New York State Railroad Map!

See this thread: http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... re#p591419

It's the "North End Land Co. Branch of the NYC".

Charles

Alcophile wrote:What is the history of the line in Niagara County, it runs from Lewiston to the Falls Road (around Cambria). It seems to bypass the Indian Reservation. It's preplexing as I have never seen it before. Any information? Also, why are'nt any interurbans included?

With the study of Newburgh airport service, any thought to rebuilding the abandoned stretch above Harriman to connect to the CSX stub off of Newburgh? This would be one way of avoiding the West Shore. You could get up to Kingston and New Paltz that way.

Some other interesting possibilities. Using that active stub off of Newburgh, you could connect to Beacon very easily.

A minor quibble: Forestport, on the former NYC Adirondack Division line, is misspelled as "Forrestport".

About 25 miles south of Rochester, in Livingston County, by the N in Livingston there is a short rail line to leaving the Lehigh Valley Hemlock Branch to the north east. I never knew of it. Is it spurious or a spur?

Yes, seems to be a real line. Probably abandoned in the 30's.

The original Hemlock Lake branch of the Lehigh Valley ran straight down to the lake. A couple of miles north of the lake, a spur ran off to the hamlet of Hemlock. This looks to be about where the map has it but as far as I know, it never went farther east than the mill on Route 15A. It certainly didn't go into Ontario County as that map indicates - that would have been some climb!
The junction with that spur was in the form of a wye. The track from the junction down to the lake was OOS early in the 20th century but the track was still there as of 1940. I have never heard when it was pulled up but I would be would be surprised if it lasted through World War II. Whenever it was, it would have been a hard job because some parts of it were covered by trees even in 1940. (Maybe it's still there?) I don't have the date when the track from Hemlock through the junction to Lima was pulled up, but I would guess the 1960's, maybe earlier. Ted

I originally had terminated that branch at 15A in Hemlock, but a source indicated to me that it was at one time extended to Frost Hollow. Sometimes logging railroads were built on crazy steep grades which only lasted a few years.

The Lehigh Valley Railroad line Rochester through Rochester Jct. to Hemlock, NY was known as the Rochester Branch, not the Hemlock Branch. There has been a mistaken assumption that the line was known as the Rochester Branch Rochester-Rochester Jct. and as the Hemlock Branch Rochester Jct.-Hemlock. Not so per LVRR ETT, at least as early as 1949.

The Rochester Branch, Lima-Hemlock, 9.6 miles, was abandoned in 1968 and was torn up by December of that year.

TB Diamond wrote:The Rochester Branch, Lima-Hemlock, 9.6 miles, was abandoned in 1968 and was torn up by December of that year.

Some more information, dated prior to 1974 (search for Hemlock, then search again):
http://russnelson.com/inventory/invento ... ion-4.html

1904 historic topo map shows the wye and spur to Hemlock just west of
what is now NY 15a. That was probably as far as it ever went.

s4ny wrote:About 25 miles south of Rochester, in Livingston County, by the N in Livingston there is a short rail line to leaving the Lehigh Valley Hemlock Branch to the north east. I never knew of it. Is it spurious or a spur?

LV began servicing some former NYC customers in the Honeoye Falls area around 1938 or '39 when the NYC Peanut Line was abandoned between Holcomb and IIRC Caledonia. That is probably the spur you see.

There was a spur that came off the Rochester Branch between the compass south end of the big bridge cut and Monroe Street in Honeoye Falls. This was constructed in 1910 and headed compass east to serve the lower mill. The spur saw little use and was scrapped during WWII.

Informaton from a life long resident of Honeoye Falls.

TB Diamond wrote:The Lehigh Valley Railroad line Rochester through Rochester Jct. to Hemlock, NY was known as the Rochester Branch, not the Hemlock Branch. There has been a mistaken assumption that the line was known as the Rochester Branch Rochester-Rochester Jct. and as the Hemlock Branch Rochester Jct.-Hemlock. Not so per LVRR ETT, at least as early as 1949.

You have your authority, I have mine: http://www.rutlandtrail.org/mapview.cgi ... =3&dot=Yes
Unfortunately, they disagree.

Ergo the source of the repeated mistake. Topos, when it came to official railroad identification, may well have been subject to error.

According to Archer, the Rochester Branch, Rochester Jct.-Rochester, was constructed by the Lehigh Valley Railroad as the Rochester & Honeoye Valley Railroad in 1891. Subsequently, the branch was extended south to Hemlock Lake and this segment was consolidated with the R&HV in 1895 forming the Rochester Southern Railroad, a wholly owned LVRR subsidiary. Why the LV would have split this branch into two separate segments begs reason.

There is nevertheless the possibilty that at some point the LVRR began to refer to the Rochester Jct.-Hemlock line segment as the Hemlock Branch, but I cast my doubts. Will do some futher research on the subject.

As I mentioned in my post above, at least by 1949 the entire branch Rochester through Rochester Jct. to Hemlock was officially known as the Rochester Branch per LVRR ETT Number 15 dated 25 September 1949. Officially here is the key word. I am inclined to believe what is presented in a LVRR corporate document that serves as instructions to railroad empoyees.

TB Diamond wrote:Ergo the source of the repeated mistake. Topos, when it came to official railroad identification, may well have been subject to error.

The USGS uses local sources for names. They no doubt asked people "What do you call that railroad", so it was called the Hemlock Branch. Maybe no railroader was available that day to give them the railroad's name?