August 29th - Day 11

Rochester, N.Y. - Cleveland, Oh.

            We did not have much information to go on in finding the abandoned Rochester subway so ETMJ and Ian decided to go to the main library downtown. As we parked on a bridge over the Genesee River I began to look around and noticed that the bridge to the south had a large vacant area beneath the roadway. This peaked my curiosity and I wanted to inspect it promptly but we were short of time and could not afford to scout around aimlessly. After searching for Rochester Subway maps in the library we found that the bridge I had noticed earlier was in fact, part of the system.

Entry was absurdly easy and was provided by a catwalk with handrails leading right to the edge of the archway of the bridge. Inside the bridge was a magnificent display of graffiti art along the archways of the four track bridge. Leading from the bridge was a vast room beneath the library with a magnificent pool of storm water on the river’s edge. The area was much like an oasis in a desert of concrete and dirt with greenish blue water falling from the ceiling and slowly spilling over into the Genesee River.  

Just a short walk from the oasis the subway surfaced where the remnants of a station stood guard. After taking pictures all three of us traveled back towards our entrance point but continued to walk through the west tunnel. About halfway down the tunnel two cherry pickers occupied half of the tunnel. Immediately it was not clear as to why they were in the subway tunnel but it became clear that asbestos abatement was their purpose. Not far from the cherry pickers was the remnants of the West Main Street tunnel and remarkably, the tracks were still present in the tunnel. Unfortunately time was not on our side and so we ended the trip through the tunnel to begin our trek to Buffalo.

American urbanism has had a long and colourful history of bad planning decisions. Such an example can be found in Buffalo, N.Y. with the Buffalo Central Terminal. Logic would state that a key transportation terminal would be located in the heart of the city to capitalize on its central location and dense business district. This is not the case with the Terminal however; it is located nearly three and a half miles outside of the CBD in a residential neighbourhood. I can only speculate that planners believed that the city would grow out towards the terminal and incorporate it into the lives of city residents and travelers.

Unfortunately the terminal met its fate in two ways; the first was the city never grew out to the terminal and the second more fatal blow was the transportation transition from the train as the dominant mode of transport to the private automobile. In combination with its poor location, the loss of railroad passenger traffic meant that the Terminal had no reason for existence. Had the Terminal been in the city center or at the very least, in an inner city neighbourhood, re-conversion into offices or condo’s would have likely happened by now. As it stands, the Terminal sits largely vacant in a rundown neighbourhood bordered by rusting industries and the railroad, an unlikely candidate for any kind of significant re-development.

The task of and maintaining and attracting a potential developer of the 15 story mammoth is up to the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation (CTRC). Thankfully one of its members also happens to share my hobby of exploring abandoned structures and upon contacting her, I was able to get a legal tour of BCT. Finding the mammoth structure proved harder than expected as I anticipated the Terminal to be in the downtown (the logical choice of where to put a major railroad station.)

After a frustrating series of wrong turns we were all on the right track when we spotted the giant terminal jutting out of the residential low-rises. (I am sure that ETMJ clenched his fists ready to deck me out as we argued about where the terminal was located). In front of the colossus hulks of bricked buildings was a traffic circle, an obvious element of monument architecture. (The function of the traffic circle is not merely for traffic purposes alone but rather to give a clear sight line to the massive office tower and give the ordinary citizen the sense of power the Terminal held.) We pulled up, said our greetings and were taken inside the spectacular waiting hall. Unfortunately I could not really capture this beauty fully as my D-70 died back in Gary, Indiana and had to rely on a horrific Canon Powershot. So while ETMJ and Ian took pictures Elegent and I talked about the future of the building and about general urban planning. It was nice to be able to talk about serious urban issues as I had experience a severe shortage of meaningful conversations (about urbanism).

A short while later we began the long trek up to the roof but not before taking a short detour to go above the concourse. Peeking through the various holes in the ceiling gave me quite an exhilarating feeling but was quickly getting bored of it. So I joined back with Elegant and EJTM and entered into their slanderous chat about Discovery Channel’s U.E. show. Ten minutes of so elapsed before we decided that moving on and finding Ian would be the course of action. Thankfully Ian was on the same floor as us so we were able to quickly make our way to the stairs.

Near the sixth floor I poked my head through the door and found a crap load of papers scattered in large piles all over the floor. As is customary practice I went to investigate what these papers were all about. To my surprise and delight many of these papers belonged to railroads that no longer existed. Erie Lackawanna, Leigh Railroad, Penn Central…it nearly blew my mind. Bigger things were still ahead so I decided to pick up some papers after reaching the roof.

An hour later (or so it felt) our objective was met and I was able to sit on the edge of the roof of the Terminal and gaze across the city. As Elegent and ETMJ talked about photography I was freaking out at the amount of trains passing by while taking in the breathtaking view. However my ADHD kicked in and I became quite bored so we headed back down to the sixth floor for my pillaging of vintage railroad documents. Time was running short so Ian took off and Elegent.

Buffalo was once the eighth largest city in the United States and for good reason. It was an industrial powerhouse with milling and grain storage as a principle cylinder. The changes in transportation modes/technology in addition to changing markets brought with it what we see today, mass industrial abandonment.

The first site Elegant took us to was a Terminal appropriately called Concrete. It was a site unlike any I had ever seen; amid the lush green fields of weeds stood a jet black stained concrete terminal. In Winnipeg such a Terminal would have long been torn down or converted back to its original use. Getting to actual structure was quite a chore as the weeds were thick and nearly reached to the top of my head.

Unfortunately most of the belts and cleaners had been removed (presumably by scrappers) but there was one thing that made Concrete special. The terminal had no stairs for the first three or four stories, thus rendering it into a giant jungle gym. Climbing up the marine loading behemoth brought some pretty good vertical thrills and after examining the upper belt I headed back down.

The marine loading apparatus.

Its a long way to fall.

After making our way through the dense overgrowth Elegent took us to the Marine Star, an abandoned ferry. Unfortunately there was no way that I was going to get into the boat by using my bare hands so I had to go back to dry ground.

At the wheel of the Marine Star.

The sun was getting low so Elegent drove us back to the Terminal where we said our goodbye’s and went our separate ways.