CSX Charlotte Runner

[Mike Walsh]

That industry is served with a shove east from the yard (they use a caboose last I remember).

They often split the power as well.

I concur. Every time I go out and I spot the job, it's got 5 boxcars, and a locomotive (cab facing east on east end, cab facing west on west end) on each end... This is easier because they can just go forward, eastbound, switchback, then pull forward to the customer's building, couple up, pull out, and shove onto the main.... Then leave that east locomotive tied onto the 5 cars, and pull away the 5 to-be-spotted cars with the west locomotive, shove into the building, pull away, and couple up to the east locomotive, and away you go....



mike

[BR&P]

44 years of unit trains to Charlotte coming to an end is hard to believe. We can thank the environmental drum-beaters for that - low sulphur coal would have been a much better option from a rail standpoint - obviously!

It is amazing to consider the decline in industrial activity in Charlotte. In the late 1800s there were blast furnaces there for processing the iron ore which came in the Hojack from the Ontario NY area. Even in the 1960's, 3 crews a day worked out of Charlotte, plus two Belt jobs from Goodman St to transfer cars. At one time there was a north, a south, an east, and a west yard there. And when the fruit rush was on the place must have been a madhouse.

Progress - bah humbug!

[conrail71]

Man this sucks!!! Every train I hear on the Runner now I fear is the last!! I caught 29 loads going into the plant today. I shot the hell out of it, the best ones I put on my Blog. It's a 3 part post fittingly named "The Last of the Many???" Check it out if you like, as long as I keep hearing 'em I'll keep chasing 'em...
Mike
p.s. click the Blog link below for the shots...

[TB Diamond]

Scot:

Nice photo of a bygone scene that you posted 02 October. Compared it to one I took from the same location in February, 1974:

Penn Central Alco RS3m 9935 leading F7A-GP9B-F7A past the depot with a train of coal hoppers. Another RS3m standing on a stub track in the background. Old steam yacht moored on the river behind the depot. Swing bridge lined for train movement across the river.

In addition:

PC F7A 1788 with the Charlotte lighthouse in the background.

Additional scenes never to be seen again.

[RussNelson]

A scene never to be seen again..

A photo containing a CSX coal train, (both units still in CR blue)
the Charlotte station.
the Hojack swing bridge,
and the Fast Ferry!



And I believe that was the first photo ever containing all those elements, since the Fast Ferry had first showed up 2 days before.

Somewhere I have a photo of a CSX dash-7 in front of the lighthouse, I will have to look for it.

Scot

You took that photo from this bridge:
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.25189,-77 ... River%20NY
If you notice, the Fast Ferry is sitting at the dock.

[conrail71]

Looks like it was taken from the overlook at the site of the former Stutson st. bridge. I've shot from both locations, I like this one better.
Mike

[scottychaos]

You took that photo from this bridge:
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=43.25189,-77 ... River%20NY

No..I didnt.
but good guess!

My photo was taken from the old Stutson St Bridge.
(actually I think I was standing on River street right where it meets the bridge, not the bridge itself..but very close to the bridge)

The Bridge in your photo is the new O'rourke bridge, which replaced the Stutson St bridge and is located a bit further south.
I am closer to the Charlotte station in my photo than the current bridge.

Scot

[RussNelson]

Hrm. Wrong again! Oh well. I did think that bridge was too far away, but I couldn't see any other location you could have taken it from. Obviously not, if the bridge doesn't exist anymore.

Thanks for sharing the photo.

[scottychaos]

Hrm. Wrong again! Oh well. I did think that bridge was too far away, but I couldn't see any other location you could have taken it from. Obviously not, if the bridge doesn't exist anymore.

Thanks for sharing the photo.

Actually that location is still quite accessable.
the Stutson st bridge is now gone, but the old bridge abutment remains on the West side, with a railing overlooking the tracks and the river..
just about the exact spot I took that picture from:




Scot

[TB Diamond]

Did not know that the old Stutson Street bridge had been removed and replaced with a new bridge. How about the Stutson Street Plaza? Gone, as well?

[nessman]

Did not know that the old Stutson Street bridge had been removed and replaced with a new bridge. How about the Stutson Street Plaza? Gone, as well?

Still there. Marina Dodge was bulldozed to make way for the new draw bridge approach.

[CPSmith]

Stutson St. Plaza is indeed still there and they've now just gotten around to removing "Stutson" from their signage.

TB, the Marina Dodge referenced was the former Weller Motors. There was an attempt to save the building from a historical standpoint but it didn't get very far - a handsome building indeed but nothing more than painted cinder block in an art deco fashion.

The new bridge is actually the " Patrick O'Rorke" (take the "u" out) bridge and you'll find stuff on the web concerning his civil war service.

At one time, there was a www.ororkebridge.com website but it's now gone. Among other neat items, it had about a dozen old photos of the Stutson St. bridge during its construction (1911 or so?). Of course, the railroad stuff in the background was of more interest than the bridge. A couple of photos showed tracks and steam engines on the OTHER side of the river.

I believe the site was maintained by Bergmann Associates during the 5 year project. Bergmann's current site doesn't have them (rats...).

One of the first milestones in the project was to remove the old B&O bridge over the parkway (another rats...) which denied me my usual evening hiking path.

[scottychaos]

The new bridge is actually the " Patrick O'Rorke" (take the "u" out) bridge and you'll find stuff on the web concerning his civil war service.

thanks for the correction on the spelling of O'Rorke!
I actually googled his name, to make sure I got it right, and found that my spelling of O'Rourke was correct..of course, the google references were themselves spelled incorrectly!

Here is a Wikipedia page with more info about him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_O'Rorke

and another page:
http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/getttou ... -10por.htm

I have been to his monument at Gettysburg!
Its at Little Round Top.

Colonel O'Rorke is buried at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Rochester.

Scot

[RussNelson]

One of the first milestones in the project was to remove the old B&O bridge over the parkway (another rats...) which denied me my usual evening hiking path.

And they counted that as progress?? You can't have too many rail-trails in an area ... even Rochester.

[scottychaos]

One of the first milestones in the project was to remove the old B&O bridge over the parkway (another rats...) which denied me my usual evening hiking path.

And they counted that as progress?? You can't have too many rail-trails in an area ... even Rochester.

Well..to be fair, that particular bridge didnt go anywhere, from the perspective of a possible railtrail.

the old B&O tracks (current Rochester & Southern) end at Stonewood Ave today, then there is about a mile of abandoned ROW, then the bridge over the parkway, (the bridge we are talking about, that was removed) then the old B&O hooks up to the current CSX tracks to the Powerplant..

even if the bridge was still in place, you couldnt make much of a railtrail out of it anyway..it would start nowhere and end nowhere, and only be a mile long.

Of course, with the CSX hojack to the powerplant eventually to be abandoned, you could then have a nice railtrail from Charlotte running west out the Hojack..and then maybe that bridge could have been of use as a feeder trail down the B&O..

but overall, the loss of that one bridge doesnt really hurt the prospects of Rochester's future railtrails much IMO..

Scot