Alcos and a Washout | Chasing NY&LE's Santa Express and Exploring the Abandoned Dunkirk Branch
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 พ.ย. 2024
- It was a nice to head to the southtowns in Western New York for a festive chase of New York & Lake Erie's Santa Express, powered by their streamlined MLW FPAs! While also down there I decided to finally cross an item off my list, something that I've wanted to do for some time: explore the abandoned Dunkirk Branch! Built as the original mainline for the Erie Railroad, the line became a branch when the main line was extended west, then became the Salamanca Branch when it was purchased by the New York & Lake Erie until its abandonment in 2009 after a series of washouts destroyed a section of the line.
Filmed 12/16/2023
©2023 M'G:20 Productions - Matty Gunn
!!!!DO NOT USE WITHOUT PERMISSION!!!!
Train/Engine information:
Santa Express
Gowanda, NY - Dayton, NY
-NYLE MLW FPA4 #6764
-NYLE MLW FPA2u #6758
Gowanda Yard
-NYLE ALCo C425 #1013
Equipment used:
-Canon Vixia HF R800
-Sony HandyCam HDR-CX405
-Canon EOS Rebel T6 DSLR
-DJI Mavic Mini 2 Drone
What a documentarian of a bygone era! In the old Erie times Dayton and Gowanda were very busy and active. Freight would move over these lines between Chicago and Buffalo, or south to Salamanca and NYC. Coal came from PA and down the escarpment to the power plant in Dunkirk. A great job Matt. Thanks
Thank you! I wish I could've seen the Erie in it's heyday, it's my favorite of the old railroads.
These are great videos on your TH-cam channel and thanks for being out there and filming. I used to live near the yard in Olean and enjoyed all the train watching.
Amazing, beatiuful video, greetings 🚂👍👋
8:03 the airhose horn! A recent autumn trip on the Buffalo Southern had an airhose horn (or what I was hoping it to be) on the shoved lead car, which was an open car and we sat in the front bench, but the conductor just kept radioing back that the crossing was good.
Awesome video Matty!
Thanks!
That was really great!
Thank you!
Nice video. Love seeing all the abandoned lines and if they could only talk.
The Erie end cab wasn't out helping! Also, I know I mentioned it under a NYLE video here before, but the fam and I rode an excursion from Gowanda to Dayton and it let us off at some flea market, then we got back on and rode it to Salamanca and back to Gowanda. #1013 was the lead. Late 1980s, I was around 10 years old.
If only this line was still in service, I'd love to be able to chase an excursion train from Dayton to Salamanca.
Hey Matty, great shots of those FPA engines. Those old bull nose monsters are just so cool. Did you check out the rail dates on the abandoned line? Be really curious how old they are, not that it matters much now. Loved the long-range shots down the old line. Close your eyes and you can see a steam or diesel locomotive chugging down the line. And the shot through the tunnel...superb! And of all the fauna that could show up, there's a black cat. LOL I'm sure you enjoyed that trip.
Thank you! The FPAs are gorgeous engines, and I'm glad they were running both back to back! Unfortunately I didn't get a date on the rails. I did check in one spot, but Carnegie was the only thing I could make out. I'd like to explore more of this abandoned line, but to my knowledge there isn't much more to it; south of Cattaraugus it was turned into a rail trail in the late 90s, and north of Dayton everything was pulled up. Such a shame. At least that black cat didn't turn out to be a bad omen lol 😆
@@mattygunn693 I can attest old rail lines make great rail trails, but it might be a little difficult to navigate that washout. lol
I forgot they had those FPA's; they still run pretty well and great horn sound. Too bad about the washout, don't imagine they will fix it seems like a huge job. Very good coverage; shame they didn't decorate the train a bit. Was Santa there ?
Thank you! From what I was told, the railroad did attempt to repair the damage from the washout, but it washed out again. At this point, the line has been abandoned since 2009 and the tracks have been ripped up south of Cattaraugus, so this line sadly will never be rebuilt. I was surprised they didn't decorate the train this year. The last few times I've chased it the lead engine at least had a wreath on the nose. And I believe the big man was here, on the train!
Not sure anyone commented on the question identifying the old factory at 4.06. I believe it’s the old SetterStick factory in Cattaraugus, NY. It was on the line from Salamanca to Gowanda. SetterStick manufactured lollipop sticks. The ERIE hauled endless box cars of paper to roll the sticks and sticks back to candy makers.
It's actually Setter Plywood, Setterstix is a couple miles south. Also, the Dunkirk Branch didn't run to Gowanda, the Buffalo & Southwestern Branch ran to Gowanda and the two met via a connecting track in Dayton.
@@mattygunn693. Hi Matt. You right that trains from Salamanca did not go directly to Gowanda. They were originally headed to Dunkirk. A huge diamond shaped Y type configuration was in Dayton crossing Rts 353 and 62 allowing trains to directed in any of 3 ways, but virtually all trains. Coming from Salamanca went straight to Dunkirk. Trains to and from Buffalo went, of course through Gowanda, via Jamestown and onto or from Chicago. Great coverage of WNY railroading. Thanks
@@garysnider4305 No wye track in Dayton, just a connecting track.
Any idea what that old factory is at 4:06? That's been shut down for more than a few years.
Setter Plywood. Unfortunately that's all the info I could find.
We enjoy watching your videos, but have a question. Why does your camera shake when the train goes by? We notice it in pretty much all your videos. Other than that we really enjoy them.
Regarding this video, did the train not go to South Dayton because of the washout?
I'm glad to hear you enjoy the videos, though I do apologize about the shaking. For the longest I figured it was my heavyweight tripod having inadequate rubber boots to dampen the vibration, but after today I think it might be the camera. It's old so there's probably an internal component that isn't working anymore. As for the train not going to South Dayton, it has nothing to do with the washout. The washout is on the Dunkirk/Salamanca Branch, which has been abondoned since 2009. The NY&LE trains run on the Buffalo & Southwestern Branch, and while most of their trains do run to South Dayton, the Santa Express doesn't.
@mattygunn693 thanks for the reply! Keep up the good work!
@@wendybird327 I'll do my best! 😊