Hike #1212; Thompson to Lanesboro
4/6/19 Thompson to Lanesboro with Matthew Davis, Justin Gurbisz, Russ Nelson, Ewa Wdzieczak-Smering, Shane Blische, Michael Krejsa, Diane Reider, Eric Pace, and Mr. Buckett (Jim Mathews).
This next hike would be another point to point in the Delaware and Hudson Series.
Friend deer
We have committed to trying to do one Delaware and Hudson series hike per month, but we put a lot of it on hold for a bit. The canal section we had been following was not going to be very feasible in bad weather, or high water where we left off, so we’d have to come up with something else
We had a lot of backup plans such as the Pennsylvania Coal Company Gravity Railroad, but we started doing more of the Pennsylvania main line heading north. We had last left off on the line with a stretch between Union Dale and Thompson. From there, the next one would take us finally to the Starrucca Viaduct, a place I’ve long wanted to see.
Matt, Justin, and I carpooled in the van up to Lanesboro PA. We ended up taking a bit of a side trip because here was a photo I wanted to get for my then and now compilations of the old Delaware and Hudson offices in Carbondale.
Florence Shelly Wetland Preserve Map
I didn’t realize that it put us quite a bit out of the way. We ended up taking several back roads to get up there.
Once we got going, it didn’t take all that long, and we did another side trip down to the town of Susquehanna, where Matt wanted me to see an outstanding old Erie Railroad station. The thing was a behemoth, originally the Erie Susquehanna Station and Starrucca House Hotel which could accommodate 200 guests, and had a giant banquet room.
The hotel was closed earlier on, and the station was taken out of service in 1970. As per a sign out front, it served as a restaurant for a time, but now there appeared to be someone living in it. A couple of cars were pulled up alongside the front of it.
We headed back through town and toward Lanesboro from there. Our meeting point was at Luciana Park, a small park almost beneath the amazing Starrucca Viaduct.
Susquehanna Station
The viaduct was something I’d been wanting to see forever. It was built by the New York and Erie Railroad in 1847-48 of locally quarried stone mostly, but also contains concrete at it’s bases. It may be the earliest example of structure concrete used in American bridge construction. It was designed by Julius W. Adams and James P. Kirkwood, who also enlisted the talents of master stone mason Thomas Heavey of Ireland to the task.
THEN AND NOW
The bridge is 1,040 feet long with seventeen fifty-foot long arched spans. It’s interesting to see homes pretty much directly below the giant structure.
Deer hug
As we reached the park, there was a deer walking around. To our surprise, this deer was incredible gregarious. It came up to greet us immediately, but seemed uninterested in any kind of food. It just seemed to desire human attention and seemed to enjoy being pet. Justin even gave it a hug.
THEN AND NOW
Shane started running around like a lunatic, and I alerted him not to scare the deer off, but the thing just started chasing him. Justin ran around a bit too, and to my surprise the deer chased him as well.
Deer friend
I’ve pet some tame deer before, but this one was something else. It was shedding a lot, because the weather was warming up, so Justin and I ended up with deer fur all over our clothing.
It was surprising that so few showed up for this hike. There were really a lot the last time we’d been up to the area, and we had a really good time. This time, not so much though. No matter, we made the best of it and really had an excellent hike.
Once everyone was together, we all hopped into as few cars as possible and headed to the starting point, just to the north of Thompson, at the Florence Shelly Nature Preserve.
Florence Shelly Preserve is a large Nature Conservancy preserve consisting of woodlands, streams, fields, and a glacial pond surrounded by a floating bog. The preserves former owner and namesake, Florence Shelly, assembled a team of citizen naturalists from SUNY Binghampton to inventory it’s biodiversity.
The Shelly family donated the land to The Nature Conservancy in the 1980s, and the acquisition of the Plew’s Swamp property in the 1990s completed the preserve.
We had hiked part of the preserve on the previous hike, but realized there was just too much to make it a single trip. I figured I would do the remainder of the trails in the preserve in the next connecting hike out of here. It would turn out that there was too much even for this latest hike. We’ll just have to go back again another time for a different kind of hike. Mike K mentioned something about another spur we’d like to check out, so we can make that work certainly.
Plew's Swamp
It was a pretty easy commute to the start point. The last time we’d hiked this, we parked at the lower lot of the Florence Shelly Preserve, but I had found out there was an upper one recently.
Florence Shelly Preserve
The road we parked on this time was Little Ireland Road. The little back road had a small parking lot and a loop trail off of it that went to an observation tower in the preserve. It does not connect with the rest of the Florence Shelly Wetland Preserve because Plew’s Swamp stands in the way. We’d use a road walk to connect the two. We started walking from the lot into the woods on the trail. We seemed to lose this trail almost immediately. Two branches of it ran closely parallel to one another. Eventually, I found my way to it and most followed. Some stayed back in the parking lot because they didn’t want to do an out and back. I figured it would be cool, and when would I ever come back to this spot again?
Near Plew's Swamp
We found our way into a lovely hemlock woods with undulating terrain, and then a couple of foot bridges over wet areas. This led us out to the observation tower, which was quite nice. The lower level of the tower was an enclosed observation blind, and steps to the upper level offered a more expansive view of Plew’s Swamp.
Once we had a nice break here, we made our way back out the way we came, and continued on the trail out toward it’s end. There was supposed to be an out and back section with another outlook of the swamp, but the trail wasn’t really obvious out there.
In Florence Shelly
There were occasionally some ribbons tied to trees. We found our way out to a rather large tree on the edge of the wetland, which I suppose must have been the feature there, and then we turned around to head back.
Nature Trail
Our return route would be the upper route of the trail loop, which was much more obvious. It followed closely to Little Ireland Road. Once we got to the lot, we continued out the road to Rt 171 where we turned left, or south.
We followed the road with some lovely pastoral views, and headed gradually up hill. We passed an abandoned and collapsed house along the way on the left, and then descended slightly to reach the intersection with Stack Road. The parking lot is across from here.
There is an abandoned road we used last time, and I believe this was probably once the continuation of Stack Road, or of Buck Falls Road on the other side. It appears that it was once a through route. Some of the group opted to stay and wait while the rest of us walked through the preserve sections we’d not done yet.
On the old road
Russ and Ewa were in the lot, having gotten impatient waiting for us down at Thompson Station where they wanted to start late. Some of us headed down the old road route, and crossed a wooden foot bridge designated “Stuart’s Bridge”. There was a lot of water on the trail, but it was better than how it was in the snow a couple months before.
We headed down slope and it dried out a bit. We eventually came to an old woods road going to the left, the route of Plew’s Swamp Trail. I wanted to try to explore everything, and so our next turn was up this way.
My then and now
The trail took us up hill from a kiosk through some mixed hardwoods, and there were old stone rows around in the woods. One in particular had what we sometimes refer to as “stone stiles”. A series of three steps were built into the side of the wall to allow for farmers to easily step up and over the wall.
1970s view of Thompson Motor Inn
We continued on the trail, which soon passed through an evergreen plantation, and then hit a spot where the woods road seemed to peter out a bit.
Thompson Motor Inn building today
Another stone wall was built partially on a rock outcrop where the trail started to descend toward Plew’s Swamp.
This was a dead end trail. I wanted to get to the end, but realized that the property was far larger than I’d anticipated from the previous time. We’d have to start heading back soon. I opted to go off trail a little bit toward the stream below. I used the GPS on my phone to keep us going the correct direction along the slope.
The openness of the woods was quite amazing. I figure they must have tons of deer because of the almost complete lack of undergrowth. We made our way to a heavier canopy from here, with even less plants, and the stream came into view below. It was quite a beautiful spot. We were able to get on the shore of the creek and make our way further downstream.
Old bridge site
We continued through woods, and passed through another small plantation of trees, as well as past a point where an old road crossed over the brook. The stone bridge was deteriorating badly, but is used by the trail today to get to the other side. We didn’t have the time to do this loop trail on the other side, so I figure we’ll just have to come back yet again to hike the area in the future. We could probably just spend a lot more time in Florence Shelly Wetland Preserve and do some of the area dirt roads, game lands, and maybe some of the spur lines that Mike K was talking to me about.
The creek
I think the road that crossed the old bridge was the continuation of Stack Road, which would have connected with Buck Falls Road on the other side. Maybe next time we come back we can try to take that route.
We continued downstream along the creek, and soon came out to a more open area. The floor of the more open area was wet, and there was a long abandoned access road to the right. We continued ahead, and it was questionable where the trail went. We spotted a post up further on the hill to the right and realized where we were going, then ascended back to the wooded section. There was a nice little view from the higher land toward Weirs Pond from there.
THEN AND NOW
We turned to the right and continued on a trail we had been on previously to get us back to the old woods road, and used that to go back up hill to the preserve parking area.
When we arrived, everyone had left us and headed back down toward Thompson Station. I kind of figured that would happen.
We all turned to the left and headed down the highway toward the town. Along the way, we passed by another spot with a collapsed house and some pastoral views. Just before we reached the Thompson Station, we passed an old cemetery and a house which used to be the Thompson Motor Lodge, right along the track bed.
The little station stop town was named for Susquehanna County associate Judge William Thompson. It was never a huge town, but boasted some mills in the mid 1800s.
Russ and Ewa on the trail
We found Russ and Ewa parked at Thompson Station, which is now occupied by an ice cream store, and some of the others were missing. Shane ran off somewhere, and I forget where others went. I used the moment to set up a then and now photo compilation I’d prepared.
The Delaware and Hudson Railway was a follow up to what originated as the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. The forward thinking company ran it’s last freight on it’s canal in 1898 and dropped the “canal” from it’s name, recognizing that railroads were the future of transportation.
The next step was to create the Jefferson Railroad, chartered in 1864. The line was built by the Erie Railroad from Carbondale to Lanesboro and opened in 1872. The D&H and the Erie had a partnership; the Erie had trackage rights over the Delaware and Hudson’s Honesdale Branch, which utilized some of the old gravity railroad grade from Honesdale to Carbondale, and the D&H had trackage rights over the Erie’s Jefferson Railroad from Carbondale to Lanesboro.
The Erie had it’s line along the Lackawaxen River, the Wyoming Division, to the east, which we’ve seen on our other recent hikes.
The Delaware and Hudson acquired trackage rights and leases on other lines further up into New York, and within another twenty years had connections into Albany, Schenectady, up into the Adirondacks, and all the way into Canada.
It’s amazing that this railroad, the first to ever operate a steam locomotive in the United States, remained such a hugely viable enterprise at the forefront for so long.
Like all of the other railroads, the Delaware and Hudson went through reoganizations and mergers. Coal was on the decline, and passenger service gave way to the automobile. Lines were abandoned nearly as fast as they were originally constructed.
This particular branch remained in service until the 1980s and was then scrapped.
When in service, this branch of the D&H had stations at Forest City, Union Dale, Herrick Center, Ararat, Starrucca, and Brandt as well. There also used to be a hotel known as the Jefferson Inn next to the tracks in Thompson, which is now sadly gone.
Little Starrucca Viaduct site
We started walking to the north from here in pretty short order. This would be the last hike to complete the Delaware and Hudson Rail Trail as I had known it, but it turned out that it was opened up much further. It’s really a very nice route, but extremely surprising that we did not pass a single other person on it until we go to the new sections to the north where people were using it for fishing access.
Historic bridge image
This first section felt particularly overdone. The trail had been widened out even beyond the width of the original double track, and it just felt strange and not right.
At the falls
There were some remnants of signal bases or something to the right as we walked.
The rail bed was on a sort of shelf with the valley of the Starrucca Creek to the right of us, and the slope to the left. I walked and talked with Mr. Buckett much of this first section. It went by pretty quickly.
Although the “trail” was so super wide, there was almost a joke of a sign reading that the trail narrowed. It showed what looked like a giant booze bottle, although it was meant to show it narrowing. By narrowing, it meant that it went from around four truck widths to only two.
We continued to the north and came to the former site of the Little Starrucca Viaduct. This was a 480 foot long, 86 foot high deck girder trestle with metal stanchions resting on stone and concrete piers spanning the tributary that flows out of the Weirs Pond and Plew’s Swamp we had just visited earlier.
Buck Falls
The first trains to cross at this point were when the original wooden structure was completed in 1870. Wooden structures on these coal lines were problematic due to frequent fires, so it was replaced with a double tracked steel one in 1888.
Rock outcrops
The bridge was removed some time after abandonment, and for a time had it’s approaches removed on either side, presumably to keep ATVs and people off.
We headed down a very interesting switchback trail that occupies the former site, and goes back and forth around the piers. At the bottom, a wooden bridge was erected over the supposedly nameless tributary to the Starrucca Creek. Here, I had planned the side trip to Buck Falls.
Buck Falls
Matt, Justin, and I turned right down Buck Falls Road. There were tons of “no trespassing” signs on the right. They ended however when we got to the base where we’d have to go in to see the falls.
I carefully made my way over the rocks which were still somewhat icy to the lovely waterfall. There were some ruins of some industry that used the site just before reaching them. The power of these falls had been harnessed over the years starting in 1818 when the first grist mill was erected by Henry Sampson.
I got over right next to the falls, but realized there was an enormous chunk of ice to the right. If it broke off, and it would soon, it would crush and kill me in an instant. I decided not to stay put for too long. It was warm enough that I could walk right through the water without a problem.
We ascended back from the falls along a path with rock outcroppings and followed along top along Buck Falls Road. An older couple showed up to get photos of it from above as well while we were there. We returned to the rail trail which ascended on the other side the same way it did to the south, with sweeping switchbacks I decided to skip most of and just go straight. Once at the top, I set up another then and now compilation using one of the old photos of the trestle and tracks.
THEN AND NOW
We continued ahead with some nice pastoral views to the right, first unobscured, and then through trees. The rail bed continued on a high shelf, which seemed higher here than before, although it was probably just an illusion.
Soon, we reached an outstanding overlook of the little village of Starrucca. Eric asked if it was a hamlet or a village. I noted that there were two church steeples in view. Whether a settlement is a church or hamlet depends on whether or not there is a church, and they were here.
The sleepy looking little community was once a much bigger deal, with four schools, three creameries, six hotels, three churches, a dozen retailers, and several large manufacturers including mill products, acetate of lime, wood spirits, charcoal, wooden toys, and tanning. In fact, the tannery was so successful it ranked Wayne County number one in the country for leather production.
Starrucca PA
Although most of this hike was in Susquehanna County, from just below Little Starrucca Viaduct site to about this area, the railroad bed is on or very close to the Wayne County line. Buck Falls and Starrucca are within Wayne County.
Paddyshack
We continued north with some more nice views through the trees to the right. Somewhere in this area, we also passed another intact sectional tool house on the left side of the grade.
Paddyshack
These were known sometimes as “paddyshacks” by railroad workers. We had passed two of them on the previous hike south of Thompson. There was also the base of an old water tower off to the right.
I was feeling really pretty good, sipping my bottle of Blasphemy and enjoying the views off into the valley to my right.
Soon, we came upon another spot where the entire railroad fill had been mined away. Just south of Thompson we came across something similar, where the low grade coal that was used to create the railroad bed had been removed. At the time of the railroad’s construction, the plentiful coal was low grade and apparently couldn’t be processed as easily. By the 1982 removal of the railroad, this had some value to it apparently, because it was removed. This area looked much the same as that other one we came to.
Mined away rail grade
We continued north, and we crossed Melrose Road and Wildcat Run. The area I believe is a settlement known as Melrose Church, which would have been at the bottom of the hill.
The section ahead was where the railroad started getting closer to the Starrucca Creek. We were still up above it, and appeared to turn to the west more.
In this section, Shane spotted an old rail car coupler in the very middle of the trail. It was situated right between where the two tracks would have been.
Shane's coupler
I suppose it was just too difficult for them to get out at the time. The thing was sticking up so badly that if a snowmobile had gone by, it could cause a lot of damage. Shane actually managed to dig out around it enough to pull it from the dirt and move it to the side. Amazingy, he got some flack for this on the abandoned rails group when the photos were posted, accused of stealing and such. Such craziness.
We continued on, and the railroad bed made it’s way even closer to the Starrucca Creek. Shane found another rail car piece, an old coil spring, also part buried in the dirt on the line.
Missing bridge site
There were some views out across the valley over the creek, and on the other side I could see some sort of stone ruin, maybe an old spring house or something.
We pushed ahead, and soon reached what google maps said was the end of the rail trail, at a little settlement known as Stevens Point at Starrucca Creek Road. I decided we would regroup there, because even though I knew some of the bridges on the rail grade to the west had been re-decked, I didn’t know what we’d come across for sure.
While everyone was waiting, I went up hill and checked out the old Stevens Point Cemetery, which occupies a nice spot on the hillside. When everyone caught up, we went angled across Starrucca Creek Road, which becomes Viaduct Street eventually, and paralleled it a bit.
It wasn’t long before we reached where the railroad crossed over the Starrucca Creek. Only abutments to the bridge were still there, but fortunately we were able to continue across on Starrucca Creek Road bridge which was right next to the rail bridge site. We could then go back up to the rail bed, which was again clear on the other side.
The area ahead was known as Brandts.
Old dam site
From here, the railroad bed went behind a couple of houses and remained pretty wide. It turned away from being parallel with the road, and was more intimately close to the Starrucca Creek than we’d been before. Soon, we crossed over Kinghill Road, and I turned to Eric and stared in with the Hank Hill “Boy ah tell ya hwat” impersonations.
There were more people in this area than we’d seen all day. Several fishermen were parked at the road and using it for access to the stream. We never saw another trail user at all out for simply following it, but plenty of fishermen here.
Bridge
We continued on across and along the creek further on. The creek moved far off to the left and there were woods to the right where Russ I believe was first to spot some kind of ruin. He, Matt, and I went over to see what it was.
At first, it looked like there could be another railroad spur, so I followed it. It turned out to be the berm of an old dam that either spanned Starrucca Creek or otherwise a tributary flowing into it. There were old foundations and such, but I’ve no idea what the place was.
We moved on ahead, and the rest of the group waited up at a newly decked bridge over the Starrucca. The right side of it was decked, but the left was still just the steel framework. We stopped for a break and got our group shot here.
We moved on from this point, and the next place of interest was Jefferson Junction. It was here that a line broke off to the left to connect with the Erie main line just south of the Starrucca Viaduct.
THEN AND NOW JEFF JUNCTION
The foot path turned to the left up slope onto the track bed that went to join the Erie main, and the old D&H ahead was almost completely washed out by the Starrucca Creek which was moving in closer. Most of us chose to stay on the old grade and use what little of it remained up against the hillside to get past. When it opened up again on the other side of the washout, the trail descended back down to it. Beyond there, we passed lots of beautiful beaver wetlands off to the right and the creek moved further away.
The washout
After the creek returned, we crossed Viaduct Street and waited for everyone to catch up. There, a guy pulled over to talk to us. I can’t recall his name or find his business card currently, but he is involved in the development of the rail trail. He was surprised to see so many people on it at once, and just had to stop to say hello. He was surprised how far we’d come.
We talked about possibly partnering with him on a future venture when the next section of it opens up. He said they were pushing it ahead, and that the missing bridge we circumnavigated in Brandt area was to be replaced with grant money.
After our chat, we continued ahead into an area where there were a few more houses around. We soon reached another crossing of the Starrucca Creek.
This was a handsome, recently re-decked through style truss bridge. There used to be a through girder bridge next to it, Russ said, but it had been removed when they realized that the railroad still owned that. It was scrapped. At least they got to keep the nicer of the two bridges.
Just on the other side, the lovely Starrucca Viaduct came into view. The friendly deer we had seen in the morning was eating stuff along the railroad bed, and we got to pet him again.
Mike K and I ran ahead from the lot to set up some then and now compilation photos on the other side of the bridge based on a Delaware and Hudson book he’d brought with him. It was a good thing I got multiple angles, because I found a billion more pictures from just about the same area that helped out.
We wandered around the site for a bit, looking around, taking photos, but we needed to release our rides back from their responsibilities. We’d definitely be back, because we have to push on north to the town of Windsor, which will be another entire hike when combined with Jefferson Junction’s branch and a little bit from the previous trip.
We headed out toward the interstate and stopped at a place that had beer and pizza to close our our day. It was really a great time, and these old anthracite hauling lines are absolutely amazing to follow. I feel as though we have to keep on doing it in perpetuity, even after we finish with D&H.
HAM
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