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General Discussion / Re: Unfinished Railroads
« on: September 22, 2022, 01:09:27 AM »
Thank you, Russ. This is an impressive compilation. I will admit I was confused at first by the distinction you make between proposed "paper" railroads with no actual construction, and "unfinished" railroads that were surveyed and graded (so leaving an archaeological record) but never saw a train, but now I think it's a useful concept.
Your Maine list should of course include the FS&K in addition to the W&Q north of Albion.
In your New York list, I was especially interested to see the LIDAR image of the Suffolk Traction Co. grade north and west of College Road in Selden. I grew up in the area and never knew that was there! The Suffolk Traction Co. was an interesting operation in that they never bothered with overhead trolley wire but instead used battery storage cars. The context for the story of the steam crane/wrecker using the unfinished street trackage in Port Jefferson is supposed to have been that the crane was delivered by rail for use in the Bayles shipyard during WWI and this was the only way to move it the last mile (literally) between the LIRR yard and the waterfront, but this may just be local legend. It was wartime after all, so there were no photographs!
With regard to the Hicksville & Cold Spring Branch RR, I've also hiked the section of grade in Stillwell Woods mentioned in the railroad.net discussion thread, though it had been unclear to me if it was really the H&CSB (circa 1854) or from the much later (circa 1910) LIRR Port Jefferson branch relocation and associated gravel mining which the LIRR called the "Cold Spring Cutoff" and that produced the fill material used for the Jamaica grade crossing elimination project. I'm now quite certain it is indeed the H&CSB. One nit I will pick however is that the junction at Hicksville was with the original LIRR Greenport main line, not the Montauk line.
Your Maine list should of course include the FS&K in addition to the W&Q north of Albion.
In your New York list, I was especially interested to see the LIDAR image of the Suffolk Traction Co. grade north and west of College Road in Selden. I grew up in the area and never knew that was there! The Suffolk Traction Co. was an interesting operation in that they never bothered with overhead trolley wire but instead used battery storage cars. The context for the story of the steam crane/wrecker using the unfinished street trackage in Port Jefferson is supposed to have been that the crane was delivered by rail for use in the Bayles shipyard during WWI and this was the only way to move it the last mile (literally) between the LIRR yard and the waterfront, but this may just be local legend. It was wartime after all, so there were no photographs!
With regard to the Hicksville & Cold Spring Branch RR, I've also hiked the section of grade in Stillwell Woods mentioned in the railroad.net discussion thread, though it had been unclear to me if it was really the H&CSB (circa 1854) or from the much later (circa 1910) LIRR Port Jefferson branch relocation and associated gravel mining which the LIRR called the "Cold Spring Cutoff" and that produced the fill material used for the Jamaica grade crossing elimination project. I'm now quite certain it is indeed the H&CSB. One nit I will pick however is that the junction at Hicksville was with the original LIRR Greenport main line, not the Montauk line.
They're located directly under the refrigerator and bathtub. (The kitchen and bathroom are on either side of a shared wall.)