Rochester's Hojack Swing Bridge Demolished
Friday, January 18, 2013

For 108 years the Hojack railroad bridge was one of the landmarks of at the mouth of the Genesee River, near the Port of Rochester. Built in 1905 for the New York Central railroad, the swing bridge was designed to connect track on the two side of the river but could rotate 90 degrees to allow boat traffic to pass through. It had been out of use since 1995 and was left in the open position. Starting in 1999 the Coast Guard pursued removal of the bridge and support column because they were hazards to navigation. For a variety of reasons, including a certain amount of public interest in saving the bridge, the demolition order was never carried out. A summary of the struggle to save the bridge can be found here (scroll down below the description of the book and proposed art exhibit.)

Apparently demolition was again pursued in the spring of 2011, but this time very quietly - the news took 6 months to reach the media, and the "Save Our Bridge" found their efforts stonewalled. Demolition of the bridge started in late October last year. Photos of the demolition can be found at the Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad Museum's Facebook page, and some of the most recent photos can be found on the Rochester Subway site.

 

I must admit to mixed feelings about this... on the one hand, the bridge was a rusting hulk in the middle of the river, and it's unlikely anything would have ever been done with it - the cost to renovate it for some other type of use (even if just decorative) would have been prohibitive (some versions of the story behind the current push to rmove the bridge state that CSX was the driving force, having finally realized they'd save more by no longer paying maintainence and insurance fees on a bridge that they'd never use - for that matter, they probably got a nice price for the scrap metal.) But at the same time there's something compelling about these relics of our past and it makes me a bir sad to see them torn down and thrown away - one more connection with those who came before us gone forever.

I think the biggest surprise was that when I dug through my photos I only had two that showed the bridge in any detail, both shot from a good ways away. I'm usually pretty camera-happy when it comes to relics like this. Only explanation I can offer is the location - the landings where the track came on shore is pretty out out of the way from both Ontario Beach Park and the Genesee Riverway Trail, which is where Ann and I would usually be if we were up by the mouth of the river. So this reinforces what I already knew - get photos when I can, since there's no telling when things will change without warning.



JMH

A TALE OF TWO SHEDS
Block Stackin' Turtle
Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Demolishing the old shed left us with a hole filled with sandy dirt and a variety of patio blocks, so today's job was to move the blocks, smooth out the dirt, top it all off with gravel, and then level it out as best we could. I spent a chunk of the morning tackling the block-moving phase - a hot, sweaty, slow, tedious process that involved prying each block up, lifting it, and moving it to a stack off to the side. Most of the blocks were 16" x 16" square concrete... not fun. But lots of sweat and one sore back later, we had a hole ready to be prepped for gravel and the base of the new shed... work for later in the afternoon, after a trip to Home Depot to buy a bunch of bags of gravel and the treated 4x4's that the base of the shed will sit on.

We also moved the parts of the new shed from the garage to the porch, so Ann could put her truck away while we're in Ohio over the next few days. I suspect my back will be grumbling about all the lifting and hauling for a while...

JMH

A TALE OF TWO SHEDS
Demolition Turtle, Day 2
Monday, August 13, 2012

Today we put together a rough list of the materials needed to rebuild the exterior of the shed and headed off to Home Depot to get a price - and also to compare that price to the sheds they sell. As it turned out, the cost of a brand new shed would only be a few hundred dollars more than the cost of the materials to fix up the old one - and a trip to Lowes gave us not only a lower priced option but also a shed that Ann liked. Best of all, for some additional money we could have it installed.

Except... when she sat down to sign the paperwork, we discovered that the installers require a minimum of 3 feet free around all sides and the roof - and Ann wants it right up against the back of the garage, just like the old one. So we were back to building it ourselves. Ann purchased the kit and we unpacked it into the garage, then spent the rest of the afternoon tearing down the rest of the old shed. It's really too bad we didn't know from the start we'd be rebuilding from the ground up - would have made the demo process go a lot quicker. But so it goes...

JMH

A TALE OF TWO SHEDS
Demolition Turtle, Day 1
Sunday, August 12, 2012

The first shed came with the house Ann and her brother bought 13 years ago... and refurbishing it has been on her "to do" list for a couple of years. It's ugly, the wood is rotting away in spots, and there are enough gaps that it's pretty easy for bees and wasps to get in and build nests. Last summer we decided that it wouldn't be too difficult to remove the sides and roof, leaving the frame intact, and then rebuild the exterior. One glitch to that plan - the floor is rotten in spots, and the frame is attached on top of it...

During the week Ann removed most of the stuff stored inside; today we took out the rest and started tearing apart the exterior. After ripping off the trim, it turned out to be pretty easy to knock the side panels off from the inside with a framing hammer... a bit satisfying to smash the heck out of the sides to boot.

The roof is looking to be more problematic - the bulk of it is a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood with what feels like a ton of asphalt shingles on top, not to mention about a million pointy nails poking down. I'd hoped we get the whole thing ripped apart today, but it looks like it's going to take a little longer before we can start building.

JMH