NYS&W Garfield Branch

[Steve F45]

Here is a link that was posted on the NYSW yahoo groups about 2 weeks ago with alot of great images. Some of the garfield area.

NYSW images

[rcflyer]

Thank you so much for the information. I will be a big help to me in modeling some of the buildings and especially the bridge.
I hope someday I can return the favor.
Al

[brianc02]

I posted a similar question on the NYSW page. Has anyone ever worked this line for the NYSW? What was a typical switch routine like? What type of commodites were hauled and to who? Also does anyone see a future for the line outside of car storage? I am modeling the line in HO now and was looking for some prototype info. I also grew up close to the tracks and was intrigued by the operations. Spent some time this past fall walking the tracks gathering info and pictures. Not much left to see at GSP. Thanks-Brian

[New Haven 1]

Thought it may be fun to post on this thread I literally started 10 years ago. Does the NYS&W still use this branch for storage as was the case last I knew? I still remember seeing a switcher rumble across Outwater lane as a teenager when the 2 businesses on the far side were the terminus of the branch.

[Sir Ray]

Thought it may be fun to post on this thread I literally started 10 years ago. Does the NYS&W still use this branch for storage as was the case last I knew? I still remember seeing a switcher rumble across Outwater lane as a teenager when the 2 businesses on the far side were the terminus of the branch.

Actually, 11 years ago - I posted in April 2015 about visiting the semi-bridged Fleischer Brook south of OutWater Lane. Never did get those images...
Anyway, something we didn't really have 11 years, Google Maps view of the area - I sort of centered around the former GSP property, now (as predicted) a townhouse complex called "Signature Place". And yes, there was a scrapper south of the Lumber yard - still is (as of 2015 view).

[New Haven 1]

Thanks for the response and map Sir Ray. While I am sure that you had a thread of your own too, this one I started was the first one I found while searching for what was up with this branch. Did the same thing happen to your thread as the original I had posted about this branch as I indicate on the very first posting on this one back in 2005 where the Website upgrade at that time archived it and I asked for help locating it? I would also guess you were trying to refer to 2005 instead of 2015 as your reply mentions. In any case, that scrapper looks ironically like they are large enough for rail service if they had access to it which isn't going to happen since the R.O.W. goes right through Garfield Lumber's property. Too bad Garfield Lumber didn't still have a need for rail service as the 2 businesses combined may have been enough to coax the Suzie Q to come up to serve them. Thank you Enron for Killing Garden State Paper which was actually a profitable working entity.

[Sir Ray]

Thanks for the response and map Sir Ray. While I am sure that you had a thread of your own too, this one I started was the first one I found while searching for what was up with this branch.

No, what I meant is I posted in THIS very thread in April 2005, (page 2 - hopefully this link works)

[ccutler]

I wonder whether it is cheaper for the lumber yard to have their lumber shipped to Newark's lumber transload facility and then trucked to Garfield, than to have it switched from CSX/NS to NYSW and then spotted in their yard.

[New Haven 1]

It is really ironic that you ask that question as that was the very topic of an article that was in the June 2014 issue of Trains. It seems this lumber yard in Lucinda Pa. that happened to be the only freight customer way out ( I forget exactly how many miles the article stated but it was a lot ) on a line that was a tourist line otherwise actually had an Alco RS36 that they were using as needed to traverse the line to go pick up their lumber 2 carloads at a time as it was far cheaper to do it this way as opposed to trucking it in. Unfortunately, some time later a beautiful trestle that allowed the line to cross a scenic ravine and, was also the highlight of the tourist train trip succumbed to I believe Hurricane Irene like so many other man made objects did to this beast of a storm. I will see if I can dig up that article as I still have that issue somewhere to verify.

[Sir Ray]

It seems this lumber yard in Lucinda Pa. that happened to be the only freight customer way out ( I forget exactly how many miles the article stated but it was a lot ) on a line that was a tourist line otherwise actually had an Alco RS36 that they were using as needed to traverse the line to go pick up their lumber 2 carloads at a time as it was far cheaper to do it this way as opposed to trucking it in. Unfortunately, some time later a beautiful trestle that allowed the line to cross a scenic ravine and, was also the highlight of the tourist train trip succumbed to I believe Hurricane Irene like so many other man made objects did to this beast of a storm. I will see if I can dig up that article as I still have that issue somewhere to verify.

Are you referring to the Knox & Kane? The details don't precisely match what you wrote, but the overall story is close.

[New Haven 1]

Are you referring to the Knox & Kane? The details don't precisely match what you wrote, but the overall story is close.

Yes, that would be the story. I actually found the issue and re-read it as it has been some time. I see I got my story messed up on the Kinzua viaduct that was actually damaged by a 2003 tornado. The state which owned the bridge decided not to repair it which was a death toll for the tourist operation and eventually for the railroad as a whole as freight was virtually non-existent in 2005 when the article was done. Still, the article mentions that while Lucinda is only 9 miles north of Interstate 80, those 2 lumber cars had to travel more than 100 miles from a Class 1 Railroad line with 50 or more miles of that being down the 10 mile per hour Knox & Kane proving the point of the article as quoted directly from it as follows. " If nothing else, shipping lumber by rail to Lucinda was a testament to the mode's advantages, be it tariff, or, a flatcar's limit, or both." In the case of Garfield Lumber, they probably don't do the volume of business to require carloads. If they do then they're crazy not to at least investigate as a lot of things have changed in the rail industry to make it more competitive with the trucking industry than a lot of people know.