Boxcar in Seneca Lake

apparently there is an old boxcar IN Seneca lake!
half-submerged..been there for many decades..possibly since the 1930's..
off of Salt Point, west side of the lake, just north of Watkins Glen..
anyone ever seen it?

here is where I found out about it:

http://www.rypn.org/interchange/viewtop ... _view=flat

that thread is mostly about a PRR steam engine sunk in a quarry in Pennsylvania, but I asked about the boxcar,
here is the reply from JimBoylan:

"Salt Point, N.Y. is about a mile North of Watkins Glen on the PRR's Northern Central, now Finger Lakes Rwy. A few feet North East of the U.S. Salt plant is an old 40 foot long roofwalk boxcar body upright in less than 30 feet of fresh water. One local legend is that it sank in the hurricane of 1937!
It's an easy shore dive IF you can get access from the salt mine property. Otherwise, its a long swim from the Captain's Quarters Motel dock, or use a boat."

Scot

edit..
well, 30 feet would mean its FULLY submerged I suppose..
I was thinking part of it might be stickng up above the surface..probably not though..
still, I wonder if it might be visable from the shore..
would definately be visable from a boat if the water was clear enough..
I know the finger lakes have spells of crystal clear water and spells of very cloudy water..depends on the season.

any divers up for a cold water dive sometime? I'm assuming most of the wreck will be gone after 60+ years in only 30 ft of water, but it would make an interesting afternoon some august or september day.

from my experience, I doubt you would be able to see anything from the surface. I'll look around for some maps if anyone is interested

The finger lakes are not usually very clear,
but I was quite amazed this past summer to find both Cayuga and Keuka lakes CRYSTAL clear!
it was amazing!
At my Aunt & Uncle's cottage on Cayuga lake, the bottom of the lake was clearly visable at the end of a long dock..water was easily 20 feet deep.
never seen it that clear in my life.
And while photographing the B&H station in Hammondsport, Keuka lake was also looking amazingly clear..
Seneca however I have never noticed quite so clear..but I havent paid much attention to its clarity either..
I would say of the odds of having good visability in Seneca lake are about 25%..but it could be clear at certain times of year..
Seneca has a nasty personality, she is usually not kind.

it has to with seasonal churning of the water layers..(different temps of diffferent layers.)
Lake Ontario is also very clear at times, and has zero visability at other times..

Scot

Off topic, sorry, but the Finger Lakes get clearer every year with the Zebra Mussel population booming. That is why Skaneatles Lake is so clear and "dead". Someone might have an easy time locating the boxcar with the clarity at the lake.

Charles

Is there salt content in the lake? Would wonder what would be left of a car submerged in salty water for 70 years!

-otto-

....Otto, as the water is actually a fresh water lake. But there are many salt deposits from Syracuse west through the Finger Lakes region. There are wells and mines to get the salt out. So it would stand to reason that their might be salt in the water at least in some places but certainly not enough to make them salt water lakes. They are deep though. Navy has tested sonar on Cayuga and Senaca Lakes for years as the depths are hundreds of feet in some places. A good place to hide a train.

By the way, also clicked onto the PA net sites mentioned above and found some very interesting discussions about submerged rail equipment.

Otto Vondrak wrote:Is there salt content in the lake? Would wonder what would be left of a car submerged in salty water for 70 years!

Seneca Lake is a fresh water lake. Any increase in salinity from the salt mine would certainly get the EPA's attention.

As for the boxcar itself - odds are the only thing left is the frame, trucks and wheels as boxcars from that era were likely made with wood floors, walls and roofs. With the Zebra mussel problem - it's likely the remains are covered in them.

Was there ever a shipping pier there or a carfloat operation in Seneca Lake? It would explain how it got there.

...some kind of shipping pier or end of track. No float operations that I know of but barges loaded for the NYS BARGE CANAL or earlier ERIE CANAL. Most likely the car was either shoved off end of track or rolled off sideways from main as it goes up the hill. Salt is heavy, very heavy, and when overloaded in a car the car becomes top heavy and prone to sway. Was aboard a train one night, in the cab, heading up the hill out of Watkins Glen, when I looked back and saw the top heavy loaded cars swaying way out of line. Engineer brought train down to less than 10 mph immediatley.

I seem to recall that this boxcar is mentioned in "The Elmira Branch", but I could be completely wrong.

Does anybody know if the Lake is frozen over yet? I have extra cash to burn some avgas.

Seneca lake almost never freezes over..
even in the harshest of winters.
(because she is so deep..)
this winter has been unusually mild, so I would safely bet that Seneca lake has NO ice cover whatsoever at this moment.
Scot