Category Archives: Masten

Finding Ghosts

Since this is the “Spooky Season”, I thought I would share an interesting way of using technology to find ghosts in in the woods. Specifically, the ghosts of railroads past…

This technology is called “LIDAR”, for “Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging”, and has been in use in various forms since the invention of lasers in the early 1960’s. It is commonly used to make 3-D terrain maps for various purposes. The increasing resolution of LIDAR systems (down to elevation differences of mere inches), and the ability to subtract light reflections from vegetation, has made LIDAR an invaluable tool for archaeologic research. This also applies to industrial archaeology, I.E., abandoned railroads.

Mapping LIDAR data removes existing structures as well as vegetation, but foundations of no-longer-extant structures can often be seen. The data is also most useful in more remote areas, where later alterations of the ground are less likely to have occurred over time.

This mapping technology is available on the internet from the United States Geologic Survey (USGS) at: The National Map – Advanced Viewer. To use the online browser, navigate to the site, use the map to navigate to the area of interest, open the “Layer List” tool on the toolbar, check the box next to 3DEP Elevation – Hillshade, and zoom in a bit to your area of interest. It will take a few seconds or a bit longer to load the data into the browser, so if you have a slow internet connection, be patient. You should be rewarded with a shaded grey-scale image of the ground. Clicking the three black dots opens another set of tools, one of which allows you to adjust the transparency of the shaded layer so the associated map layer can be seen.

 

USGS website and navigation map

 

3DEP Elevation – Hillshade

 

Topo map overlaid

The above examples show the course of the long-abandoned PRR Chautauqua Branch roadbed and the still-extant bridge over French Creek near Sherman, NY. This bridge can still be seen in the winter months from westbound Interstate 86.

We can combine the USGS LIDAR information with data from other online resources such as Google Earth as well. In this instance, the Susquehanna & New York Railroad roadbed and bridge site over Pleasant Stream dating to circa 1917-1920 can still be seen, despite several severe floods in the early to mid-2000’s which significantly altered the streambed. Images from Google Earth are not useful due to tree canopy cover, but the bridge can be seen in aerial photographs from the late 1930’s available online at: Penn Pilot (arcgis.com). The photos show the bridge abutments as they looked in 2000.

Penn Pilot

 

USGS LIDAR

 

Google Earth

Photo by Author

 

Photo by Author

Another interesting example is at Marsh Hill, PA. Here, the standout feature is the elevated ramp serving the coal dock along one leg of the wye track, still visible due to laser light and the power of applied mathematics 80 years after the S&NY was abandoned. The faint traces of the S&NY yard, the rest of the wye, and the roadbed heading east along Pleasant Stream can also be seen. These traces correlate with the Penn Pilot photographs but are nearly completely obscured by trees and modern structures on the Google Earth view.

USGS LIDAR

 

Penn Pilot

 

Bill Caloroso- Author’s Collection

 

Google Earth

One can spend hours following old roadbeds and hunting traces of “what once was” for fun, but the usefulness of this technology for model railroaders researching a particular prototype railroad cannot be understated.

Let’s do a couple more:

Here is a LIDAR view of the Masten area. In addition to the modern roads, both the “old” S&NY right-of-way and the “new” ROW leading to and from the Masten Loop (out of view to the right) can be seen. In addition, the remains of the log pond dam are revealed in the center of the image.

USGS LIDAR

Author’s Collection

Google Earth

Again, the ground surface details are completely obscured by forest canopy on the Google Earth view.

Let’s move to the Masten Loop area. The USGS LIDAR data gives us this view of the roadbed, associated cuts and fills, and the bridge site over Pleasant Stream:

USGS LIDAR

An old postcard view:

Author’s Collection

The view from the air circa 1938:

Penn Pilot

Ground view, date unknown, possibly mid-1930’s:

Walter Parmeter Collection via John Eastlake

And finally, the modern view via satellite:

Google Earth

Moving upgrade and northeastward, the outlines of the wye track at Ellenton can still be made out:

USGS LIDAR

1930’s aerial view:

Penn Pilot

Valuation map of the area:

Ground level view, likely during abandonment in 1942:

Bill Caloroso – Cal’s Classics

Current Google Earth view:

Google Earth

Foundations of long-gone structures can also be seen using this tool. In this view of Wheelerville, the foundation of the old creamery is visible adjacent to the S&NY roadbed, now called Schrader Creek Road:

USGS LIDAR

View of the creamery foundations in 2017:

Photo by Author

Lastly, let’s have a look at the Laquin area. Hard to make out much detail due to later flooding and the construction of a CCC camp. This is where other resources can come in handy:

USGS LIDAR

We can get an idea of what to look for, based on a map from Tom Taber’s book “Ghost Lumber Towns of Central Pennsylvania” and the Penn Pilot aerials:

Excerpted from “Ghost Lumber Towns of Central Pennsylvania”

 

Penn Pilot

On the LIDAR image, we can still see faint traces of the lumber stack area at the lumber mill, the stave mill area, and the chemical plant and associated trackage.

Google Earth

The modern Google Earth view is much less useful, again due to the tree canopy.

Hard to believe we have this technology to research the past right at our fingertips. Truely, we live in an age of miracles. Give these tools a try, and maybe you’ll find your own “ghosts”!

Talky Tuesday #83

Last week’s “WW #125” is a shot of derelict Masten station. Thanks to the sharp eyes of reader Chris C., who was able to decipher the grainy station sign letters.

The last log passed through the sawmill at Masten on 18 September 1930. However, it took three more years before all the stockpiled cut lumber was sold and shipped out. A CCC camp was located here, but was closed in 1940. Per Taber’s book, the last family, Otto Robbins and his wife, moved away in 1941. I am unsure when the agent/operator was no longer needed by the S&NY and the station abandoned, but I imagine it would have been shortly after the CCC camp closed.

Talky Tuesday #58

The past 4 “Wordless Wednesdays” #96, #97, #98, and #99 are views of a wreck near Masten, circa 1941. A C&NW boxcar has rolled down the embankment, destroying a small outbuilding and narrowly missing a dwelling.

From the photos, the boxcar appears to be a C&NW outside-braced single sheathed car, similar to the car in HO from Accurail, albeit with a straight center sill, rather than the deep fishbelly sill on the Accurail model. The photos also gives us an excellent look at the underframe and the arrangement of the brake gear.

Two additional views can be found in Kaseman’s book on page 72. From the series, it appears the cargo is grain, possibly corn; and holes have been cut into the floor of the car and the side near the door in order to both salvage the cargo and lighten the car so it can be dragged back up the embankment and placed back on the rails. The photo in “WW #97” shows what appears to be empty grain sacks and/or tarps covering the car side, possibly to keep rain out of the car and the grain dry until it can be unloaded.

All in all, another interesting shortline vignette.

Wordless Wednesday #99

Bill Caloroso – Cal’s Classics

Wordless Wednesday #98

Bill Caloroso – Cal’s Classics

 

Wordless Wednesday #97

Bill Caloroso – Cal’s Classics

Talky Tuesday #13

Last week’s WW #41 is another shot from the Western History Collection of the Denver Public Library, taken by the late Robert W. Richardson. This view shows the #119 leading a mixed train at Cabin Run on 13 September 1939. Per the caption, supplies are being loaded from combine #204 onto a canvas-topped Civilian Conservation Corps truck.

Note, review of the PA DCNR website reveals CCC camps at both Masten and Laquin along the S&NY, but none named at Cabin Run. I believe this shot may actually have been taken either at Masten or Laquin.

Of note is the 3-domed tank car near the front of the train, similar to one available in HO scale from Tangent Scale Models.

Talky Tuesday #1

It has been suggested to me, both online and in person, that some sort of follow-up posts be made to describe some of the locations and subjects of the “Wordless Wednesday” photos. So, for the enlightenment of those who enjoy the “Wordless Wednesdays”, and for the completeness of the online historical record of the S&NY, I present the first ‘Talky Tuesday”:

“Wordless Wednesday #29”: This photo was taken by me during a research/exploration trip up the Pleasant Stream and Schrader Creek valleys in early December 2000. The photo shows the abandoned town site of Masten, PA. My photo is roughly from the same location as this postcard view from the late 1910’s:Masten postcard hi-res-1

“Wordless Wednesday #28”: This photo taken on the same safari as “WW #29” shows the abandoned S&NY roadbed east of Marsh Hill along Pleasant Stream.

 

Wordless Wednesday #29

Photo by Author

Photo by Author

For a view of this location 90 years earlier, click here.