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RE: (erielack) As long as we're asking about track layouts.....

Bob
The single-track Lehigh Valley went under the double-track Erie (and, further southwest, the DL&W) on its Sayre-Owego-Freeville-Auburn, etc. line.  It was Bridge (JC) 249.88, a double-track Thru Plate Girder 59' 0" in length.  The LV and Erie Center Lines were skewed the Erie being generally E-W and the LV running from SW to NE. 
        The Sayre-Owego segment was built in 1870 as part of the Southern Central Railroad's Sayre-North Fair Haven (a coal transfer location on Lake Ontario) line.  The first through trains operated on 3 January 1871 (though only to Auburn as the final work to NFH and the dock was not completed until 16 May 1872.  This gave the LV (through its control of the SC and others) a outlet for coal on Lake Ontario.  Until the early part of the 20th Century the line was a neighbor, and little else, to the Erie.
    The changed c. 1906 IIRC when the D&H acquired Trackage Rights over the Erie from Binghamton to Owego, 22.19 miles.  As coal and other traffic declined the portion between Owego and Sayre became relatively more important, being used about 6 times daily IIRC in the mid-60's, twice by EB and WB LV locals to Owego and north.  The D&H and the LV had a joint service between Sayre and Binghamton whereby a D&H crew operated a Binghamton-Sayre turn while an LV crew operated a Sayre-Binghamton turn, thereby accounting for 4 movements daily.  I believe these trains carried traffic in both directions.  
        What the Erie got from the D&H (or LV) for granting this strategic piece of Trackage Rights eludes me at this time (I seem to recall it might have involved the Erie getting access to the Moon Milling complex at Binghamton but that might not be the "rest of the story") but it was a major factor in the LV's competitive posture.  The only saving grace, insofar as the Erie (and the DL&W, which also suffered from having a third railroad at Binghamton courting the D&H's traffic) was concerned was the the LV route involved an intermediate handling at Sayre while the Erie and DL&W managed to make D&H blocks from at least East Buffalo.
         The LV Sayre-Owego line closely paralleled the Erie east of Barton and the area looked like a triple-track railroad, albeit with the north (LV) track being clearly of a lower standard.  Sometime in the 1960's, I understand, the LV had a derailment in this area, and fouled at least the EL WB Main (the tracks were very close in this area).  A brouhaha arose, I was told, over the LV's very slow response so that the EL wrecker was brought to the scene and set the fouling derailed cars on LV property.  Allegedly this kept the lawyers occupied for a while until cooler heads prevailed.
          Another anomaly was that the LV timetable direction between Sayre and Owego (and beyond) was westward while the Erie/EL's was just the reverse.  For those of a contemplative nature this created a situation where Erie and LV Westbound Trains would pass each other while going in physically reverse directions.
         The LV between Sayre and Owego was abandoned effective 1 Apr 1976 in the Conrail massacre. 
         Hope this answers your question and a little more.
MJC

> From: BobcatCS_@_comcast.net
> To: erielack_@_lists.elhts.org
> Subject: (erielack) As long as we're asking about track layouts.....
> Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2007 10:50:09 -0500
> 
> Happy New Year, group!
> 
> I'd like to know whether the Erie crossed over or under the LV just west of
> Barton.  I can stare at the USGS map until my eyes bleed, but I can't tell
> for sure.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Bob
> 
> 
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