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  • Looking For 'old' Bath & Hammondsport RR list of industr

  • Discussion pertaining to the past and present operations of the LAL, the WNYP, and the B&H. Official site: LALRR.COM.
Discussion pertaining to the past and present operations of the LAL, the WNYP, and the B&H. Official site: LALRR.COM.

Moderator: Luther Brefo

 #24124  by bobgroh
 
I'm building up information on B&H RR circa 1940's and 1950's and I am particularily interested in exactly what kind and type of freight they actually handled - what it was, what particular industry it was coming from or going to, etc. The wineries are kind of a given so more interested in the 'other' stuff - Mercury Aircraft, farm goods, lumber yards, coal, etc. Any info appreciated. Thanks!

 #31001  by joshuahouse
 
Firstly, you might want to try posting this in the NY State forum as well. Second, I can most likely send you a few arial photos of the coal yard and the area around the 'beach' dating to that period (perhaps a little before) sometime next week if you'd like them.

 #31044  by bobgroh
 
I would certainly like to have some photos. You can send them to <[email protected]>. I also assume you mean the 'New York State' forum on this net??? Thanks for your reply.
 #94082  by Matt Langworthy
 
The B&H served Lane Pipe in Bath during the '50s- I have a picture of #11 hauling a large load of culvert pipe on one of her last runs. (By the way the shop is still there but the spur was removed during the early '80s). The B&H also used to have a spur that diverted from the line near the county jail. That spur curved until it was parallel to Mt. Washington Rd. and crossed Rt. 54 to reach Westinghouse (now North American Phillips). By the time I saw that spur for the 1st time in the mid '70s, it also served Shirley's Lumber, but I don't know if that business existed back in the '40s or '50s. That spur was removed by 1978. There was also lcl service to the depot which lasted until about 1982. The Erie was big on lcl service, and it continued onto into the EL era... The B&H also had a team trakc next to the engine house, which remained active until the early '90s.
Hopes this helps!

Sincerely,
Matt Langworthy
 #94212  by bobgroh
 
Thank you, Matt! Another neat bit of info to add to my stockpile. I just got a couple of spreadsheets of data from a gentleman in Rochester which I have to include. I copied your material on a document I am building up.

By the way, I recently bought a bunch of postcards with the B&HR station pictured on it and I am giving away a limited number of them to anyone who wants one. He or she just has to send me a SASE and a note outlining what their interest in the B&HR is (the latter just for my own interest!). If you are interested, you can mail the SASE to:
Bob Groh
420 NE Sunview Circle
Blue Springs, MO. 64014
 #96339  by Matt Langworthy
 
I'm glad you liked my last post. I can also shed some light on the team track in Hammondsport. This is based on what I saw there in the '70s and '80s, so I can only surmise that freight patterns were similar in the '50s (if a bit more frequent).

Some farm products shipped in gondolas, including grape stakes and coils of wire for the vineyards. They were most frequent in the spring but I saw them virtually any time the ground wasn't frozen. This lasted until the team track was removed circa 1992. Gold Seal Winery also used that spur regularly. Their original complex was on the side of a hill on the west side of Keuka Lake about 4 mi north of H'port. Thus Gold Seal had limited space for shipping there so they sent trucks down to the team track to load/unload boxcars and reefers there. That lasted until the summer of '84, when Gold Seal closed its original facility and moved into the Taylor/Great Western complex.

Hope this helps so more!

The TOFC ramps in H'port weren't built until the '60s.
 #96418  by bobgroh
 
Thanks, Matt. I added your new comments to a running commentary I am building in a 'Word' document. Some expectation of getting back to the western NY area this summer - maybe with a little bit of luck I will get a chance to prowl around Hammondsport a bit and try to get everything straightened out in my mind.
 #96691  by Matt Langworthy
 
Unfortunately, the remains of the waterfront yard in H'port are fenced off so it's impossible to access it. Last I knew, the rails were still in place to the enginehouse and are weed-covered due to lack of activity during the past decade. The spur next to the warehouse was removed in 1997. There is ALOT of local controversy regarding this piece of land, and I'm not exactly sure what it's future holds. Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but hopefully this will help you so your time isn't wasted. Believe me, I know the meaning of short vacations, or none at all!
 #110437  by EHBLABEY
 
I first visited the B&H in the mid-60's shortly after J.A. (Tony) Hannold took over as VP/GM . At that time, the principal customer was the Taylor/Great Western Winery at Rheims, a station two miles from Hammondsport. Inbound traffic to Taylor/Great Western included such items as tank cars of Algerian wine (for blending with local vintages), grape brandy (to raise the alcoholic content of sherries and ports), bottles, and stakes for the vineyards. Outbound wine and champagne was shipped to receivers like the New Hampshire state liquor stores warehouse and other to big distributors. Small shipments of wine were shipped by lcl or REA express (carried in the side door caboose to Bath). At that time, Gold Seal Vineyards was also a big producer of New York Wine and Champagne. They had a winery up the west side of Keuka Lake that wasn't rail served, however Gold Seal used a warehouse near the B&H enginehouse to store the product they intended to ship by rail.
Lane Pipe in Bath had ceased to be a customer by the time I got there - although Tony held out hope he could get that business back. My recollection is that the track to the Sylvania plant was also out of service.
E. H. Blabey II
Chairman/CEO B&H Rail Corp.

 #110450  by joshuahouse
 
If the track to Sylvania was no longer used by then they can't have used it for more then 15-20 years. I'll have to hunt up those photos of the water front that I promised so long ago, I'm certain I have copys here somewhere.
 #110566  by bobgroh
 
Thanks to everyone for the additional information on the B&H. I'm rapidly coming up on retirement (2 weeks but who's counting!) and I hope to start pulling it all together. Got a couple of pages of information From Dick Honeyman from the Rochester area - traffic sources from the 20's and 30's (Eire RR in Bath) and a great list of traffic on a track location basis. Plus topo map information, the article in Trains Magazine (December 1946) and some more. The layout is coming into view!

Happy train watching to all.

Bob Groh
 #111501  by Matt Langworthy
 
Josh, you have pics of the waterfront when the B&H still used it? I only have a few pics myself. Growing up there, I loved the B&H but I also took it for granted. Despite the downward spiral of the wineries, I thought Stan Clark's excursion train would be allowed to operate there. That was a common thought among the local residents 1990-'92, and the newspapers echoed that sentiment. Thus I moved away without taking the comprehensive photo survey the yard deserved. As the saying goes, if I only knew then what I know now! So let's see the pics!!! :-D

Thanks Mr. Blabey, for your recollections.
 #112092  by Matt Langworthy
 
Brooks, you are the man! Thanks for the website info. The photo taken of the S-1 in H'port was probably in '91. If you look to the left, you can see one of passenger cars that would eventually wind up on Stan Clark's Champagne Railroad. I took four photos of #5 in the yard in August of '91, when it became apparent that I would have to leave town to find FT employment. Sadly, those are the only pics I have of the waterfront yard, and I must have been there (no exaggeration) at least 500 times between 5/76 and 9/91. Moral: never take your favorite rail line for granted. What's here today might be gone in the future...

When I get set-up with a scanner, I'll post my pics of the yard, along with some photos of #5 switching at Taylor/Great Western (circa '82 or '83) and a few postcards I've had in my collection since the late '70s. If I can afford it, I might even set-up my own web-site.

 #112113  by joshuahouse
 
Was there public swimming down there before 1991? I've only lived here since 1995 and the park was open but there were still tracks around the depot then. BTW the caboose is at the museum now undergoing something that mightbe called restoration.