Somerset Coal Trains Done For Good?

While you might be able to convince someone to "sell" you some old creosoted RR ties to take home for your landscaping project, doing so is prohibited by the NYS DEC. See https://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/42394.html

Key section as it pertains to creosote railroad ties:

"If the railroads or utility companies maintain control or ownership of the materials, the wood treated with creosote can be repaired, reused or stockpiled for reuse. These items can also be sold or marketed to other exempt entities for reuse. However, the items must continue to be used for their intended purpose. For example, a railroad company can sell railroad ties to another railroad company for reuse as railroad ties, but, if the item is unable to be repaired or reused, it must be disposed of as waste in a permitted landfill or combustion facility."

My guess is if a stranger came up to a crew and asked to buy some of the old ties, they would probably be told no for this reason. Your mileage may vary.

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

In theory, yes. In reality, there are already 7 excursions within a two hour radius of Lockport:

1. Medina RR Museum
2. Buffalo Cattaraugus & Jamestown Scenic Railway
3. New York & Lake Erie RR
4. Arcade & Attica RR
5. Finger Lakes Railway (expanding into Himrod soon, too)
6. Rochester & Genesee Valley RR Museum
7. New York Museum of Transportation

Profit margins for excursions are thin in the best of times. Slicing the pie into smaller pieces won't grow it. As I learned with the original B&H RR mainline, it would be nice to save everything... but that simply isn't possible.

jurtz wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 10:16 am While you might be able to convince someone to "sell" you some old creosoted RR ties to take home for your landscaping project, doing so is prohibited by the NYS DEC.

Makes me think of the sign on Route 31 in Cambria in front of a farm that says "RR ties for sale". Probably scooped them from the edge of the CSX ROW adjacent to the farmers field across the street.

That’s an interesting article from the Buffalo news. I just rode my bike north from Niagara Falls to the escarpment at Lewiston. I didn’t go down cuz I new I wouldn’t make it back up. But if they make all these trails it will be nice to explore them. Maybe now they’ll catch up with NW Pennsylvania. They have extraordinary RR trails.

ccutler wrote: ↑Sat Jun 18, 2022 5:45 am With extremely high natural gas prices now, I'm sure the utility is regretting the decision to shut down this coal plant.

NY deregulated utilities back in 1999 - this required them to sell off their generation assets to other companies - who then sell the power back to the utilities at wholesale prices. This was done to increase competition and lower energy costs to consumers.

That said - natural gas prices tend to go up during peak demand season - typically hot summer days and cold winter days. This works out for the generation companies in that they're being paid more per megawatt/hour - and nuclear, wind, solar and hydro generators who have fixed fuel costs get a nice boost in their MW/h rate.

It may certainly be a boon to Somerset if they were still operating, but coal is a commodity just like natural gas, and fuel prices can fluctuate wildly based on supply and demand as well... so summer peak generation season isn't as profitable as it may seem.

jurtz wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 10:16 am While you might be able to convince someone to "sell" you some old creosoted RR ties to take home for your landscaping project, doing so is prohibited by the NYS DEC. See https://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/42394.html

Key section as it pertains to creosote railroad ties:

"If the railroads or utility companies maintain control or ownership of the materials, the wood treated with creosote can be repaired, reused or stockpiled for reuse. These items can also be sold or marketed to other exempt entities for reuse. However, the items must continue to be used for their intended purpose. For example, a railroad company can sell railroad ties to another railroad company for reuse as railroad ties, but, if the item is unable to be repaired or reused, it must be disposed of as waste in a permitted landfill or combustion facility."

My guess is if a stranger came up to a crew and asked to buy some of the old ties, they would probably be told no for this reason. Your mileage may vary.

Actually I believe the person looking for some intends to use them on a short piece of display track, so they would continue to be used as railroad ties.

Matt Langworthy wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 6:14 pm

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

In theory, yes. In reality, there are already 7 excursions within a two hour radius of Lockport:

1. Medina RR Museum
2. Buffalo Cattaraugus & Jamestown Scenic Railway
3. New York & Lake Erie RR
4. Arcade & Attica RR
5. Finger Lakes Railway (expanding into Himrod soon, too)
6. Rochester & Genesee Valley RR Museum
7. New York Museum of Transportation

Profit margins for excursions are thin in the best of times. Slicing the pie into smaller pieces won't grow it. As I learned with the original B&H RR mainline, it would be nice to save everything... but that simply isn't possible.

The idea would have been to get the Medina trains on their own dedicated line which eliminates a lot of issues with a shared line. That's all.

lvrr325 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 10, 2022 3:14 am The idea would have been to get the Medina trains on their own dedicated line which eliminates a lot of issues with a shared line. That's all.

Falls Road runs what, 3 days a week? Plenty of time to share the line with an excursion operator.

Riding over that massive trestle off the escarpment would be cool, as the dignitaries most likely did 40 years ago when the line opened. My father in law says they were waving off the back of a passenger car as they passed his house.

That line was CWR?

BR&P wrote: ↑Wed Jul 13, 2022 6:29 am That line was CWR?

It was CWR, yes indeed.

charlie6017 wrote:It was CWR, yes indeed.

Unless it was totally worn out, that probably has decent value to someone. Have they had a rail train down there to load it out?

BR&P wrote: ↑Thu Jul 14, 2022 7:06 pm

charlie6017 wrote:It was CWR, yes indeed.

Unless it was totally worn out, that probably has decent value to someone. Have they had a rail train down there to load it out?

Handful a trains a week in its heyday - I'd say "gently used"... unsure if it was relay or new when it was built in the 1980's.

BR&P wrote: ↑Thu Jul 14, 2022 7:06 pm

charlie6017 wrote:It was CWR, yes indeed.

Unless it was totally worn out, that probably has decent value to someone. Have they had a rail train down there to load it out?

Didn't hear about that, but I found a video of the removal process. I don't know what picked up the rail.
https://youtu.be/h5c_QQQcz9w

Another year almost to the date of the rails being removed were the gates taken down. The crossing has an asphalt patch (the south bound view) over the top.

Here's north bound and south bound at the Charlotteville Road, Newfane.