Somerset Coal Trains Done For Good?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/145023225 ... 221673348/

This train was a huge part of a massive layout at a model train show in years past around Upstate NY!

I don't know the shut down date of it, but it just got a load yesterday!
https://youtu.be/8a39kqp2SjY

Workers reached Charlotteville Road in Newfane today (06.14.22).

First three pics looking north of the road



Looking south of Charlotteville Road

I would love to get my hands on some of those ties. My ties from the WS are really getting into bad shape and need replacement. Who is the contractor tearing them up? When I obtained my ties from the WS, RJ Corman was ripping it up. They felt so bad while my brother and I tried to load them into the truck, they came over and gave us a hand.

I'd suggest you get a dozen donuts and a half dozen coffees, stop and give them to the crew, and ask about a few ties. Probably the relay quality they'll have to keep, but maybe a few of the landscape grade could find their way to you. I'd also suggest taking along some photo prints of your display to show them what you are doing with them.

If they tell you GFY, at least you can have coffee and eat donuts on the way back home.

SST wrote: ↑Fri Jun 17, 2022 10:34 am Who is the contractor tearing them up?

I wasn't there when the majority of the crew was there, but I did see a couple heavy duty pick up trucks with crew cabs and work boxes in place of the pick up bed sides. A high-rail truck of this type showed up on the southern section of the rails, on the crossing - no warning signal activation - the driver get out and raised the rail wheels and then drove the truck onto the shoulder of the road. A work truck of this type came down the street (couldn't tell if it had rail wheels tucked under) but 3-4 workers popped out of each truck and they donned high-visibility vests and tools and walked northbound. We were watching from a nearby porch and what looked like the words "Kyle Tracy" and smaller lettering under it was on one of the trucks.

I took the pictures when we were in the pool at my in-laws and I heard them say "they were ripping up the tracks today" and so I jumped out of the pool and shuffled down the shoulder and snapped a few in between work sessions.

With extremely high natural gas prices now, I'm sure the utility is regretting the decision to shut down this coal plant.

ccutler wrote:With extremely high natural gas prices now, I'm sure the utility is regretting the decision to shut down this coal plant.

It's done, gone, decommissioned. Natural gas and coal could be free and it's still not coming back. I don't believe the company arbitrarily decided to shut it down, ever-tightening regulations and restrictions forced their hand. Anything further I have to say would be political so I'll keep it to that.

It's one thing to see them rip up the Podunk and Northern which was built in 1880. But in this case I remember when this line was being planned, and built brand new. At one point they were talking about taking the fly ash out by rail, and somewhere I still have an unused bumper sticker saying something like "HAUL ASH - HOJACK" Oh well...

I'm guessing since some lines languish and succumb to the tin worm and get overgrown for decades - the fact that this one was removed so quickly is because there is a plan:

https://buffalonews.com/news/local/plan ... a1607.html

also came up with the 2020 legal something or other letter asking to be granted abandonment. Skipped over a lot of yadda yadda yadda but there's a map in there

https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 301160.pdf

This would have made for a dandy excursion line, with no other traffic to deal with.

By the way there is a monster pile of ties along Finger Lakes just west of Clifton Springs, maybe they'd let you have or buy some. Pile must be 150 feet long and 12 feet high. Dewey Rd at Lovers Lane.

reading again through that letter https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 301160.pdf for request for abandonment/exemption...when a line is abadonned the white "Exempt" sign shows up on the crossing? If this is true, I was expecting to see an Exempt sign at the crossing before I even parked the car and heard about the removal.

Exempt just means that certain vehicles that normally stop at any crossing don't have to with the exempt sign in place. The closest active line near me has them, as the stretch in question has seen two moves in the last 36 months.

DGC-24711 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 18, 2022 10:07 pm reading again through that letter https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 301160.pdf for request for abandonment/exemption...when a line is abadonned the white "Exempt" sign shows up on the crossing? If this is true, I was expecting to see an Exempt sign at the crossing before I even parked the car and heard about the removal.

The exemption SRC sought has to do with exemption from the two-year review process for abandonment and has nothing to do with exempt signs at grade crossings. Grade crossing exempt status is a state law solely about highway traffic. With the review exemption granted and the track already being removed, the crossings will be gone faster than exempt signs could be approved.

lvrr325 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 18, 2022 3:33 pm This would have made for a dandy excursion line, with no other traffic to deal with.

By the way there is a monster pile of ties along Finger Lakes just west of Clifton Springs, maybe they'd let you have or buy some. Pile must be 150 feet long and 12 feet high. Dewey Rd at Lovers Lane.

There is also a monster pile of ties along Rt219 near Brockway, Pa. Every time I've past it, I always say, "I gotta stop there." Last year, I did. From the street, as your passing by, they look in good shape. I think they were selling for $10/tie. But walking right up next to them they were in worse shape than my WS ties. Rotted to the core. My next goal is to walk into the plant that makes RR ties in Dubois, Pa. I sent them an email a couple years ago....I'm still waiting for a replay.