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 Photos by Adam Paul |
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ghost hunts end in frustration and known defeat, when one concludes
that they will never find present day evidence of a certain past
artifact. An example might be someone looking about today for an
active neon WALK-DONT WALK signal. Though many once served, each
and every one is now gone, and looking for one will only frustrate the
searcher. Other ghost hunts end in joy and conquest, when you locate an example of something old you were not sure you'd be able to locate, but stumble across when you least expect it. The old turnpike milestones would be a classic example of such an item. Then there are those hunts that are a bit more vague. You see evidence of where something old might be, and you investigate the scene, but you don't come away with a clear opinion on whether your search was a success or failure. Such would be the case with my enigma in Walbrook. It all started with a detailed survey map over 100 years old. Perusing a plate containing what little existed then of Walbrook (then known as Highland Park), I stumbled across a curious route taken by the cars of the Lake Roland Elevated Railway's Electric cars. After heading West on Clifton Avenue past today's junction, instead of following the curve of today's Clifton, the car line veered Southwest on a right of way for a short distance before making a sharp curve of nearly 180 degrees, and winding up crossing present day Clifton before curving off again to a double track spur beneath Windsor Mill Road.  The map that started my curiosity about the odd Walbrook grade. In my passing of the area
on Clifton Avenue from time to time, I tried to determine if I could
make out any evidence of this odd deviation of days past. At one
point, I thought that Chesholm Road might actually be following the
path of the old car line grade, even though such a theory was ignorant
of evidence given in the original clue. More on that later.
So, finally, on a perfect day to do so, I took the journey off down Chesholm road to its dead end, to see just what I might be able to find. The ground was covered with a light layer of snow, making for superior grade detection to the "practiced eye." Upon arriving, I thought I had struck a gold mine... Just about 40 feet from the road's end, running parrallel was what certainly appeared to be a grade.
Despite the seeming "find," I was being nagged by doubts. Looking West, I could not find evidence of the hairpin curve that the cars would have used to head North. Besides, I seemed to feel I was too far West, since the straight part of the grade did not seem to be longer than 400 feet on the original map. Investigating further, I noticed what seemed to be a flat section carved out partway up the bank of the opposite hill which seemed to start to curve away before approaching my location.
While I originally thought the resulting end curve wound its way into present day Lyndhurst Street, it instead appears that it is closer to today's Mount Holly Street, a block east, making it a hard sell that such a small portion of right of way persisted.  Using a map 10 years later with similar benchmarks, I was able to approximate the old route on a more current map, showing some of today's streets. Note how the line returns to cross Clifton at the present day curve. Furthermore, by examining
the original survey map, I later noted that the grade of the line upon
leaving Clifton is about 275-280 feet, where it cuts through a slight
hill before RISING 20 feet along the straight grade, and rising another
15 feet after the hairpin curve, with the terminal at an elevation of
310 feet.
My conclusion. The first "Grade" is automatically discounted, as it descends as it heads West, where the mystery grade rose. The other grade is probably nothing either, though I hope to make it back there to get a better look once the leaves depart the trees again. INFO ON THE ENIGMA? CONTACT ME!!!
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