• Erie Pine Bush Branch

  • Discussion relating to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, the Erie, and the resulting 1960 merger creating the Erie Lackawanna. Visit the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society at http://www.erielackhs.org/.
Discussion relating to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, the Erie, and the resulting 1960 merger creating the Erie Lackawanna. Visit the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society at http://www.erielackhs.org/.

Moderator: blockline4180

  by tabcourt
 
Does anyone know of any existing video available of this branch? How about contemporary photos? I have seen ancient pics such as what is featured in "The Next Station will Be..." but have not seen shots from the 50s, 60, 70s.etc.

Mark

  by DH7409
 
I saw some a few years ago at a slide show, but I can not remember the of the guy who had them. He had several of an ex EL Geep on the line with CR stencils. Even had a shot at the RT17 Grade crossing. Sorry I can't be of much help, but there is something out there.

tim
  by LV-western-ny
 
How I wish now I'd had taken photos but as an 11 year old in the summer of 1977 into other hobbies,
I had little concept about the loss of trackage beginning to occur in northeast railroads.
I remember crossing this branch via highway route 17 heading west toward Middletown in August of 77, travelling from western NY back (where grew up) to Connecticut.
I remember large overhead yellow warning signs over the highway and flashing yellow lights, I believe about a mile away
(not certain).
The crossing was protected by
- crossbuck in each direction - one crossbuck was at a 90 degree angle and the opposite one was the retro slanted style ><.
- 2 traffic lights in each direction on overhead wires - they were green & we crossed very fast.

I remember crossing the location again on another trip to visit family in august 1981 and the only evidence left was faded white RXR paint on rte 17 and the trail crossing the highway.
Today even that is not visible, however the ROW can be seen heading toward Pine Bush ...
If anyone has info that would be great
  by tabcourt
 
Let's resurrect this request for 2009. Any videos out there? I have seen stills from the great Douglas Barberio as part of his excellent Powerpoint presentations, but never video. Maybe this can motivate someone with some old 8mm movies to transfer them to a digital format and post them. (Pretty please?)
  by OWarrowman93
 
My name is Harrison, I'm new to this forum, but my 2 cents:

I think I have found the state 17/ Interstate 86 crossing point everyone (including my father) were mentioning. While I may not have seen the line running, google maps confirms this location is what is left of the crossing. The RoW is pretty hard to see, but I would doubt it is there somewhere.

Here is an aerial view from Bing Maps: http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v ... New%20York___

Here is the google maps street view: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

If neither works, it is visible on aerial photograph, north of State 302 Pine Brush Rd. interchange, but south of the Sands Rd overpass, with a guardrail + route sign on the northbound side, and a billboard on the southbound side.

Is this former crossing of teh Erie Pine Bush Branch, or is it O&W?
  by tabcourt
 
Neither link works by the way. The crossing was former Erie which had trackage rights over O&W from Middletown towards Fair Oaks where the branch split off from the mainline. The Rt. 17 crossing was a pretty dangerous one and there was one fatality involving a state trooper. Amazing there weren't more incidents there as this crossing was "protected" by only flashing lights and signage. The area of the switch and branch track is mostly swampy and underwater.