Tuesday, December 18, 2018

East Syracuse, NY: CSX/NYC/LS&MS Coaling Tower, Roundhouse, Dewitt Yard and (GS) Tower

Yard: (Satellite)
Roundhouse: (Satellite)
CoalingTower?: (3D Satellite)
GS Tower: (Satellite)

cnymod, 1950  (source)
Raymond Storey posted
Rick J Brandenburg Sr. Big Mohawk, with smoke lifter elephant ears ..
Dennis DeBruler It looks like there is a water tower, pump house and standpipe on the left side of the photo. The NYC did have some huge coaling towers. The guts are still standing.
https://www.google.com/.../@43.0624623,-76.../data=!3m1!1e3


Richard L Vanderbilt shared James Torgeson's post of Greg Johnson's post
A fossil record of the period when America moved with coal, steel, and boiling water.
New York Central Railroad steam locomotive coaling tower still standing in East Syracuse.
Andy Rezsnyak Four little ones for passenger engines... Big one for freight engines... They washed the coal for the passenger engines to keep them clean from coal dust, thats what I was told anyhow...
Philip A. Edwards Andy Rezsnyak is right. The coal for passenger trains was more refined egg-sized for a cleaner more efficient burn consumption. This modern concrete tower replaced a large wooden structure that was built originally on that site.
Greg Johnson commented on his post
Here's how the East Syracuse coaling tower looked in life. (Click photo for enlargement)
Thanks to the New York Central Historical Association.

Two Hudsons, J-lb 5204 and J-lc 5270, rest at the 1937-built East Syracuse fueling station. High-speed passenger mains 1 and 2 are in the foreground; an Automatic Train Stop sender is visible on track 2. The recording tapes generated by the ATS system were read originally by a thirty-man force headquartered in Buffalo Central Terminal, but by the 1960s, only three of them remained; their primary function was furnishing defensive testimony in lawsuits brought after crossing accidents. (Jeremy Taylor Photo, NYCSHS Collection)
Greg Johnson commented on his post
Mike Noble commented on James' post
When it was in use
Phillip Winchester collection CNYNRHS
Mike Noble commented on James' post
Another view

You can still see the land scars of some of the roundhouse stalls:
Satellite
Mike Noble commented on James' post

Mike Noble commented on James' post

Mike Noble commented on James' post


It is a big railyard. They have a long intermodal yard and still have a hump. Hunter may have closed this hump yard, but it looked like it was still active when the satellite image was captured. Although the hump tracks are stub-ended.
Satellite


Mike Noble posted three photos with the comment: "At the west end of the New York Central’s Dewitt yard were the main steam support facilities. All that remains of the roundhouse are the stall floors. Vintage photo CNY Chapter, NRHS"
Mike Noble shared
Ralph Balfoort: Spent many an hour in the '60s at the grade crossing just west of this. I forget the name of the street at that time; it's now been replaced by a bridge on a rerouted Burnet Ave.
1

2

3
Leland Dean Fultz: It appears there were two roundhouses at one time.
Mike Noble: Leland Dean Fultz three, actually.
Robert Aumann: Mike Noble I noticed three as well but you can just barely make out where the third one once sat. Thanks for sharing this.
 
Dennis DeBruler commented on Ralph's comment
Thanks. That was the clue I needed to find it.
https://goo.gl/maps/VNSGLZeZJJPNbcv39
I wonder if this was the coaling tower.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.062017,-76.0716027,75a,35y,39.49t/data=!3m1!1e3
 
Michael Shufelt posted
A good view of the hump at Dewitt Yard 1980's

1943 Syracuse East Quad @ 31,680

In the topo map, it looks like they built a bigger roundhouse west of the original roundhouse and removed the turntable for the original roundhouse. By 1956, the original roundhouse was gone and over half of the replacement was gone.
EarthExplorer: May 5, 1956 @ 24,000; AR1VKX000010128

They didn't convert the steam locomotive servicing area to service diesels. Instead, they built a new facility in the middle of the yard complete with a wye to turn the engines.
Satellite

The railyard is still being used.
Street View, Sep 2021

Part of the west side of the yard has been converted to an intermodal yard.
1938 Syracuse East Quad @ 24,000
 
Key Lock & Lantern - Railroad, Transportation & Industrial History posted
Conrail GS Tower in East Syracuse, NY. 1983 photo by William Coffed, KL&L Archives collection.
David M. Hamilton shared
The former New York Central GS Tower in East Syracuse, NY, in a 1983 photo by William Coffed. The operator and machine were relocated to an office in the Utica station, adjacent to the train dispatcher's office, the following year.
John Wood: Came the day there was a traffic jam at GS; nothing could move East or West! Every track had a train on it.
Too many telling the operator what to do.

EarthExplorer: May 5, 1956 @ 24,000; AR1VKX000010128

I got a newer aerial that has the new bridge that is in the tower's photo. This photo makes you appreciate an appropriate exposure. The tower is near a hump yard but I don't think it is a hump tower. You can't remote a hump tower to Utica nor would you cause a traffic jab on the train routes with a hump tower.
May 12, 1972 @ 20,500; AR1SWGI00020051

The upper wall of the turntable is still visible.
Satellite

It looks like there is still a tower in the vicinity. I think GS was next to the middle pier.
Street View, Jul 2023

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