Nostalgia & History > Lehigh Valley Yards Manchester NY in the early 70's

I suspect I was still in school, poking around upstate NY not far from my home town of Rochester NY when I discovered the Lehigh Valley yard in Manchester, NY. The first time I was there, I didn't have my camera with me and couldn't photograph the what seemed like hundreds of LV box cars and hopper cars in the yard at that time. Next time I made it back there, I had my camera, but most of the cars were gone, and the yard was in the process of being abandoned. This is what things looked like on the second visit.

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3 more.

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a few more...

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Opps... I included a duplicate. Here are a few more...

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some of the roundhouse, turn table ad a switcher...

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A sad looking yard.
Kevin

Very cool pictures. Thanks for posting.

I have some shots of that sad-looking wood boxcar from about 1981 somewhere...
Manchester used to be an important yard, but I always wondered why it was there, and not Geneva, which is a bigger town and at the junction of the freight line and passenger line, and interchange with NYC.

The Lehigh Valley Railroad closed Manchester Yard as a classification point in August, 1969 and eliminated it as a crew change point when Buffalo-Sayre crews began running through in 1972. The engine service area and a few stalls in the roundhouse remained in use right up to ConRail as one job remained, the MR-1 which did local work out to either Rochester or to Lima as business dictated and which returned as RM-2. The westbound side of the yard was torn up in the early 1970s. The eastbound side was utilized for bad order car storage from the early 1970s until just prior to ConRail. The last train of storage cars departed Manchester for points east on 21 March 1976. The final LV train to make a pickup at Manchester, mainly of company material, did so on the afternoon of 30 March, 1976.

Today only a few structures remain, including the roundhouse, all in an advanced state of deterioration.

Manchester was no doubt chosen as the point for a major yard as it was right at the midway point between Sayre, PA and Buffalo, NY.

Photo nine is of what was left of the icing facility. The remains of the coaling tower were demolished a few years ago.

Very interesting comments.
Thanks for adding to the string.

Photo taken in October 2007, view to the east. This shows a new runaround track under construction after the NY Rt. 21 underpass on the east end of the yard was filled in and replaced with a grade crossing.

The Jordan shown above stood in the area to the right. The east end of the eastbound side of the yard was also to the right. There were at one time approximately 1500 B.O. cars stored there. The LVRR box cars off in the distance were the property of a grain dealer who purchased them from the LVRR for grain storage. Believe that the wood sided ones have been scrapped and that at least one steel car is planned for preservation.

The turntable shown above remains extant but the pit was back filled over twenty years ago.

Two huge manufacturing facilities span the bulk of where the yard was located.

In areas of the old yard not being utilized today there are poplar trees growing up to 15' tall.

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STG6199 Wrote:
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> Photo taken in October 2007, view to the east.
> This shows a new runaround track under
> construction after the NY Rt. 21 underpass on the
> east end of the yard was filled in and replaced
> with a grade crossing.
>
> The Jordan shown above stood in the area to the
> right. The east end of the eastbound side of the
> yard was also to the right. There were at one time
> approximately 1500 B.O. cars stored there. The
> LVRR box cars off in the distance were the
> property of a grain dealer who purchased them from
> the LVRR for grain storage. Believe that the wood
> sided ones have been scrapped and that at least
> one steel car is planned for preservation.
>
> The turntable shown above remains extant but the
> pit was back filled over twenty years ago.
>
> Two huge manufacturing facilities span the bulk of
> where the yard was located.
>
> In areas of the old yard not being utilized today
> there are poplar trees growing up to 15' tall.


Thanks for the excellent update!

Awesome pictures, Do you have any more?? I have over 1800 shots of the LV, many at Manchester and the buffalo division, would be willing to trade for ony unseen photos. Anyone interested please contact me at my e-mail address which is marks22@rochester.rr.com Thanks.