Eastern Railroad Discussion > Hammondsport NY, Finger Lakes Area Railfanning

Will be in Hammondsport for about a week in early June. What is in the area to see?

Depots, shortlines, displays, museums, etc.

Thanks.
HB

Well, if you like airplanes and motorcycles, check out the Glenn Curtis museum just on the way to Hammondsport.

In Hammondsport itself, the depot still stands at the head of the lake.  The last train to run down that far was before 1996 so don't expect to see any trains but it is a great setting.  The former Taylor Wine complex still has much of it's trackage.  The last train to run that far was in 1996.  The previously mentioned Curtis Museum has the B&H's caboose.  The museum is on RT54.

You can trace the line back to Bath and you can see how picturesque it was.  From the Bath industrial park (still waiting for it's first "big"customer (after all this is New York State where industry leaves not locates)) down to the interchange in Bath was rebuilt a few years ago and gives a good idea of what the B&H looked like when it was active.

From Painted Post to Wayland, the B&H operates the Erie Lackawanna Wayland Branch.  This is a combination of the former DL&W mainline and Erie Rochester Division.  It starts out in Painted Post on the 1952 built connection to the Erie mainline, then features some street running on the old Rochester division.  Underneath the I86/RT17 bridge, trains swing over from the Erie to the DL&W main.  At Coopers Plains, the EL built a connection to the Erie for the purpose of a siding and this was rebuilt about 5 years ago to handle frac sand.  About 3/4 of a mile of Erie is in use.  On the west side of Coopers, the DL&W crosses the Cohocton River on a bridge that is photogenic.  Last time I looked, the Campbell Depot still stood but is boarded up and not very photogenic.  The Savona depot was moved in the 1970's to a location on RT415 just east of Bath along with a passenger car.  Between Savona and Bath is Blairs gas storage facility which provides 3/4 of the B&H's business.  Unfortunately, it is hard to see much of anything there.

At Bath, trains transition off of the DL&W and onto the Erie as the state used the DL&W for RT17 (now I86/RT17).  The old Erie freight station still stands and some of the sidings remain.  The Erie was re-established from about where Top's supermarket stands out to where the McDonald was built and then a new connection track was built to swing the trains back on to the DL&W.  Just west of this point is a fairly interesting bridge over the Cohocton River.  It is best accessed by entering the VA.  West of Kanona (but really in the Town of Avoca) is the Bombardier Plant which seems to be handling work on Bi-Level cars at this time.  In Avoca, the station still stands and has been nicely restored.  At Cohocton, a short stretch of Erie remains in service. The Erie station still stands and other than Coopers, it is the only point were both the DL&W and Erie remain.  The engine house/base of operations is on the DL&W main.  As of this writing, B&H S1 number 4 is sitting outside right next to RT415 in it's original paint.  Beyond Cohocton, the line seems to be very quite.  I don't believe they have had cars for Wayland for the last 5 years.  They do store gas cars for Blair's on this part of the line on occasions.  However, the depot at Atlanta still stands and the one in Wayland stands and is owned/used by Gunlocke Chair.

Going to the east, Finger Lakes runs into Watkins Glen and the PRR depot still stands.  They also run into Penn Yan (although less frequently) and I believe that depot still stands.

Over in Hornell, the Erie depot/division office still stands and is almost at the end of the Hornell passing siding.  Just to the west is CP Cass where the line to Buffalo (and River Jct in EL days) splits​ from the old Chicago main via Wellsville.  The old main is still in and is/was run by the WNY&P.  The WNY&P has not run into Hornell for about two years now.

Hope that helps.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/17 10:27 by NYSWSD70M.

If you enjoy good food and wine, be sure to visit the Bully Hill Winery while in hammondsort, 5 minutes up the hill on the west side of the lake, a great place to visit, overlook the lake, have a nice lunch.
 

That was a good summary by NYSWSD70.  Yes, be sure to check out the small, former Erie depot in Cohocton on a short stretch of the former Erie Rochester Division.  It is owned by a really cool TO member : )