by SST
The other day I flew to Great Valley. A rather quiet day for the railroads. They only thing that I saw was a single locomotive of the B&P parked near the quarry on 219 just south of Great Valley. While descending into Akron and as we crossed over the CSX main, I caught Amtrak eastbound. That was it.
After that I got the bike out of the car and rode the West Shore east of Rt 93. It's unimproved with heavy ballast. Really hard to ride. I didn't make it very far. But, with fall and leaves coming off the trees, I did find a section of rail still spiked in place. I was surprised.
I'm not sure if this track is/was a siding or the beginning of a double track through Akron. I haven't looked at a map yet. I believe it goes behind Ford Gum and Machining. It is heavily filled with overgrowth and you won't see it during the summer. I had to really crawl around just to find a time stamp. Which was 1917.
On a different note, during September and early October it hadn't rained a whole lot. The large "lakes" of water on the West Shore near Sonwil in Cheektowaga had mostly evaporated. While riding my bike to work I see three spikes. I grab them. Riding up a little further I see a whole bunch more. They were sitting in a remaining puddle in sloppy mud so I didn't grab them at the time. I did go back later and I pulled 10 more spikes and some anchors I think.
I'm usually picky about when I pull stuff off of a line. But with the golf course going in, road work on Genesee St, surveyors on the line, I decided it was better to pull them off then be lost forever. Driving over the WS crossing on Genesee St on Rt33 I see several serveyor stakes in the ground. I'm thinking they are going to pull the rubber mat at some point. I haven't walked the line so I'm not entirely sure how far the stakes go.
After that I got the bike out of the car and rode the West Shore east of Rt 93. It's unimproved with heavy ballast. Really hard to ride. I didn't make it very far. But, with fall and leaves coming off the trees, I did find a section of rail still spiked in place. I was surprised.
I'm not sure if this track is/was a siding or the beginning of a double track through Akron. I haven't looked at a map yet. I believe it goes behind Ford Gum and Machining. It is heavily filled with overgrowth and you won't see it during the summer. I had to really crawl around just to find a time stamp. Which was 1917.
On a different note, during September and early October it hadn't rained a whole lot. The large "lakes" of water on the West Shore near Sonwil in Cheektowaga had mostly evaporated. While riding my bike to work I see three spikes. I grab them. Riding up a little further I see a whole bunch more. They were sitting in a remaining puddle in sloppy mud so I didn't grab them at the time. I did go back later and I pulled 10 more spikes and some anchors I think.
I'm usually picky about when I pull stuff off of a line. But with the golf course going in, road work on Genesee St, surveyors on the line, I decided it was better to pull them off then be lost forever. Driving over the WS crossing on Genesee St on Rt33 I see several serveyor stakes in the ground. I'm thinking they are going to pull the rubber mat at some point. I haven't walked the line so I'm not entirely sure how far the stakes go.
I think I need a substantial increase in horsepower to even accomplish that.
