Bath & Hammondsport Railroad - List of Industries

[bobgroh]

I am putting together a list of the industries on the B&HR with primary interest in the 1940-1950 era. I have already procured most of the major material listed in the Trains.com archieve (e.g. Trains, Dec '46, the station plans from MR Nov '76, the layout book) plus Keuka Memories book by Gordon Reed but still need more nitty-gritty info on industries. There may be some type of annual report filed by the RR that would include a listing of customers, etc. - any hints from the folks out there? Web sources preferred but any and all help appreciated!

[jrbarney]

Bobgroh,
Here's one site I found when I entered "Bath & Hammondsport Railroad" in Google. It includes a list of customers for the line:
http://www.jamestownrailfan.net/bhrr.html
There were other sites, but they didn't look as promising. Have you run across any photos or plans for the steam launches that operated on Keuka Lake ?
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[bobgroh]

Thanks for the information. I have seen it before as it is primarily from the (modern) B&H website and relates to the modern history. I have also done a bunch of following up leads from 'googling'. Regarding your inquiry about plans for the various steamboats on Keuka Lake, I haven't seen any although William Gordon's book 'Keuka Lake Memories' has quite a few pages of pictures and text on the steamboats. Interesting trying to find all this old stuff! If (or maybe just 'when') I get back to Finger Lakes area, I'll do a bunch more research on the subject. There is an historical society in Penn Yan, N. Y. that might have more material on the steam boats and perhaps the Glenn Curtis Museum in Hammondsport might be of help (they are on the web and they have the Gordon book also). Again thanks for your response.

[jrbarney]

Bob,
I cut and pasted the folowing note from a genealogy Web site, just in case you hadn't contacted them. Don't know if they have any railroad information. Thanks for the tip about the Penn Yan historical society. Perhaps we can visit there when we return for my wife's 50th high school reunion in Alfred.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

"The Magee House is where the Steuben County Historian and the Steuben County Historical Society are housed at 2 Cameron Street, Bath (Historian's address is below - do not use the above street address!)
Parking and entrance are in the back of the building.
Historians office hours:
Open Mon-Fri
9:00am - 4:00pm
Office is closed on Federal/State holidays

Steuben County Historian
3 Pulteney Square
Bath, NY 14810

NOTE: For any help requested from the Steuben Co., NY Historian's Office it is imperative that you enclose a SASE (Self-addressed Stamped Envelope) with your request - keep it simple! There is only one volunteer (Marion Springer) who is doing both the looks-ups and correspondence please be patient, kind and courteous!"

[jrbarney]

Bob,
Did a "Google" search for the Babcock Ladder Company in Bath which has interesting collection of buildings along Route 17 that are on a siding, if I remember correctly. The only reference I found was buried in the following newspaper article.
http://www.stargazettenews.com/local/ourtowns/Bath/Sulocal3.html
Not sure whose tracks serve Babcock Ladder, but you could fudge if necessary. Hope the buldings are still standing. Think it probably was in business during the 1940-1950 era. Also, you might want to investigate to see if the Veterans Home has rail service. The Bath area Chamber of Commerce is listed at this site.
http://www.roundthebend.com/towns/Bath.html
Perhaps you could visit there when you get back to the Finger Lakes.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
P.S. Looked at the B&H photos at the "fallen flags" site, hoping to glean some clues there but didn't find anything substantial in the backgrounds.

[BNSFNUT]

I seem to recall one of the books called Railroads You Can Model had a section on the B&H. I think these books are out print but you may find them in your local library.

[jrbarney]

Bob,
The article BNSFNUT kindly mentioned was also mentioned in the earlier B&H thread to which you had also posted. So, I went to the Index of Magazines and here's the citation:
Bath & Hammondsport; Railroads you can model, page 36 See also related article in HO Monthly/Model Trains, January 1955, page 30 ( "ANDERSON, ANDY", BHR, RAILROAD, SHORTLINE, PROTOTYPE )
"Railroads you can model" was compiled by Mike Shafer and published by Kalmbach in 1976. If you don't already have both articles, you should be able to get photocopies of both from the NMRA's Kalmbach Memorial Library. Since I don't have the Kalmbach publication and donated all of my HO Monthlys to the NMRA, I don't know if either article mentions industries in your time period.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[jrbarney]

Bob,
While searching for something else, I ran across a Web site of Maptech which has historical USGS Quadrangle maps online. Here's the link to one of the four for the Bath area:
http://historical.maptech.com/getImage.cfm?fname=bthn10se.jpg&state=NY
Admittedly, this is for 1910, which is earlier than your era, but at least I found out that the tracks adjacent to Babcock Ladder weren't a figment of my imagination. Perhaps you could purchase the current quadrangle maps. As I recall, many hunting goods stores stock them as well as the conventional government outlets.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[jrbarney]

Bob,
Another source for background information that I have used is the "Images of America" series of softbound books that usually sell for less than $ 20. They are published by Arcadia Publishing, an imprint of Tempus Publishing, Inc.:
htttp://www.arcadiapublishing.com
There are three that may have images relevant to the Bath and Hammondsport, all written by photographer Charles R. Mitchell. Two are out of print, "Hammondsport and Keuka Lake," ISBN 0752412264 and "Penn Yan and Keuka," ISBN 0752495586. The current one is "Keuka Lake," ISBN 0738510955. Perhaps the Bath public library might have either or both of the OP titles, and all three might be available through Inter Library Loan.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543