Massena tips?

I'll be in Massena in a few weeks and was wondering what to see and best places to stop? Will I see anything on a Saturday? I'll be around all day.

I did pick through here: Trains on CSX St. Lawrence Sub (CR's Montreal Secondary)

Thanks for hte help,

Charles

Check the thread "Trains on CSX St. Lawrence Sub (CR's Montreal Secondary)" for some info.

There aren't a lot of trains on the line - maybe 4-6 per day tops, but I'm pretty sure they run every day.

Thanks, but did you see the second line in my post?

If you chase one to Canton, I like this spot.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/44%C2 ... -75.134281" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's a remnant of Route 11 that was bypassed when the underpass went in back around 1930, left in place for the cemetery that's right there. Still has its railroad crossing marking showing on the asphalt even though it hasn't been a crossing in over 85 years, except for a few months in 1949 when it was reopened briefly when they eased the curves under the bridge to improve the road and drainage.

Never been bothered by the farmer there even though it basically amounts to his driveway these days since the cemetery is old and not well visited. There's no street sign, but I assume it remains a dead-end public road and I've never noticed any no-trespassing signs indicating otherwise.

Thanks Leo!

Massena is not too far from Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. If you really want to see lots of trains I would suggest going over the border to Canada and seek out the CN mainline through Cornwall or in that area. You will probably see more trains in two hours there than in Massena all day. You will need a passport for the border but it will be worth it.
Noel Weaver

nydepot wrote:Thanks, but did you see the second line in my post?

Went right by me....

If you're interested in the parts of railroads that don't work anymore, there are several nice things to see:

The depot (freight, I believe) on the south side of the tracks from Depot Street.
The former AGWAY across NY-420 from it.
The relocation project that eliminated grade crossings on the Massena Terminal Railroad:
You have the piers of the old bridge right next to Massena Electric on East Hatfield.
Then it's a power line up to NY-37, and you can see the railbed underneath it.
Off East Orvis Street to the south is Railroad Street that used to have more tracks next to it.
To the north is a footbridge that used to be the at-grade bridge.
East of that is the modern RR bridge, one section of which is made of aluminum, not steel.
You've got a ton of more and less used sidings and spurs within the Alcoa plant. Very little of it is visible from public roads.
Going through the Alcoa plant is a spur that went up to the power project on the St. Lawrence River. You can see it from Dennison Road just north of the power lines and south of the houses. You can also see it crossing NY-131 quite plainly. Not sure what that was for, but I know there was a construction railroad going through Robert Moses State Park. No trace of it remains.
If you make your way out to Helena (east of Massena), you can find where the Grand Trunk crossed the New York and Ottawa. The latter is now just a spur that goes up through Roosevelttown to the former GM engine block plant and Reynolds Aluminum (now shut down after Alcoa bought it and renamed it the Alcoa East plant).
The southern abutment for the southern bridge that crossed the St. Lawrence River is still there. The northern abutment is gone. The railbed going across the island is a road in places. The piers and abutments of the northern bridge are very visible, but you'll want a passport to see that.

Noel Weaver wrote:Massena is not too far from Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. If you really want to see lots of trains I would suggest going over the border to Canada and seek out the CN mainline through Cornwall or in that area. You will probably see more trains in two hours there than in Massena all day. You will need a passport for the border but it will be worth it.
Noel Weaver

NW (and Everyone:)

There ARE other travel documents acceptable to cross the border between the US and Canada:
A New York State or Ontario Provincial Enhanced Drivers License (EDL) for examples are just as valid as a passport for LAND crossings between the US and Canada...
A passport is only absolutely required if one FLIES between the US and Canada. Nothing less will be accepted in those cases.
US and Canada passports are as "good as it gets" when it comes down to the best border crossing documents - no dispute there...

I agree with the thought about Cornwall, Ontario is that it is close by and worth a visit to the CN/VIA and CP main lines. Take advantage of the good US Dollar exchange rate in Canada if you can...

MACTRAXX

Despite plans to allow it at one time, I do not believe that an enhanced driver's license is adequate. It's either a full fledged passport book, or the cheaper passport card that's good for land and sea crossings in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Edit: Judging by all the government sites that say otherwise, the situation must've changed. Was a lot of controversy around here a few years ago when these started being issued about them not being sufficient to cross the border, despite that being the entire point of it.

Something about either the US or Canada was fine with them, but that the other one wasn't.

FYI, I cross 3-4 times a month with an enhanced drivers license

An enhanced NYS driver's licenses is acceptable for crossing the border. I occasionally go to Mississauga/Toronto for work, and my enhanced driver's license works just fine.

Not much for daylight action around Massena - it's definitely a night railroad. Your best bet would be catching a northbound Q621 coming into town in the late afternoon/evening, or a northbound Q192 running early (not due into Massena until the evening, but often runs hours ahead of schedule). Everything else is nocturnal 95% of the time.

A scanner will help immensely: there are numerous defect detectors that have been added recently, crews announce all block station signs on the radio, and they have DTMF remote switches that they line via the radio in Massena.

The crossing at South Main St. is where the action generally is, as northbounds are staged timetable south of the crossing. Southbounds may tie down at Main St. if traffic permits, otherwise they'll pull down into the clear. If they're big enough, they'll pull right down to Jan's Crossing (Brouse Road), but most southbounds tie down out of public sight.

What frequencies should I program?

St Lawrence Sub is 161.070 Mhz for road. I don't remember the dispatcher channel.

Don't know what they use north of Massena.