The West Shore in Buffalo

The other day I did some biking along the remaining portain of the WS from Genesee St [rt33] to Transit Rd [78] to Harris Hill Rd in Clarence which enters Buffalo Crushed Stone.

I don't know if this is the beginning of the rails being ripped up on the last section of railed row or not but inside the fence of BCS they pulled everything up. It was interesting to notice though that they didn't rip it up. It seemed as though the "gently" pulled everything out. The rails are in a pile. The rail ties are neatly stacked in three piles. I expected to see them broken and thrown into a pile of rubble. The ballast on the row was re-groomed. No new stone added.

The rails are intact from Harris Hill west to Dick Rd. I guess this is the final end to "rail service" on the WS. I had always hoped that someone would come to their senses and do something with it.

Looks like a scrapper is pulling up the line. The rails, spikes and tie plates are worth about $150/ton. In other words, a 39' stick of 105# rail will fetch about $102... meaning a mile of track is worth $27,618 just for the rails alone. Ties in good condition are set aside for re-use on branch lines and yards. Same with the rails - if they aren't scrapped, they're resold on the secondary market for reuse in yards, spurs and branch lines.