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Caption: IF you have ever driven on a summer night to downtown Clifton Hill in "The Falls" you know what it is like. Mobs of people and crawling traffic. I was down that way on a warm summer's eve looking for a chance of catching the evening Chessie (this train came thru earliest at 2050-2100 if I'm lucky) and summer was the only time of the year to get good lighting. Heard nothing on the scanner. I'm coming up to Clifton Hill and, holy (bleep)!! Its the damn train!!! There is nowhere to park and no time to react, so I put two wheels up on the curb and jumped out. Being almost dark resulted in a very slow shutter speed. Maybe a 30th sec. A lot of wandering tourists and a lot of roadgeeks laid on their horns as they wanted to get to the turning lane I had blocked.......no rush; they had to wait for the train!! This area is a crazy place at best, and when a hundred car train meanders thru at about 10 MPH, it becomes a REALLY crazy place. So, that night, I fit right in. C&O 4291 and 4173 the power. Note it was a double track back in those days. In a few years one track would be taken up, in 20 years it was all gone and tourists could finally wander in peace.
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Wow, awesome!
Where did the spur go? was it active at the time?
What an awesome picture and I love reading your entertaining captions. I didn’t know it was once double track and had no idea the spur was there either. I’m also curious to know where it went.
That spur likely branched off to the Canadian Shredded Wheat Company factory at Centre Street and Lewis Avenue (later Nabisco, Kraft and today Post Foods). They made/make Shreddies there. IIRC there was another customer on that spur too, Thompson & Norris Company Ltd (cardboard box factory?).
Great historical capture Arnold.
MrDan, I think you’ve got it right!! Now that I scratch the noggin’, I do recall a line running up to the cereal joint. I think it was on Stanley Ave., but even back then I never did see anything using that line; but I’d think it was active up until late 70′s at least. When the weather warms up and the girls come out, I’ll go for a drive and check it out……..:o)
TWO Thumbs Up! on this shot Arnold. Great historic picture.
That is correct, the spur went to the Shredded Wheat plant. Either the Chippewa Local or a Montrose yard crew would switch the place, entirely box cars I would think. This location was called The Center in RR terms, presumably because it was ‘ the center’ of town. A zillion tons of business moved past here during the decades this was in use.
Love this image every time it pops up! So wish I was smart enough to spend a bit more time Railfaning the falls.