LV Mainline Relocation at West Danby

I borrowed a copy of Archer's LV book.

He has a picture in his book of a line relocation at West Danby.

Is any of the original LV line through there still visible?

Thanks,

Chris

PS: Great book!!

Chris,
it is a great book!
I just went and grabbed my copy to see what photo you were referring to..
(page 120)

yes, that stretch of LV is still in use.
its the line between Sayre & Ithaca..
still used by NS.

I dont know how much they relocated though!
or why..
the photo in the book isnt dated, but based on the style of the locomotives I would guess 1890-1910.

here is the 1895 topo map..
doesnt show us much:
http://historical.maptech.com/getImage. ... g&state=NY

hey wait!
I found it!
open the 1895 map..
now open this modern map:
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n= ... ayer=DRG25

on the 1895 map, just south of the "D" in Danby, the tracks curve to the East around a hill, and they follow the stream.

on the modern map, the tracks go the WEST side of that hill, and away from the stream..
cool!
I wonder why they did that?
probably an easier grade, or maybe the stream was causing problems..

if you look really close, you can just make out thin traces of the old ROW on the NYS aerial site:
cant see the whole thing, but you can make out the divergence on the north side, and if you squint, you can almost convince yourself the whole thing is visable!
http://www1.nysgis.state.ny.us/MainMap.cfm

might be worth a walk out there!
would be cool to try to find the exact location of the photo in the book.
that hill in the background is probably still about the same..

Scot

Interesting question! I remember seeing that photo (I own the book).

I looked at the relevant topo (W Danby 1:24 000) using the excelllent Topo! program (National Geographic -- all the NY USA on one CD for only $99 and it runs on the Mac too!). Sorry, I don't know how to paste it here. Anway, there is no evidence for another grade except just S of W Danby station (road), where it looks like a new cut (the one in the photo?) was made through some of that glacial gravel, to avoid what looks like an original grade with much more curvature which follows Cayuga Inlet more closely to the E. (The line follows the inlet uphill). I'm pretty sure this is it. I'll go out and check, I've never walked that part of the line, and it gives me a good excuse.[/img]

Hey, we were researching at the same time! Yes, that's the same place I found, but my map quality is much better (not that jagged pixelated stuff from MapQuest).

BTW don't trust the 1890's - 1900's topos too much. They were made with plane tables and field survey, not aerial survey (duh!) and there are some well-known gross errors ("Lost Gorge" by Alpine Junction being the most famous).

Thanks for the maps!!

I have a couple of LV questions in the PA forum.

Chris