Erie Blvd. transload facility (Albany) in the 1980s

[Benjamin Maggi]

On Erie Blvd. in Albany, just south of the I-90 overpass and north of what is now Huck Finn's warehouse, is a propane tank car loading or unloading facility. It was redesigned around 2012. Originally it was a transload facility. I have some pictures taken in the mid-2000s showing a couple of covered hoppers in there. I don't know what the cars carried, and I quickly left once it became apparent I wasn't welcome.

However, it is my understanding that this was built during the reconstruction of the area for I-787 and that at one time it was going to be used for truck/trailer intermodal operations. I cannot locate my notes on this at the moment, though.

Can anyone provide more history on the facility, and perhaps share some pictures from when it was built? I have a spot on my layout that might work well for it but need to know more. If it matters, I model 1984.

Thanks!

[Engineer Spike]

In my time the place was called Bulk Handlers. I’ve forgotten what commodities they got. They did get tanks of ethanol near the end.