ORCHARD PARK DEPOT TRAINS MAGAZINE AWARD
TRAINS MAGAZINE 2001 PRESERVATION AWARD
Buffalo Rochester & Pittsburgh Depot
Orchard Park, New York
In October, 2001, the Western New York Railway Historical Society, was pleased to learn it was selected as the third annual winner of the prestigious "TRAINS PRESERVATION AWARD" for 2001. The $10,000 award will be used to help the Society to organize, preserve and share its collection of railroad artifacts and ephemera.
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The the funds will be used to restore the original BR&P Freight House, which is one hundred feet west of the passenger station. It, like the passenger depot, was built by the railroad in the H.H. Richardson style with its tapestry brick exterior and classic pagoda roof line. The building itself is in very good condition for a 91 year old building. Thanks to Society member Mike Fitzsimmons' drive, the interior and exterior grounds will be returned to their original 1920's appearance. |
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The final goal is to have the freight house serve as the Societies museum and research center. To accomplish this, over 500 boxes of railroad records, many from the New York Central, need to be stored in an organized manner. Two 40ft box cars will be brought in, and placed on panel track on the west end. In this picture, you can see the surveying stakes which identify where the track will be laid. An extension will be added to the soon to be restored, three sided wooden platform, which will reach both of the cars. |
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Rails and ties have been stocked next to the freight house in anticipation of grading and the arrival of ballast. The three sided platform will surround the west, south and east sides, just as it did in the 20's. Here you can see the restored garden island and grass has been removed to restore the original wagon and buggy turn around. |
| Orchard Park Update - September 2002 |
| The new storage siding has been graded and has been prepared for the new roadbed. Over 120 feet of overburden was removed and stock piled at the corner of the freight depot to be used to fill in low spots at other places on the property. Our newest piece of rolling stock, a New York Central, 6-10 Sleeper, the "Hocking River," can now be seen on our loading dock siding. It was delivered by the BR&P in late August. |
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On Saturday, September 14th the first of three, 20 Ton loads of #2 crushed stone, is delivered by McNamara Trucking, to prepare the roadbed for the ties. It always helps to have an experienced operator to be able to lay the stone down evenly, which saved a lot of work! Dave Schuster's powerful diesel tractor, helped spread the stone in preperation for the crossties. |
| The first of the ties are lifted into place the old fashion way, using "Tie Tongs!" After the ballast was tamped into place, to give a smooth, solid surface, each tie was spaced 24" on center to standard railroad siding practice. A 4" flexible drain pipe was buried to assure good drainage. All the 80lb rail, was recovered from the old Holmes & Murphy siding a little ways up the track, courtesy of the president of the Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad. This allowed us to save the 105lb rail recovered from the demolished Buffalo Forge Plant at the east end of CSX's Frontier Yard, for future projects. |
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 | After 4 or 5 ties are in place, the one yard bucket on Dave's tractor, makes short work of filling in the tie spaces. The ballast is leveled out and again carefully tamped into place so as not to disturb their spacing. "Section Boss" Bob Reyenders, keeps a close eye on the crew!
  | | After a good eight hours of sweaty work, over 76 feet of trackbed and 37 ties are in place. Not a record, but it represents another move forward toward getting our Freight Depot turned into a museum! Once the rail is in place, the railhead will be at the same height as the adjacent siding. |
Orchard Park Update - October
2002
| Project Foreman, Mike Fitzsimmons, went to Roy Track Company in Buffalo, and obtained a barrel of 7/8" track bolts along with 3 pair of "rail dogs" (tongs), and 2 pair of two man tie tongs. Kurt Hoctor, the owner, also donated to the society, a track level and two types of track gauges. It took 20 strong arms to carry a 30ft, 800lb piece of 80lb rail. At this point over 96ft. of rail have been spiked into place. The two man "rail dogs" are the safest way to carry the "high iron." |  |
  | | Here, Ron Dukarm helps direct Caryl Youngers and his tractor, moving a "stick" of rail into place. Each 800lb section was placed into its approximate location before the "section gang" had to use its muscle. The rail was installed according to detailed instructions provided by retired Pennsy/Penn Central/Conrail track supervisor Jim Barber who stopped out to lend an experienced hand. |
 | After the rail is put into place, a rail joint is placed on each side of the web of the rail. They are then bolted to the rail using six 7/8" bolts and a very large wrench which tightens down the nuts. A sledge hammer helps to line things up. Almost like laying "Atlas© Snap Track." |
| Here our novice "Gandy Dancers" spike down the newly laid rail. Hitting a one inch square on the spike head with a spike maul of the same size is not as easy as it looks in the movies! But, by this time our track gang had developed a rhythm of their own, and no toes were lost in the process! "Half the work of laying track, is picking up the tools" (Dave Fleenor) |
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  | | On Saturday, October 5th, the track crew adjusted the track using a Transit provided by Caryl Youngers, a level and a track jack. Checking elevations at several points, it was determined where the track had to be lifted and by how much. After lifting the rail, ballast had to be packed under the ties which proved to be the most exhausting task so far. Modern railroads have a vast assortment of track machines which make short work of this type manual labor. Now the 120 feet of storage siding is complete! The track is straight and level and should give many, many years of service. Thanks to a dedicated crew and five great weekends of weather, the boxcars can now be brought in! |
| The trucking company that has been hired to transport the boxcars to Orchard Park, uses a specially outfitted "lowboy" trailer to carry railroad equipment. The driver will pull straight up the tracks which necessitates filling in the space between the rails with ties. Once the front of the trailer is up over the rails, he drops the "fifth wheel" so that the trailer is on the ties. Ramps with structural steel spaced at 4' 8½" are attached to the trailer, and the car can roll off with no need for a crane! |
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