(erielack) Pine Island branch & main line Port Jervis-Bing

[dennis.j.mcdermott_@_verizon.com]

To all,

The Pine Island branch can be seen in many places.  Leaving Goshen it
passes under 17 crosses 17M and goes thru the Departmetn of Public Works
property, the cut in the land is very visable.  The line runs close to Rt
94 & 17A south of Goshen. Further on down the line where the Orange Farm
stations used to be by the County poor house now a old folks home and
medical center-the ROW is very visable thru the black dirt farms all the
way to Florida NY.  The path to Pine Island can be seen, it is the tree
line in the middle of all the onion and sod farms.  The ROW is difficult to
follow right in Pine Island but most of rest can be seen.

Schuyler-come on back to Matamoras and we can tour Orange County NY again
and then follow the main line up to Binghamton, it a great ride and you can
feel the history.

In fact if anyone wants to take the ride from Port Jervis to Binghamton, we
can do it one Saturday-probably take 8 hours round trip, it is less the 4
hours normally round trip Port Jervis to Binghamton.  Let me know, the fall
colors should be nice the next couple of W/Es

Dennis




"Tupaczewski, Paul R (Paul)" <paultup_@_lucent.com>@lists.railfan.net on
10/03/2002 10:40:21 AM

Please respond to "Tupaczewski, Paul R (Paul)" <paultup_@_lucent.com>

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Subject:    (erielack) FW: Sunday after the convention


From: Schuyler Larrabee [mailto:sgl2_@_laai.net]
Subject: Sunday after the convention


I took the Orange County tour on Sunday after the convention.  Spent the
day with Mike Quinn, who's a NYS Trooper, (occasionally helpful . . .) and
three other ELHS members.  Since I can't recall all three, I won't mention
any of their names.  We left about 8:45 AM, and went to Mill RIft bridge
first, on the NYS side, which I'd never been to before. You could see the
D&H Canal, and during the day we learned why that's Bridge No 2 on the
Erie.  Bridge No 1 was between Port J and the river, where the canal went
back to the north side of the tracks.  This apparently was a location with
quite a large number of tracks crosssing the canal as it was, even in those
days, part of the yard.

Then we went to Graham, high up on the west side of Shawangunk Mountain,
which is the final west-end junction between the low-grade Graham line and
the original Main Line which went over the top through Otisville.  It's
here you can see clearly that "low-grade" is a completely relative term!
 Then on up to Otisville, with a quick stop to see where the road now
occupies a short section of the line west of town.  Located the station
site, now a parking lot, and then went down to the present Metro North
station location.  From there we went pretty directly to Maybrook, where
the local Museum was opened just for us.  Doug Barbario was there to assist
in interpretation, and to provide some guidance on details of what we'd
already seen.  Spent a very short hour here, a lot more time would be
justified.

Then to Chester, where the station is on a curve and a significant grade.
 The station is recycled as the local historical society's building, along
with an art gallery/display space (nice stuff on display!). The tracks are
gone here, converted to a bicycle/walking trail which sees some pretty
serious use.  There's also a significant hunk of concrete in a parking lot
across the way, a track bumper, since there used to be a small yard here.
 In Doug's superb PowerPoint program he showed a slide of this location,
with an Erie steel stockcar in that yard.  I asked why a stock car would be
spotted here, and learned that there used to be an abbatoir in Chester.
 According to the local citizens the stock used to be driven in the streets
across town.  And this is NYS, not Colorado!

The day got interesting here. One of out party wanted to catch Metro North
at Salisbury Mills, just east of Moodna Viaduct, which was to be on the
tour.  Just out of Chester, going north, we came upon a just-occurred auto
accident with the local Fire and Police in somewhat exaggerated attendance,
and they proceeded to hold up traffic (for no really good reason) for a
good half-hour, so the Salisbury connection was missed.  So, with a
somewhat relaxed schedule we proceeded up through Blooming Grove and
Washingtonville, where Mike pointed out the former ERIE station on the
Newburgh branch (you would never know) and on down to the Viaduct.  Our
rail-borne passenger decided to go to Beacon, and catch a Metro North or
Amtrak train to GCT, so he could connect to Penn Station for his Amtrak
train to Rhode Island.  On the way there, east on Route 94, we spotted the
former O&W ROW, the Newburgh branch coming into town, and the Newburgh
Short Cut.

By now, we're down to just Mike and me, since the other two either went on
the layout tour, or had a commitment in Easton PA to get to.  Mike, a very
courteous man, bore with me, and we went to Greycourt, where the L&HR
crossed (and the NYS&W still does cross) the old ERIE line (now the bike
trail).  Then to Goshen, where the station is now the City Police station.
 Here we were able to sort out the root of the Montgomery Branch, and (sort
of) figure out where the tracks went south on the Pine Island branch.
 These two branches were really pretty much the main line for the L&NE on
its way to Maybrook.  We went south from here attempting to find traces of
the Pine Island Branch, with only two successes (and that's not for a lack
of back-road wandering looking for traces).  In Florida, NY, we found a bit
of ROW, and a lumber yard with doors spaces at 40' on the road side, with
just enough space for there to have once been a track there.  In Pine
Island, where the once-station is now a back room for the local NAPA auto
parts store.  It was pretty hard to imagine that this was a location where
L&NE 2-10-0's and ABBA FAs hauled long strings of anthracite to Maybrook.
 North of where the tracks were in front of the station, the neighbors have
filled in the depression where the tracks would have been and there's trees
there that were probably planted a year or so after the tracks were pulled
out.  You cannot identify where those tracks used to be . . .

One thing I was pretty amazed about was the grades on the old Main Line.
 It's perfectly clear why the Graham Line was built.  The old line had
steep (!) grades, sharp (!) curves (often at the same time) and was
surrounded very tightly by buildings and rock faces all along the line.  It
was clearly a line from the 1840's.  It's really surprising it survived as
long as it did.

I have to extend deep appreciation to Mike Quinn, who provided a long day's
ride (we got back to Matamoras about 5:30 PM) and pleasant company.

Schuyler

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