This is a collection of photographs from Niagara Junction, part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Niagara Junction is the point where East-West main line traffic could go North on the Niagara Falls branch to Tonawanda Junction, and then onto New York Central tracks over the suspension bridge into Canada.
Three of the photos were scanned from pictures I took in the Fall of 1980. The others were taken in April, 2008 after a friend in a far-away country put the idea in my head that I should take pictures of something during a weekend trip to Buffalo. Niagara Junction was my favorite railroad haunt growing up, so the choice to revisit it was an easy one.
In addition to my words and pictures, readers will also discover:
The second map is actually a Google map, with selectable pinpoints to identify where each group of photographs were taken.
However, one of the tracks was still in use to handle local deliveries up along the Niagara Falls branch line. Paul Templeton reports that the 4.6 miles of track, from Niagara Jct up to Williamsville, was finally abandoned by Conrail on July 22, 1982. This information coincides with last entry in the Amherst-Villa Road logbook, dated August 26, 1982.
In April 2008, the tracks are long gone. However, the control box remains in place with the signal pole now lying on the ground behind it (see the second photo). Also, have a look at the water drainage ditch that is partially uncovered along the right hand side of both photos. They did a remarkable job building that as evidenced by the fact that the water is still running through there today, with tadpoles and minnows swimming about.
The two bridges in the background belonged to
Erie and the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railroads, respectively.
And between these two bridges is where Doug Kroll captured
these great photographs of the Westbound Apollo 1 and
Eastbound Apollo 2, leaving and entering the Niagara
Junction in 1973:
(photographs property of Doug Kroll, used with permission)
You can read more about these photographs on the
Fallen Flags/Lehigh Valley section
of Doug's award-winning
RR Road Trip web site!
Only once did I ever see a train come through here. I remember my brother and I were walking around the junction and heard a train coming from someplace. Surrounded by railroads, this was a frequent occurrence. However this one time, the rumbling sound was strangely muffled but growing louder. We couldnt figure out where it was coming from and it was becoming rather surreal because it kept growing louder.
Then, entering the junction from the West came a Conrail-blue switcher at no more than 10 miles/hour followed by some of the most dilapidated rolling stock I had ever seen. I seem to recall there was a Lehigh Valley caboose at the end of it, but I might be mixing up memories. My brother and I just stood there and watched as this rickety train poked along, rocking side-to-side around the curve and then North, up the Niagara Falls branch.
Several years ago, I had to ask my brother to confirm this whole experience because it had an almost dreamlike quality in my mind (and I do have the occasional train dream, now and again :-)). When I asked him about it, he chimed right in with his recollection (whew!) and added one more thing: apparently, the engineer was shaking his finger at us as if to say we shouldnt be there!
After reading this web page, my brother reminded me of another Niagara Junction story. Supposedly, there was a railroad inspector with the nickname Big Ernie who roamed the junction trying to maintain its once pristine look. According to a photographer we met there, you did not want to run into this guy. Fortunately, we never did!
(photograph property of Paul J. Templeton, used with permission)
(photograph property of Doug Kroll, used with permission)
(photograph property of Paul J. Templeton, used with permission)
(As a frame of reference, the 1907 photo and Paul's 1976 image were taken from the about the same spot, looking West along the main line. Doug's 1976 photo was taken near where the engine was in Paul's 1976 image. The last two photos look North, toward the Niagara Falls branch line.)
The second photo was taken on September 16, 1973 by Paul Templeton and shows the interior of the the Niagara Jct Tower. The man on the telephone was Ted Boris, "a relief operator and a true gentleman," who passed away a few months after the advent of Conrail.
The third photo was taken on March 23, 1976 by Doug Kroll who writes:
This photo shows the "Niagara Jct Tower" and the trailer that housed the Buffalo Division dispatcher after he moved from the Dingens Street Terminal when it was sold. Coming South off the Niagara Falls Branch is RS-3 #216 on the Tifft Yard to Niagara Falls and back local. The date is March 23, 1976, just days before Conrail would silence these tracks and use the Penn Central (formerly New York Central) line in the background as their main route to NY/NJ.
The fourth photo was taken on December 21, 1976 by Paul Templeton. In addition to describing it, Paul gives us more information on the red-bricked "Niagara Jct Tower" and the white trailer seen in Doug's photo:
This is the Conrail Batavia local about to pick up some train orders at Niagara Jct Tower on the very cold late afternoon of 21 December 1976. This job was very sporadic and operated until late June, 1978 when the Batavia-Niagara Jct segment went out of service for all time.After Conrail, Niagara Jct Tower remained open 24/7 until 03 January 1977, after which it was open 09:00-18:00 M-F. Later it went to "open on an as-needed basis", which was in effect in June, 1978. The tower was closed effective 05 August 1979. The tower originally controlled the Lehigh and Lake Erie Branch and the MT Tifft Jct.-Blacksmith Int.
The dispatchers office in that trailer at Niagara Jct remained in use until 03 January 1977, after which the office was relocated to the Penn Central Buffalo Terminal.
I visited Niagara Jct many weekends 1973-1976 and got to know the tower relief operator, Ted Boris, plus the Buffalo Division Assistant Chief Dispatcher James Sorge. They were both great people. If I remember correctly, the regular day trick operator was Hank Sikora and the afternoon trick man was Vince Tabone. I never met the midnight operator as I was never around Niagara Jct at those hours.
The Tifft Terminal-Suspension Bridge local mentioned by Doug Kroll was TTN-1/NTT-2, and was also known by Lehigh Valley employees as the "Cross Town Pickup."
Four years later, in the Fall of 1980, you can see the cement footings of the Niagara Jct Tower directly behind the pair of (unused) main line tracks running across the bottom of the photo. Paul and I suspect that the tower was demolished during the Summer of 1980. If so, then judging by the weeds growing here, it's possible that all my 1980 pictures are actually from October of 1981! In the background is the start of the Niagara Falls branch line, which heads North under the New York Central railroad bridge and then under Walden Avenue.
In April 2008, you can still kinda make out the cement footings of the Niagara Jct Tower -- they are still there -- along with a couple rusty pipes coming out of the ground with wires in them. That's about it though. The New York Central bridge has been removed and filled in so this place is really not much a junction anymore. In fact, this is the one picture that I do not care to look at for very long, so let's just move on...
(photograph property of Richard Pearson, used with permission)
This small building is the remains of the Depew passenger station. This was where the Toronto section of the Maple Leaf, trains 7 & 8, was taken off/added when passenger service was still offered. The structure was partially demolished after passenger service was dropped and the remainder of the building was used by the section gang/signal gang. This remnant was demolished at the same time as the tower.The yellow Liquid Propane tank in the background fueled the many switch heaters at the junction. It is also one of the few artifacts that still remain from the Lehigh Valley days.
In 1980, the absolute signal was still standing; It's also possible the signal was lit when this photo was taken. Even though the rusty rails beneath it hadnt seen a train for several years prior, for some reason, they left the signal powered on for the longest time. The semaphore was gone, so way down at Sheldon Avenue it always shone white... but it was lit! The top floor of this signal was also a great place to catch an evening sunset. I remember there was a bunch of equipment in that furthest control box, but later someone torched the whole thing. You cant see it, but there is actually a vast array of tracks and switches underneath all that horsetail and you had to balance-walk on the rails as there was usually standing water here.
By April of 2008, the rails are long gone. Paul Templeton reports that the rails remained intact up to at least June, 1983, but were gone by October, 1987. In this photo, the middle control box can still be seen between the weeds, however the absolute signal was apparently replaced by a tree. Paul also notes that both this signal post and the one governing the Western entrance remained standing as late as October, 1987.
The second photo is a close-up of the signal/box where, if you look closely, you'll notice the whole place is covered in several inches of water. Yes, the drainage issue has gotten worse and the dirt road has turned into a running stream. It was at this point I realized I should have worn boots.
The last two photos are taken a few steps further East, where the
Liquid Propane fuel tank quietly rusts away.
In the second-last photo, there's a CSX freight train is running West
over New York Central track. And then the final photo provides one last
look back toward the Niagara Junction.
