I was born. My grandparents lived about a quarter of a mile from there. I’ve tried to get pictures of the yard over the internet because I am so curious about the way it looked…so much so that I have decided to model it in HO.

Is there any leads on photos of the yard, and also pictures of the iron high road bridges at Old Union, Losson, Clinton, Como Park, Ludwig Ave and Harlem? ( the last two were in a different yard - Frontier - but were similar in design. I know folks hated them (especially in brutal winter weather) but they were unique. I have downloaded and saved the USG aerial from 1951, and that helps.

Thanks for the folks that have posts about the exploration of the area. I’m feeling you. It must have been a great time to be alive. Hopefully I can capture the past in my model and show folks how great things used to be, and what we’ve lost as an industrial superpower.

Try digging around here:

https://nycshs.omeka.net/browse

Click on Contents to search photographs and maps.

This is INCREDIBLE! Thank you very, very much my friend. This gives me loads of inspiration and ideas for building my HO yard

Glad to be of help when I can, glad you found it useful. There's certainly a LOT of material there.

There were a couple of shots that show the bridges in the background. I used to have a few pictures of the Old Union Road bridge but they were digital and I lost them. The yard was so massive, hard to believe it was there if you look at aerial maps like Google.

That's why I have other maps too. SPV's Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America: Northeast (bought when it was a reasonable price), DeLorme's NY Atlas & Gazetteer etc.

toddsyr wrote:Try digging around here:

https://nycshs.omeka.net/browse

Click on Contents to search photographs and maps.

Geez, thanks a lot! The leaves are untouched in the yard, my wife is mad, and I have accomplished nothing all afternoon because I followed your link! Fair warning - better have a lot of time available when sitting down to check out the pics on that site!

It is a great resource from a great organization . It's not free to provide all of that though. Be nice. If one finds it useful, send a donation, buy something and/or join up. I think I'll sign up now. I've been enjoying their mailing list for a while now so why not.