In General
Getting Here
Map
Crossings etc
Floobydust

RAILFAN GUIDES HOME
RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME

In General

Location / Name:
Batavia NY, Genesee County
Corfu NY, Genesee County
Depew NY, Erie County

What's Here:
CSX Mainline between Batavia NY and Buffalo/Depew NY

Data:
GPS Coordinates: as needed
Phone A/C: 585/Batavia, 585/Corfu, 716/Depew
ZIP: 14020/Batavia, 14036/Corfu, 14043/Depew

Access by train/transit:
You can catch Amtrak at the Depew station
Check out my Depew page for additional information and details

The Scoop:

This guide covers the ex New York Central mainline, now CSX, from Batavia to Depew.

At one time, the New York Central had a four track mainline running from pretty much New York City to Buffalo, now, it is only two for the most part, at least in the upper New York state area.  A large part of the reduction in the number of tracks was made possible by the huge drop in the number of passenger trains...  Generally, 1945 is regarded as the busiest year for passenger travel in the U.S. by train.  Obviously, that is not the case today, so four tracks just isn't needed any longer.

Why would you want to railfan this area?  Lots of action, almost like being on the UP/ex CNW line that runs through Des Moines and Ames Iowa.  And they come rolling thru at speed, with little in their way to slow 'em down.

You will notice that almost every entry has "Good grade crossing, good sight lines in both directions".  This is because the line, for the most part, is very straight!

Since I originally did this guide in 2012, and came thru here in 2006 to take pictures, CSX has replaced/upgraded the signaling.  All of the old New York Central searchlight signals are gone, replaced by standard "darth vader" colorlight installations.  These will be noted if I have anything to update with.  Contributions are always welcome.

Another thing to note - since doing this page in 20012, both Google and Bing's aerial pictures on their map pages have gotten worse - Google went to a mostly horrible 3D platform with non-existent details (for the most part), and Bing's resolution and clarity went into the toilet.  The only thing that has improved are Google's Streetview, if they have come thru recently.  However, for a good portion of the streets where this guide goes, we are still dealing with shots from 2011, so many of the crossings will not have an updated view (Upton Rd is one example, where streetview does not show the new signals adjacent to the road).  Bing has also abandoned their "birdseye" view in a lot of areas, including the trip down NY33/Pearl Street Rd.

Other cities to take in while you are here are: Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Schenectady, Albany/Rensselaer, and to the southeast, Binghamton.

Acknowledgements:
Tiffany Morley
Denver Todd

Websites and other additional information sources of interest for the area:
None for now.....


Getting Here

I-90, the New York State Thruway, parallels the track, kinda, for almost the whole trek from Albany to Buffalo.  Use your GPS to get to I-90.

Pertinent I-90 Exits: exits from I-90 you can take for chasing this section of the ex NYC mainline are shown in the three following screen grabs:
-- Exit 48 - Batavia
-- Exit 48a - Corfu and Pembroke
-- Exit 49 - Depew







If you are coming in from the SE (Bingo, the Southern Tier), come in via I-390, and then NY 63.
If coming in from the SW, like the Arcade & Attica RR, or those two towns, take NY 98.




Map




Crossings, Bridges, and Signals
In Batavia
Additional pictures can be found in my Batavia guide


Cedar St, MP 402

 


Looking west, red arrow, WB signals


Looking east, yellow arrow, with the siding going off to the right with a dwarf colorlight signal and EB pole mounted searchlights






Crossings, Bridges, and Signals

Between Batavia and Depew


  Donahue Rd

Good grade crossing, good sight lines in both directions.
You have three tracks here, the northern track is the yard lead, which starts at the next signal to the west.










Looks like a couple of railfans caught in the act, if you ask me :-)

looking east

looking west

WB, Oct 2019


Signals between Donahue and Wortendyke Roads

No access for pictures.  About a mile east of Wortendyke Road.  The lead for the Batavia yard starts just to the west of the signals.  The signals were only for the mainline tracks, altho there might have been a dwarf signal for the yard lead.
Next signals west at Upton Rd: 1.94mi; Next signals east are at Walnut, south Batavia: 2.14mi.



In a 2021 aerial view, we can see the single signal bridge has been replaced by a pair of signals on a cantilever bridge for the mainline, and we've added a full size signal for the yard lead.








Caught in the act

A local freight makes its way east, just east of Wortendyke Road.   Either getting ready to work the siding, or just finished.  The siding is shown on the map for Wortendyke Rd below.




  Wortendyke Rd

Good grade crossing, good sight lines in both directions.  Defect Detectors here.

There were pole mounted searchlight signals for EB traffic in the distance of the right picture, and the signal bridge on the far side of them can just be made out on these low-res pictures I was taking back in these days (2006).  :-(







looking east



looking west


  Upton Rd

Good grade crossing, good sight lines in both directions.  Good shots to the west of EB trains framed by signal bridge.






Signals between Upton and Wilkinson Roads

No access for photos, but you can catch shots of EB trains, framed in by the signal bridge, from Upton Road with a good telephoto lens.
This "distant" signal bridge was taken down in the signal upgrade, replaced by standard colorlights adjacent to Upton Road.
Next signals west are between Ellinwood and Wilkinson Roads: 2.23mi; Next signals east are between Wortendyke and Donahue Roads: 1.94mi.








  Wilkinson Rd, NY 5

Good grade crossing, good sight lines in both directions.






Signals between Wilkinson and Ellinwood Roads

No access for photos. I'm sure this signal bridge has been replaced by now....
Next signals west at Colby Rd: 2.44mi; Next signals east are at Upton Rd: 2.23mi.




  Ellinwood Rd

Good grade crossing, good sight lines in both directions.






  Colby Rd

Good grade crossing, good sight lines in both directions.  Signal bridge (MP 413) for signals in both directions, looking east towards Batavia from the crossing.
Can't get much better than here!
Next signals west are west of Allegheny Rd by 1,181ft: 2.09mi, Next signals east are between Ellinwood and Wilkinson Roads: 2.44mi.






The signals at Colby Rd





Here we have a few Google Streetview shots of the new signals at Colby Rd:










Bridge between Colby and Snipery Roads

Simple bridge over a small creek, no real good access tho.




  Snipery Rd

Good grade crossing, good sight lines in both directions.






  Allegheny Rd, NY 77

Allegheny Road goes under the tracks.  No good vantage point.  You may want to try where Maple Ave used to cross the tracks, on the south side.






  Allegheny Rd Signals

About 1200 feet west of Allegheny Road, it looks like we have some signals, missed them on my last run-thru here.
Although the detail is lacking, the aerial view from Bing still shows the old NYC signal bridge still in place, too bad they still don't have their birds-eye view available from years ago! :-(
Next signals west are slightly west of County Line Rd: 2.47mi; Next signals east at Colby Rd: 2.09mi.






  Etzold Rd

Good grade crossing, good sight lines in both directions.  Probably a private grade crossing, no grade protection.






  Fargo Rd, NY 4

Good grade crossing, good sight lines in both directions.






  County Line Rd

Good grade crossing, good sight lines in both directions.





Looking west from County Line Road, we can just barely see the new CSX signals that are 1,400 feet away:




  Signals West of County Line Rd

EB/WB Signals and a single crossover, CSX replaced the old NYC searchlights around 2018.  As seen in the Bing street view, there used to be two sets of signal bridges for the crossover.  I'm sure there is a set of signals for EB traffic, it is just not apparent in the low-res pictures obtainable thru either service these days.
Next signals west at Peters Corner Rd: 2.78mi; Next signals east near Allegheny Rd: 2.47mi.








  Crittenden Rd, NY 1

Crittenden goes OVER the tracks here.  Gives you a little variety in your shooting angles.






  Peters Corners Rd, NY 347

Good grade crossing, good sight lines in both directions.
New set of CSX signals on the east side of the crossing.
Next signals west are between Town Line and Wende Roads: 2.72mi, Next signals east are east of County Line Rd: 2.78mi.








  Reinhardt Rd

Either side of this former crossing looks good, with good parking on both sides, good sight lines in both directions.  The map is above.




  Wende Rd, NY 113

Since I originally did this chase guide, it looks like what used to be Wende Road is now the access road to the Wende Correctional Facility, and Wende Road has been moved east of the prison, complete with an overpass.  I dunno if picture taking here would be advisable because of the prison! :-)












  Signals West of Wende Rd - Double Crossover

Sorry, not accessible without trespassing :-(
These guys are 1.19mi west of Wende Road.  The last pictures shows the NYC signal bridge has been removed.
The next set of signals east are at Peters Corners Rd: 2.72mi; Next set of signals west are between Pavement and Town Line Roads: 2.30mi.












  Townline Rd, NY 335

Good grade crossing, good sight lines in both directions.






  Ransom Rd, NY 155

Good grade crossing, good sight lines in both directions.  Shoulder parking, nuttin else available.






  Signals West of Ransom Rd

The new set of signals at this location, are about 1,840 feet west of the signal bridge, which no longer stands.
No access to these signals, they are about halfway between Ransom (4,046ft) and Pavement Roads (4,104ft).
The next set of signals east are between Town Line and Wende Roads: 2.30mi; Next signals west are about a half mile west of Cemetery Rd: 2.03mi.








  Pavement Rd, NY 139

Nice overpass to shoot from, good sight lines in both directions, parking off street on south side.






  Cemetery Rd

Good sight lines in both directions, nice little bridge that goes over the tracks, although everything looks rather "governmentalish", so you may get challenged if found parking here.






  Signals West of Cemetery Rd

Again, we luck out in this 2021 update with an older picture still being on the Google server, showing both the old NYC signal bridge and the newer CSX "Darth Vader" colorlight signals at the same time.  If anyone has pictures of the old signal bridge, and any of the other "old" signal installations, it would be greatly appreciated if you would share them! :-)
Next signals east are between Pavement and Ransom Roads, 2.03mi; Next signals west are at the interlocking east of Transit Rd: 2.16mi.




  Central Ave, NY 57

Central Ave goes under the tracks, so, without climbing the embankment, you can't really get pictures here.....




  Sheldon Ave

Tracks are straight as can be in both directions here, in addition, you have pedestrian crossing gates to liven up your photos.





looking east


  Signals, Transit Road Interlocking

If you want pictures, be prepared to do some walking.  Traveling WB, we go from 2 tracks to 4 for the ride into Buffalo and in preparation for Frontier Yard.
And finally, we are close enough to Buffalo to get some "Birds-Eye" view aerials photos from Bing :-)
The next set of signals west are near the Depew Amtrak station: 1.46mi; Next signals east are west of Cemetery Rd: 2.16mi.











Please visit my Depew page for railfanning west of here.....


Floobydust


None so far


Disclaimers:

I love trains, and I love signals.  I am not an expert.  My webpages reflect what I find on the topic of the page.  This is something I have fun with while trying to help others.

Please Note:  Since the main focus of my two websites is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them.  For those of you into the modeling aspect of our hobby, my indexa page has a list of almost everything railroad oriented I can think of to provide you with at least a few pictures to help you detail your pike.

If this is a railfan page, every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct.  Once in a while, an error may creep in :-)

My philosophy: Pictures and maps are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning.  Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or disoriented.  Take along good maps.... a GPS is OK to get somewhere, but maps are still better if you get lost!  I belong to AAA, which allows you to get local maps for free when you visit the local branches.  ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the railroads on them.  If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and concise graphics, and they do a really good job of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads.  Other notes about specific areas will show up on that page if known.

Aerial shots were taken from either Google or Bing Maps as noted.  Screen captures are made with Snagit, a Techsmith product... a great tool if you have never used it! 

By the way, floobydust is a term I picked up 30-40 years ago from a National Semiconductor data book, and means miscellaneous and/or other stuff.

Pictures and additional information is always needed if anyone feels inclined to take 'em, send 'em, and share 'em, or if you have something to add or correct.... credit is always given!  Please be NICE!!!  Contact info is here

Beware: If used as a source, ANYTHING from Wikipedia must be treated as being possibly inaccurate, wrong, or not true.

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NEW 10/20/2013 (485), APR20+/2021, JUN29/2021, JUN30/2021
Last Modified 30-Jun-2021