Re: PC: Gardenville

["J. Henry Priebe Jr." <root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 5 Sep 2005, Jerry Jordak wrote:

> So here comes the dumb question: considering that getting trains through 
> Buffalo today can be so slow, with the congestion at CP Draw, etc., why 
> was this line ever abandoned, when it could have been used as a route to 
> avoid the congestion of downtown Buffalo. I'm guessing that back in the 
> PC era, getting through town couldn't have been very speedy with the 
> intersecting traffic at all of the diamonds and junctions downtown, and 
> this would have been a good bypass of the city. (Perhaps CSX wishes the 
> line was still there today...?)

Back in the PC era there were only 3 sets of diamonds between East Buffalo and
Seneca Yard and 2 of those were not busy intersections. There was also only
one grade crossing, Exchange St. There were at least 4 tracks from East
Buffalo to Tower 49A where the PRR's line to Harrisburg joined the NYC main.
I believe that at one time there were diamonds there. I have an early-CR shot
of this interlocking at
http://www.railfan.net/railpix/railfan/safariphoto.cgi?teenager/pc6548-1.jpg

A lot of PC trains went through that day and I don't remember any delays.

Just west (timetable west) of there the two main through tracks split off and
crossed the EL's downtown line close by Exchange St and just west of there was
another EL crossing near Katherine St. Next came the Buffalo River bascule
bridge and the Buffalo Creek RR diamonds. Just past there the RoW widened out
to 4 tracks through Seneca Yard and beyond to Bayview (BV) where the old
Gardenville Cutoff used to rejoin the main after the flyovers near Lake Ave.

After CR day the Buffalo Creek main line was folded into CR and the line from
CP 437 through FW and DRAW to CP 2 was made into CR's main line. The Ex-NYC
line from CP 437 to CP 2 was single tracked, renamed "The Compromise" and the
EL crossings were eliminated leaving only the BC diamonds between East Buffalo
and Seneca Yard. That created in effect a bi-directional triple tracked main
line from Depew (CP 430) to Bayview. CSX got the ex-NYC and BC lines in the
Buffalo area and congestion and interlockings really aren't much of a problem 
now.

There's still a stub of the old Gardenville Cutoff line in place from Ebenezer
(CP GJ) north for maybe a mile or two, but everything else on the cutoff north
and south of that is long gone. I can remember the Cutoff being in place under
the Clinton St overpass, but rusty in the mid-70's. One day a few years later
I went by there and both the overpass and tracks were suddenly gone.

I have NYC era USGS maps and corresponding aerial photos of the area at
http://nyc.railfan.net/buffalo/  for anyone who is interested.

Henry