Re: C&0 Fostoria Branch Question - Calling the Memory of Elba Steve
I remember this crossing well. I started working at Buick in 1967. The Dort Hwy crossing was just crossbucks then, and remained so until around 1970, when the state hwy department basically forced C&O to install flashing signals without gates. There was still some traffic over this crossing at this time, so, C&O and the state shared the cost of installation. Funny thing is, just a short time later, C&O partitioned for total abandonment, as the beginning planning of Crossroad Village was really taking interest among the head cheese at Genesee County Parks. It didn't take long for the branch to be abandoned, and those new signals, which probably hadn't been used more than a couple of dozen times was removed as well as the crossing itself. I think this was in the year of 1972. Crossroads became a reality, and opened in 1975. Most of the original trackage that the Huckleberry operated on was the trackage that C&O left between Bray Road on the west, and Mt. Morris Road on the east. All that was changed was, one rail was taken up, and moved inward to make the track narrow gauge. As the years have progressed, most of that original rail still exists. As for the last customers that C&O serviced on that branch, we discussed that a couple of years ago. There was tank cars used at the refinery just east of the Dort Hwy crossing, there was a gravel pit spur to the south of the branch, somewhere near where the east end of Crossroads Village property ends, a small Lumber yard at Stanley road in the village of Genesee that had a short stub track, switch points east, the elevator at Rogersville used rail right up to the end, and a small lumber and fuel supply company in Otisville got cars of lumber, and even some coal in short hoppers. As I mentioned before, I never seen anything bigger than an SW switcher on this line, but someone else said that Geep 7/9's were occasionally used on it too.
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