The upper level of my two-level layout is all narrow gauge, depicting a portion of the former Denver & Rio Grande Western’s Fourth Division line in southwestern Colorado and northern New Mexico.
Hornell NY, 1970
Hornell NY was an important division point on the Erie Railroad, and after the 1960 merger with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, the Erie Lackawanna (EL). During spring break in March 1970, while many flock to warmer, sunny beaches, I went instead to Hornell NY on an overcast day, with my dad’s Pentax and a couple of telephoto lenses. While there were still patches of snow on the ground, there was still plenty of activity in the yard and locomotive servicing area, with an amazing mix of locomotives on hand. These photos were taken on that day.
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Hornell was on the Jersey City-to-Chicago main line through New York State’s Southern Tier, and was the junction where an important line diverged to Buffalo. There was a large flat switching yard and an impressive diesel shop. Hornell made for pretty interesting railfanning: the motive power was a mix of state-of-the-art and aging first generation diesels; there were long strings of obsolete passenger cars and cabooses, from dwindling passenger service and post-merger traffic consolidation; various maintenance of way equipment; and aging infrastructure that was obviously in transition.
Since 1970, Hornell has seen a lot of change. In June 1972, the EL suffered devastating damage in the NY Southern Tier from Hurricane Agnes’ historic flooding, causing EL to enter bankruptcy that month. As part of the northeast’s rail reorganizations, this line was incorporated into Conrail in April, 1976. After 5 years of branch line abandonments, employee reductions, other cost reductions, improving maintenance and the 1980 Staggers Act (allowing railroads to set their own freight rates, instead of the Interstate Commerce Commission), Conrail turned a profit for the first time. In 1998, Conrail was split up between CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads; the line through Hornell went to Norfolk Southern. Today, while most of the yard tracks are gone, Hornell remains on the line to Buffalo, and the Western New York & Pennsylvania RR operates the former Erie main line between Hornell and Meadville PA. The former Hornell diesel shop is now home to Alstom Transport, a manufacturer of light rail cars.