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Lehigh Valley Railroad

Manchester, NY in 2003 and 2005

another tour by Scot Lawrence

The former LVRR yard in Manchester, NY is well past its prime,

it is mostly fallen into ruin today.

The coaling tower was torn down a few years ago, and today all that remains

is the derelict Roundhouse and a few LV boxcars.

It has been rumoured that the roundhouse may be torn down soon.

but for now the ancient roundhouse still stands!

it is a full 180 degrees, half a circle.

30 stalls, with the 100' turntable bridge still in place.

(pit appears to be filled in)

There is SO much vegetation, that I couldnt even tell if the pit was filled in or not!

there is very dense scrub and trees growing..but the turntable bridge is still there!!

here is a shot of one end of the bridge. its hard to tell what is going on in this photo,

but the orange railing runs down one side of the bridge, the wood decking can be seen,

and one rail..the other rail is presumably there, but I didnt poke around in the vegetation.

I plan to go back in the early winter, when all the leaves are gone, and take more

pictures then..should be a lot more visible then.

from what I could see, it appears the bridge is still in place, AND the pit is also filled in!

there is also an odd wooden structure that extends out from the roundhouse and goes

out to the middle of the pit..some kind of makeshift tunnel..weird.

I will get better pictures in a few months, November or December..

6 surviving LV boxcars are still there!

2 WOOD-side boxcars!, and 4 steel cars.

The 2 wood have no trucks, (the 4 steel cars do)

looks like at least one of the steel cars is in use by the grain/feed store for grain storage.

The tracks (former LV mainline) through the yard is still in use by the Ontario Central RR.

But I dont think these cars have been moved since the LV left town.

Scot Lawrence

August 2003.

Update!

April 10, 2005

Nearly 2 years later, I drove back out to Manchester to check out the turntable pit with

all the foliage gone.

you can see much more this way!

The report:

The turntable bridge is intact, and the turntable pit it totally filled in!

very unusual..they filled in the pit with dirt but left the bridge completely intact.

if you look carefully through the branches, you can see the "bridge arch".

also the bridge railings and track are still there.

the entire bridge is basically intact,

just covered with 30 years of unchecked tree and groundcover growth.

four LV structures still inhabit the yard.

The roundhouse, this wood structure..

this brick building..

and this brick structure.

(I dont really know what any of these buildings were..)

These structures, and the 6 LV Boxcars, all inhabit the extreme eastern end of the yard.

the rest of the yard has been taken over by modern industries.

This Ontario Central ballast car is at the end of the spur near the roundhouse.

The Ontario Central mainline still runs through the center of the yard, on a single-track

line that was originally the LV main.

On the west end of the roundhouse!

never noticed that the other times I have been out to Manchester.

click here for more aerial photographs.

http://www1.nysgis.state.ny.us/MainMap.cfm

Thats it for the tour of Manchester..

the roundhouse's days are numbured.

get out and see it while you still can!