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From: "J DOT Henry Priebe Jr DOT " root AT bluemoon DOT net
Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2023 04:42:46 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: RE: (erielack) Kennedy Valve in Elmira, NY
"ElmiraNY1931_Page_228.jpg" - image/jpeg, 2044x2401 (256c)


My father's side of the family was in the industrial piping and valve
business and was an occasional customer of Kennedy. I think they also
made bronze valves. My mother's side of the family (Jones like the name of
the island in the Google Earth snippet) Had a lumber business (Doane and
Jones) in Elmira about a mile southwest of the Kennedy Valve location until
the turn of the 20th century when my great grandfather moved to Tonawanda and
started the R.T. Jones Lumber Co. So both sides of my family have a connection
to Elmira.

Here's a 1931 Sanborn map of the Kenndy plant and trackage.

Henry

J. Henry Priebe Jr. Blue Moon Internet Corp Network Administrator
www.railfan.net Railfan Network Services


On Sat, 10 Jun 2023, Schuyler Larrabee wrote:

>
> NOTE: This message had contained at least one image attachment.
> To view or download the image(s), click on or cut and paste the
> following URL into your web browser:
>
>
> http://lists.railfan.net/listthumb.cgi?erielack-06-10-23
>
> Google_Earth_2013_view_DL_W_line_is_a_rail_trail_ERIE_to_the_left.jpg (image/jpeg, 1295x759 243690 bytes, BF: 4.03 ppb)
>
> Well, Lou, it would have helped to know where
> Kennedy Valve was located in Elmira.
>
> But after a bit of screwing around with Googling
> "Historic USGS maps" (pick the UNH option for NYS,
> then after looking at the image map for the entire
> state, click n "Chemung," then pick Elmira, and
> you want to see the NE quadrant of either the 1895
> or the 1956 maps. Now you know better where the
> ERIE and the DL&W rights-of-way were.
>
> Now, where was Kennedy Valve located? That took a
> while but I eventually got to knowing that they
> were (and are) at 1021 EAST Water Street.
> (there's a WEST Water Street, which caused a good
> deal of confusion). But eventually you can get to
> a street location of the business, which is
> located right next to the Lackawanna Rail Trail
> today. So, it was undoubtedly served by the DL&W.
> After 1960+, it's harder to say, since we can't
> really know if the DL&W tracks back to the
> connection to the ERIE were kept in service to the
> Kennedy Valve plant. But I thought I'd check
> Google Earth and the historic views. Well, by the
> 2002, view, it's clear that the tracks are gone.
> The 1985 and 1994 photos are useless, not sharp
> enough to establish anything about the tracks. So
> we have to leave it up to, perhaps, Elmira local
> folks to establish when the rails to the plant we
> removed. Any help out there??
>
> What kinds of cars served the plant? Well, most
> likely iron in some form, since they cast the
> valves (usually fire hydrants, though the also
> produced other forms of heavy duty valves) out of
> iron. I can't say what form that iron might have
> arrived in, but iron pigs would be a reasonable
> guess, frequently shipped in gons. Inbound would
> likely have included covered hoppers of casting
> sand occasionally, a lot of coal for the furnaces,
> and, oh, lets see, wood for blocking outbound
> shipments I suppose. Outbound shipments?
> Probably in gons or on flats, likely wrapped so as
> to protect the new valves from rust due to rain.
> Maybe some in box cars. I don't think any of your
> operators would criticize your choices of those
> cars.
>
> Part of my point is that the answer to your
> question is pretty easily available with your
> computer.
> > Historic USGS maps
> > Google "where is Kennedy valve located in
> Elmira?" for an address
> > Google Earth for the aerial view of the plant
> > Guesses as to freight cars serving the plant -
> me and common sense.
>
> I attached a jpeg of the Google Earth view from
> 2013, the first that shows the area in
> decipherable clarity.
>
> Schuyler
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Louis Schultheis
> Sent: Saturday, June 10, 2023 10:31 AM
> To: erielack@lists.railfan.net
> Subject: (erielack) Kennedy Valve in Elmira, NY
>
>
> Did the DL&W then the E-L service the plant?
>
> If so, what type of railroad cars?
> Thanks, Lou


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