Rochester NY Questions

scottychaos wrote:
Full map at:
http://www.rochester.lib.ny.us:2080/cgi ... 5913+132+0

Scot

the link above doesnt work..
I always forget those library links are temporary and they "time out"..
such a pain.
To find the full map with the roundhouse, goto: www.libraryweb.org/rochimag/

There are two search windows..use the one on the right side, not the one in the upper left..
type in "Plat map" without the quotes, click "search"..

scroll down to the bottom,
where it says "page 1 of 50" enter 14 instead of 1.
click "go".. dont click "next"
That takes you to page 14 of 50.
Its the second map on the page..map 132.

Scot

With regard to Scottychaos's enumeration of the turntables in the area, where did the Erie turn their engines and doodlebugs around?

erie2521 wrote:With regard to Scottychaos's enumeration of the turntables in the area, where did the Erie turn their engines and doodlebugs around?

hmmm..good question!
I have never seen a photo or a map that shows an Erie turntable in Rochester,
but it stands to reason that there must have been one at one time..steam engines had to be turned..
probably right up in the Erie yard by the station, the current "Corn Hill Landing" area..

I will dig through the city plat maps tomorrow, see if anything turns up.

Scot

Found it!
Erie's Rochester turntable.

1935, page 14 of the Plat map search.





Follow Santiago street in Corn Hill straight to the river..thats where it was.

It looks like the Northbound lane of the current Exchange street runs straight through it.
the original Exchange street was probably the current southbound, westernmost lane only, and the northbound lane was built through the Erie yard after the Erie was gone..

Scot

Trains Magazine for June, 1947 has an eight page article about Rochester as it was at that time. The Lehigh Valley terminal
was entirely over water on the bank of the Genesee River. They had a turntable nearby. The article does not state how the
Erie turned their engines nor does the map show much so I suspect the Erie might have had an arrangement with the
Lehigh Valley to use their turntable.
The B & O had their roundhouse west of downtown where they were right next to the New York Central to the south and
at the time of my retirement in 1997, the building was still standing although no longer used for railroad purposes.
Like the real scene at the time, the article had more about the New York Central operations and facilities than any of the
others.
I don't know if you can find a copy of this magazine but if you can, you will find it interesting.
Noel Weaver

Thanks, Scot. Now that I've seen the map, I remember that is where the steam locomotives were parked between runs.

scottychaos wrote:
It looks like the Northbound lane of the current Exchange street runs straight through it.
the original Exchange street was probably the current southbound, westernmost lane only, and the northbound lane was built through the Erie yard after the Erie was gone..

Scot

(yes I know im replying to myself!

after comparing a modern aerial photo to the above Erie turntable map,
it appears that BOTH lanes of the current exchange street are closer to the river than the original Exchange street,
and today Exchange street runs right straight through the Erie turntable facility.
The city did a major reconstruction of the area after the Erie left town, building the current 2-lane exchange st. right through the old Erie yard.

Scot

There was a lot of railroad improvements everywhere around WWI and Rochester
was no exception.
A 1919 map shows a 11 stall roundhouse at Glascow and Exchange on the Erie.
Across the river the LV had a 5 stall roundhouse .
I need some time to sort out the LV maps and will report back later.

chnaus

Scotty has posted an "all-time" list for roundhouses but I believe there is one missing. If I'm not mistaken, back somewhere about 1900 times NYC (RW&O?) had a roundhouse east of the swing bridge, south of the Hojack main across the river from Charlotte. Anybody have more details? Of course back in that time Charlotte was a separate development, separated from Rochester proper by farmland and woods. But in the context of "greater Rochester" we should include that one.

What's interesting is for years people abandoned cars along a section of canal path in the city, then the city came in and built a road through there. So the cars were smashed flat with a steamshovel and buried nearby. This was in the early 30s. The newspaper clipping was in some LV property files, because the street crossed their ROW and some changes would need to be made. Somewhere I have a bunch of LV prints showing the turntable and facilities there, part of the same files.

BR&P wrote:Scotty has posted an "all-time" list for roundhouses but I believe there is one missing. If I'm not mistaken, back somewhere about 1900 times NYC (RW&O?) had a roundhouse east of the swing bridge, south of the Hojack main across the river from Charlotte. Anybody have more details? Of course back in that time Charlotte was a separate development, separated from Rochester proper by farmland and woods. But in the context of "greater Rochester" we should include that one.

yep! I just got some info about that one..
a turntable AND roundhouse!
sadly no trace on the ground today..its an empty lot at the marina:





Scot

Thanks Jim,
nice find on the Erie roundhouse map!
For some reason, I cant get the big map to open..but I will try again later..
and welcome to the forum!
Scot

jscorse wrote:There was a 50 foot table in 1918. Supposedly, it was later replaced with an 80 footer and the roundhouse torn down.

Thanks for finding this, Jim! This is great information.

-otto-

Hi Jim,

I also want to add my thanks and "Welcome Aboard!"

Charlie