“Some railfan you are!”

The modified PRR bridge over Canandaigua Lake outlet. (iPhone photo by BobbaLew.)


—Yesterday (Sunday, October 7th) I took my dog Killian to a new walking location, Ontario Pathways’ old Pennsy Canandaigua branch.
The branch was abandoned, and rail pulled. The grading remains — even some of the old railroad bridges.
In the 19th century railroad was built north out of Baltimore (MD) toward the Susquehanna River. It was Northern Central, went through York (PA), and even crossed the Susquehanna over a long single-track covered bridge.
Its original destination was Sunbury (PA) on the river. But eventually, through merger perhaps, it went up into NY state to Elmira. It continued north through Watkins Glen, then climbed to Penn Yan.
Canandaigua became its destination, since Canandaigua & Niagara Falls, what later became the “Peanut Line,” began there. Coal from PA connected to C&NF.
Canandaigua wasn’t far enough, plus most of the “Peanut” was abandoned about 1939. It never became serious competition to New York Central’s mainline across NY state.
Canandaigua & Niagara Falls was merged into New York Central in 1855 or 1857  — historical accounts differ.
Sodus Bay on Lake Ontario could harbor coal-boats, so a large wooden loading trestle was built. I have a long-ago photograph I took of a Sodus Bay trestle, but it was wharf number-two. That second wharf was much larger, and burned November 11, 1971.
Railroad was built from Sodus Bay. It was eventually merged into Northern Central, or maybe Pennsy. I’m not clear on who, what or when. Pennsy took over Northern Central in 1861.
The line to Sodus Bay became primary, and the line to Canandaigua became a branch. Trainloads of coal shipped from Sodus Bay, and Pennsy ran passenger trains from Canandaigua south.
Other railroads, mainly New York Central’s “Auburn Road,” also went through Canandaigua. The “Auburn” was the first cross-state railroad into Rochester, a connection of the Auburn & Syracuse and Auburn & Rochester in 1841.
So now Pennsy’s old Canandaigua branch is just a walking-trail, one of many nearby abandoned railroad grades. Since it was a railroad, it’s flat. The only slope I encountered was where an old railroad overpass over a highway was removed, including the abutments.
It became “a peaceful walk with nature,” a line I stole from my aquacise instructor. She’s the one who clued me in. It’s depressing to think I forgot that old railroad-grade, despite it also being in Canandaigua like Kershaw Park, where I also walk my dog.
A “peaceful walk with nature,” yes. But the old railfan hears ghosts of clattering hopper-cars. Or a Pennsy K-4 chuffing out of Canandaigua.

• Shortly after Canandaigua & Niagara Falls merged with New York Central, Dean Richmond, a NYC vice-president, referred to the line as “only a peanut of a line” compared to Central’s mainline across NY state.
• “Aquacise instructor....” —I do aquatic balance-training in the Canandaigua YMCA’s swimming-pool.