Re: (erielack) FW: Sunday after the convention

[Ken <erie910_@_harborbeach.com>]

I couldn't help wondering after reading this saga as to whether, on the old 
Main Line, the railroad or the close-in buildings came first.  Seems that 
railroads attracted close buildings to minimize the costs of sidetrack 
construction.


Ken B.

At 10:40 AM 10/3/02 -0400, Tupaczewski, Paul R (Paul) wrote:
>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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