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Lockport Lower Town

Discussion relating to the NYC and subsidiaries, up to 1968. Visit the NYCS Historical Society for more information.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

Lockport Lower Town

  by eddiebear
 
In a late 1950s NYC employee timetable in the engine and car restrictions on the Falls Road, there are references in Lockport to Lower Town. Was this an industrial branch, stub end off a line relocation or what?

Also on the end of the West Shore beyond South Utica, on the M & St L Div. map, there's a thin line called the Clarks Mills Branch. Would this have been a piece of the NYO & W's Rome Branch taken over by NYC?

  by Mr Lehigh
 
Yes, there was a branch that came off the falls line to lowertown. If you look at some of the old topo maps of the area, you can see exactly where it went. The branch veered off the main just west of cold springs cemetery. It went down and crossed the canal about 200 yards east of Lake Ave. After crossing the canal it rode down a impressive wooden trestle next to the canal until it got to ground level in parallel to Van Buren St. Then it made a sharp right going through front yards on Chapel St until it ended it the area of where the Erie branch terminated.

The branch was abandonded by Conrail and the trestle and bridge were torn up in th 80s. I remember having to go under the trestle to cross the canal on Lake Ave. It was considered a traffic hazzard because of the blind turn, so the City tore it out after Conrail abandoned it.

I can't remember what industries it served. But yes, it was an industry stub. Lower town used to have a lot of industry, being next to the only part of the canal in Lockport that wasn't 50 ft. below ground level.

Lockport Lowertown

  by eddiebear
 
Thank you for the information.

  by Mr Lehigh
 
You might find more info on it in the New York State forum.

  by hojackjoe
 
Mr Lehigh wrote:Yes, there was a branch that came off the falls line to lowertown. If you look at some of the old topo maps of the area, you can see exactly where it went. The branch veered off the main just west of cold springs cemetery. It went down and crossed the canal about 200 yards east of Lake Ave. After crossing the canal it rode down a impressive wooden trestle next to the canal until it got to ground level in parallel to Van Buren St. Then it made a sharp right going through front yards on Chapel St until it ended it the area of where the Erie branch terminated.

The branch was abandonded by Conrail and the trestle and bridge were torn up in th 80s. I remember having to go under the trestle to cross the canal on Lake Ave. It was considered a traffic hazzard because of the blind turn, so the City tore it out after Conrail abandoned it.
I can't remember what industries it served. But yes, it was an industry stub. Lower town used to have a lot of industry, being next to the only part of the canal in Lockport that wasn't 50 ft. below ground level.
I grew up on Van Buren St. . The train passed my house twice a day . The indusries it served were a paper mill ( Beaverboard ) and a chemical company ( VanDemarks ) . There was place that made roofing materials ( Flintkote ) but i don't recall any switching going on there . My mother use to tell me how the smoke from the steamers would make a mess of the laundry that was hung out to dry because the line was only 30 - 40 feet from my front door . . I was too young to remember the steam locos but i recall the diesels like it was yesterday . It got to the point where i became friends with the engine crew and they would pick me up at my house & let me ride with them to the old Union Station and my folks would go up there to take me back home .

  by hojackjoe
 
Mr Lehigh wrote:Yes, there was a branch that came off the falls line to lowertown. If you look at some of the old topo maps of the area, you can see exactly where it went. The branch veered off the main just west of cold springs cemetery. It went down and crossed the canal about 200 yards east of Lake Ave. After crossing the canal it rode down a impressive wooden trestle next to the canal until it got to ground level in parallel to Van Buren St. Then it made a sharp right going through front yards on Chapel St until it ended it the area of where the Erie branch terminated.

The branch was abandonded by Conrail and the trestle and bridge were torn up in th 80s. I remember having to go under the trestle to cross the canal on Lake Ave. It was considered a traffic hazzard because of the blind turn, so the City tore it out after Conrail abandoned it.

I can't remember what industries it served. But yes, it was an industry stub. Lower town used to have a lot of industry, being next to the only part of the canal in Lockport that wasn't 50 ft. below ground level.

  by t-croz
 
Actually there were a few more industries in Lowertown.

On VanBuren, there was Ferree Plastics and before that Barden and Robeson (makers of wood caskets and fruit baskets). Barden is now a big home manufacturer. Waaayyy back in the steam era, the Lockport Ice Company existed on VanBuren too.

After the track turned north to Mill Street, there was United Board and Carton at the corner with Clinton (on the creek side) and the other side had Flintkotes Power Generation Station that handled lots of coal from NYC.

A little up the road was Flintkote, that used to take coal before the power plant was built. I assume they took lots of raw materials and shipped building material in boxcars - at least into the 50s. They had big warehouses on Frost Street which were also handled by rail. Unfortunately most of their products were made with Asbestos and the EPA essentially outlawed it in the early 70s. Other factors may have contributed.

Then you get to the corner of Mill Street and North Transit and there were several businesses there. Van De Mark chemicals and Milward Alloy are still in operation and have rail access but the weeds are encroaching and they rarely see a train. Access is off the Somerset railroad. Norton Labs was a healthy industry until the early 1970s and now Twin Lakes Chemical enhabits the buildings and still boasts rail access on their website. On the northwest corner is the former Dewey-Almy plant that was also served by the NYC. They did food wrap and had a product called Cryovac. Late 1940s maps show several sidings and they had a big smokestack, so probably took coal as well.
This location may have been home to a few other companies as well such as Nylok, College Food Products and Niagara Chlorine products but it is hard to find info and city directories did not list addresses for some of these companies...they were all at the corner of Mill and N. Transit.

Lockport has an interesting industrial history.

t-croz

Lowertown

  by hojackjoe
 
Wow , where did you get all of your information from ? . I spent 50 yrs in Lowertown on Van Buren and still don't remember half of the facts you came across. I do remember a bar on Mill St. , ( Sharkeys ) that my dad used to frequent when he got off work at Norton Lab . Come to think of it , i might have had my first brew at that establishment . Ahh , the good ole days . Please let me know where you got your maps ...Thanks !

  by t-croz
 
I have been researching industries in Lockport that were served by the railroad. I caught the railroad bug about the time I moved back to New York from Indiana.
Since I work in Lockport, I started trying to find out who the railroads served.
The best info I've found so far is from the "local history" room at the Lockport Library. Once I found addresses along the line, I looked them up in the City Directories. The library has them back to the 1920s - almost every year. I also picked up some NYC Employee Timetables and found companies in there that had "overhead clearance" listings and that led to other info. I visited the local history museums and did lots of web searches. It is amazing the obscure stuff you find.

I still have lots of questions and pictures I want to find. I am considering contacting former employees of some of the firms.

Glad I could shed dome light on these (mostly) long-gone companies.

T-croz

  by salminkarkku
 
Lockport was one of the few cities in the US which used its streetcar system as a freight S&T network back in the days of the electric railways. The "International Ry" shared the line from North Tonawanda with the Erie and had a loop, passenger terminal and freight yard around Main and Hawley, then an interurban line from that point via Hawley, Grand, Gooding to Lower Town at Mill and so to Olcott Beach. It also owned the freight loop from a junction at Hinman, SW of the terminal, looping around the west of town to a freight yard and a spur to the Olcott interurban. This became the Erie's access to Lower Town.

There was a freight spur from Hawley, along Caledonian to an interchange with a NYC spur from its station at West Lockport. Also, freight was worked along Main to spurs off Locust and East Ave, and there was another yard off Mill, NW of the NYC main station. There was a connection with the NYC Lower Town branch near Olcott, and I think there was another one from the Olcott Beach interurban.

The streetcar line along East Ave also hosted the "Buffalo, Rockport & Rochester" interurban which joined at Beverly.

I'm not sure how much interchange there was between the NYC and IRY, but I think there must have been at least some along Van Buren and eastwards.

I'm drawing a map of all this which I hope will be in the next edition of SPV's "Northeast" railroad atlas.

  by t-croz
 
HoJackJoe,

As the VanBuren industrial siding has long since been removed and most traces of it are long gone, can you explain the path that it took along Van Buren?

Was it down the middle of the street or off to the side along the front of Barden/Ferree (now Niagara Fiberboard) or was it along the canal?

And there seems to be no trace of the railroad bridge over the canal or the trestle? I have not been able to find a decent picture of either. You wouldn't have any would you - or know someone who does?

I have checked "LiveLocal" aerial photos and it is hard to even find evidence of where the route turned to travel up to Clinton/Mill Street. Was it down the middle of Chapel or to one side(SW or NE)?

Thanks.
t-croz

  by hojackjoe
 
t-croz wrote:HoJackJoe,

As the VanBuren industrial siding has long since been removed and most traces of it are long gone, can you explain the path that it took along Van Buren?

Was it down the middle of the street or off to the side along the front of Barden/Ferree (now Niagara Fiberboard) or was it along the canal?

And there seems to be no trace of the railroad bridge over the canal or the trestle? I have not been able to find a decent picture of either. You wouldn't have any would you - or know someone who does?

I have checked "LiveLocal" aerial photos and it is hard to even find evidence of where the route turned to travel up to Clinton/Mill Street. Was it down the middle of Chapel or to one side(SW or NE)?
Thanks.
t-croz

The tracks ran down the canal side of the street . There are still a few tracks in place at the intersection of North Adam & Van Buren ...at the base of the hill . As far as the trestle , nothing remains but a clearing that curves off Van Buren and leads to the canal . It's pretty easy to spot once the leaves are gone . As you proceed down Van Buren , the tracks crossed the road at an angle in front of the Second Presbyterian chuch ( i lived next door to that church ) and ran across church property untill it met Chapel . It then crossed Chapel and ran down the creek side of the street , crossed Clinton , and continued down Chapel till it intersected with Mill street . It then crossed Mill ( creek side ) and continued on thru . Next time your in the area , drive down to the end of Mill street and when you get to the Vanclor plant look to you left , The old trolley bridge spanning 18 mile creek is still there . Pretty cool stuff. Hope i was of help .

  by hojackjoe
 
t-croz wrote:HoJackJoe,

As the VanBuren industrial siding has long since been removed and most traces of it are long gone, can you explain the path that it took along Van Buren?

Was it down the middle of the street or off to the side along the front of Barden/Ferree (now Niagara Fiberboard) or was it along the canal?

And there seems to be no trace of the railroad bridge over the canal or the trestle? I have not been able to find a decent picture of either. You wouldn't have any would you - or know someone who does?

I have checked "LiveLocal" aerial photos and it is hard to even find evidence of where the route turned to travel up to Clinton/Mill Street. Was it down the middle of Chapel or to one side(SW or NE)?

Thanks.
t-croz
Unfortunatly , it never dawned on me ...DUH ! .... that it might be a good idea to take some pictures . I guess when you see something so often you grow acustomed to it and it loses importance . My parents once had a picture of me with the engine crew , but like my youth it's loooooong gone .

  by pablo
 
salminkarkku:

Please explain this quote. I'm not sure I understand what this means:
Lockport was one of the few cities in the US which used its streetcar system as a freight S&T network back in the days of the electric railways.
Dave Becker

  by TB Diamond
 
Back in October, 1987 I did some exploration in lower Lockport. Came across a large abandoned electric generating plant, constructed of brick with a concrete chimney. Peering in a broken window, big stationary steam engines were visible. What was the purpose of this plant and when was it abandoned? Is it still extant? What railroad provided service to the plant?
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