Ulster and Delaware Railroad
 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Rondout, NY |
| Reporting mark | UD |
| Locale | Kingston Point, NY to Oneonta, NY, Hunter, NY & Kaaterskill, NY |
| Dates of operation | 1870–1979 |
The Ulster and Delaware Railroad Company was a small Class III railroad in New York State founded in 1866, often advertised as "The Only All-Rail Route To the Catskill Mountains." It started at Kingston Point, New York, at the shores of the Hudson River in the Hudson Valley, went one mile to its headquarters at Rondout, New York, and then it went through the heart of the Catskill Mountains until it reached its western terminus at Oneonta, New York, passing through four counties (the counties of Ulster, Delaware, Schoharie and Otsego. There were also two branches, one going to Kaaterskill, New York, and the other going to Hunter, New York. The latter broke off from the main branch at Kaaterskill Junction Station, just outside of Hunter. The branch stations were mostly in Greene County, although two stations on the branches were in Ulster County.
Although this was a small railroad, it was rather big in stature, as it went through many favored tourist hot-spots. Many elegant hotels kept business going, most of which were sponsored by or built by the railroad, like the Grand Hotel that was built by the railroad in the 1890s. There were also plenty of farms, most of them in Delaware County. There was more proper farming land in that area, along with plenty of creameries. One of the few downfalls was the many grades, some as steep as 4.4%. A train took almost four hours to get from Kingston Point to Oneonta, at an average speed of around 30-40 MPH. If it went any faster, the train would derail. When roads improved and automobiles became more widely available, this created another disadvantage; the trains became too slow for some people.
History
Rondout and Oswego Railroad
Before the days of railroads in New York, there was the Hudson River to transport goods and people by boat. There were also canals such as the Delaware and Hudson Canal and the Erie Canal that transported people and goods, such as fur and grain. These waterways brought wealth and recognition to many towns along the way, and most of them ended up being cities. One of these cities was Kingston, New York, which was the leading river port en route from Albany, New York to New York City, and owned the towns of Rondout and Kingston Point. One section of Kingston was Rondout. It was a busy village that was incorporated into Kingston in 1872. The newly constructed Delaware and Hudson Canal brought more wealth to these areas, and one person who made a considerable amount of wealth from these waterways was steamboat captain Thomas C. Cornell, founder of the Cornell Steamboat Company. Although he made plenty of money from the waterways, he dreamed of a railroad that would bring supplies from a port in central or western New York to his ports in Rondout. So Cornell chartered the Rondout and Oswego in 1866, with himself as the first president.
He decided to construct this new railroad of 62- and 70-pound rail. It would go from the ports in Rondout to the busy town of Oneonta, and the new railroad would then go all the way to the ports in Oswego at the shores of Lake Ontario, although it was only planned to go to Oneonta. The R&O reached the summer vacation hot-spot of Olive Branch, New York in 1869, with the railroad now being about 12 miles long. By the next year, in 1870, the first train went along the railroad, and the railroad was finally in an operational state. It was extended to the busy town of Phoenicia, New York in 1870, and there the railroad built a stucco station across the Esopus Creek from the village. [1] The same year, ownership of the railroad was handed over to John C. Brodhead, who was president for the next two years. [2] The next addition was the small town of Big Indian, New York later that year. It got to Delaware County in 1871, reaching Arkville around that point in time, (where it would eventually make a junction with the Delaware and Northern), with the railroad getting to Roxbury, New York later that year.
It was a very successful railroad, and it had plenty of passengers coming up from the surrounding towns along with the bigger cities. They traveled to Rondout via the West Shore Railroad, the recently constructed Wallkill Valley Railroad to Kingston, the steamboats docking on the banks of the Hudson River, or the D&H Canal. From there they would walk to the R&O station on the outskirts of Rondout to transfer to the train. Many locals had never seen a train before, but could now take a train anywhere along the line they wished to go, whether it was a small vacation hot-spot or a city to go shopping. Freight was also very well handled. A lot of the freight income was made off coal. Plenty of it was shipped along the D&H Canal from the Moosic Mountains near Carbondale, Pennsylvania to the ports at Rondout, along with more coal from the Hudson River ports at Albany and New York City. There were also plenty of vegetables and fruit from the farms in the Catskills and the other parts of New York.
While steadily getting to Moresville (present-day Grand Gorge), up came the first problem; the price of constructing the railroad was much higher than expected, because of the many curves and grades. These created a big problem, as more digging, ties, and rails meant higher costs to complete the rest of the railroad. The railroad couldn't make enough money to pay off the debt and continue building the railroad, so in 1872, R&O ownership was temporarily given to John A. Greene for a period of 10 years. Greene was expected to have the railroad finished to the town of Oneonta by 1874, pay all of the debts, and withstand future debts of up to $700,000. However, this did not work out, and the railroad was slowly losing money. It eventually lost all money and service, and the railroad couldn't do anything to get itself out of its troubles. It went bankrupt in 1872, and was re-organized as the New York, Kingston and Syracuse Railroad later that year to continue with the project. [1]
New York, Kingston and Syracuse Railroad
After the Rondout and Oswego had gone bankrupt in 1872, it was quickly re-organized as the New York, Kingston and Syracuse Railroad, with the president of the railroad being a man named George Sharpe. The plan of going to Oswego was now gone, and the new plan was to go to Oneonta and make a sharp turn north to Earlville, New York, where it would make a connection with the recently constructed Syracuse and Chenango Valley Railroad. Progress with construction of the railroad had immediately begun, and the railroad was extending very fast. Within the year of 1872, it had already been constructed through the towns of Grand Gorge, South Gilboa and Stamford, with the first train to Stamford arriving in the town later that year.
The good side about this railroad was the fact that, along with the freight business, the passengers now had a rail route to the Catskills. There were many ways to get to this railroad; for instance, there was the newly-constructed Wallkill Valley Railroad, which connected with the Erie Railroad, making a major route to New York City. There was also a ferry that took people from the docks in Rondout to the docks in Rhinebeck, New York, where there stood another station that was owned by the Rhinebeck and Connecticut Railroad (the Rhinebeck station is still in use today by Amtrak), which had been founded by Thomas Cornell in 1870. The Rhinebeck and Connecticut went to the cities of Hartford, Connecticut; Providence, New York; and Boston, Massachusetts, making it so that people from these cities and the surrounding areas could also come to the Catskills, and people from the Catskills could go to these cities.
One profitable town to the railroad was the future city of Kingston, New York. There were three other railroads that served the town; the West Shore, the Wallkill Valley, and the New York, Oswego and Midland, which would later become the New York, Ontario and Western. Industries in the town included those that manufactured cement, concrete, bricks, and bluestone, along with other things. These were much needed products, and would bring prosperity to the railroads, like the NYK&S. The city also made Rosendale cement, which was the world's strongest cement at the time. This very cement would be used decades later to make the dams for the Ashokan Reservoir, which would span from Boiceville to West Hurley, which were served by the NYK&S in the 1870s. It was also a popular passenger stop, where people that were drawn to the town's prosperity, would move to. They would rely on the railroad to take them around the Catskills, for some of them had jobs elsewhere in the Catskills, such as at mills and small factories.
Although things might have seemed good on the surface, there was bad news, as well. The NYK&S still hadn't advanced enough and made enough business to steer clear from bankruptcy. So in 1873, the NYK&S designated the Farmers Loan and Trust Company as sentinel for the first mortgage bondholders of the railroad. This helped the railroad a lot, and it ran for another two years until it finally couldn't handle their problems. They couldn't pay the debts off that were created from the further construction of the railroad, and if they stopped building and saved the money for paying off the debt, they would never make it to Earlville, which was their goal. And if they continued construction, they would get bigger debts that could never be paid off. So the railroad eventually went bankrupt in 1875, and it was sold under foreclosure to the bank. It was re-organized as the Ulster and Delaware Railroad later that year. [1]
Ulster and Delaware Railroad
Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain Railroad
Cornell got the idea for another railroad that would start at the U&D station at Phoenicia, and go up along the Stony Clove Valley to the bustling village of Hunter, New York. He decided to call it the Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain Railroad, and it would be of three-foot gauge, as this would be cheaper to construct, and to run. Construction started on the railroad in 1881, with Cornell's stepson, Samuel Decker Coykendall, supervising the construction. He would also be the future president of the line. It was planned to be a summer-only operation, but eventually became so successful that it became a year-round operation. It went through the Ulster County communities of Phoenicia and Chichester, and went through the Greene County villages of Lanesville, Edgewood, and Hunter, and had a flagstop at the Stony Clove Notch. There was also a station between the Notch and Hunter called Kaaterskill Junction Station (originally Tannersville Junction Station), where the Kaaterskill Railway came out and went to Kaaterskill.
As the railroad neared completion, the U&D noticed a problem. They couldn't run standard-gauge rolling stock on the SC&CM because it was narrow-gauge. It would be a waste of time to transfer the products by hand, and it would cost money to continually transfer the freight. So in 1882, the U&D and the SC&CM decided to install a Ramsey Car Transfer Apparatus in the yard at Phoenicia, which would allow the standard-gauge equipment to run on the narrow-gauge line. A pit had been dug in the apparatus building that was about twenty inches deep, where the car would drop in. The tracks of both gauges met in the center of this pit. Two sets of slightly-railed 18"-gauge tracks, which were about nine feet apart from each other, ran along the side of the pit, although they didn't drop into the pit. A longitudinal beam ran on these rails, and was placed under the carrier portion of the car. The beam lifted the cargo box up, and replaced the wheels it ran with narrow gauge wheels. The car was then pulled out of the building by a horse, occasionally with the help of a locomotive. The transfer only took about eight minutes, and the apparatus was very successful, saving the railroads plenty of time and money.
Industries on this line included the William O. Schwartzwalder Furniture Factory in the company-owned town of Chichester. The railway would bring wood to the factory, where it would be sent down a shoot to the factory. The wood would then be carved into furniture, and shipped to different areas around the continent by train, some furniture going as far as Mexico City, Mexico. Another big industry was the Fenwick Lumber Company in Edgewood. It cut down trees from the area, and shipped them down a cable tramway to an industrial siding on the railroad. Another lumber-involved industry was the Horatio Lockwood & Company Furniture Factory in Hunter. It was one of the oldest businesses in the town of Hunter. It was located at the junction of Main St. and Windham Rd. The railroad was taken over by the U&D in 1892, and these industries now had a new railroad to transport their products. [3]
Kaaterskill Railroad
This was another three-foot gauge railroad that went from the SC&CM's Kaaterskill Junction Station, crossed the immense Light Dam Bridge (which got its name from the electric company that had got electricity from a dam in the creek the bridge crossed), and went to the bustling town of Tannersville, where over half of the freight on the Kaaterskill Railroad was handled. It soon crossed a six-span bridge, which was the biggest on the line, and got to Haines Falls. It reached the pathway up to the elegant Laurel House, where there was another station, and a view of the Kaaterskill Falls. The railroad got to Kaaterskill, where the Catskill & Tannersville finally joined the line. The C&T served as a 0.93-mile extension to the Otis Summit Station. This station was at the western end of the Otis Elevating Railway, which went up the Catskill Escarpment to the famous Catskill Mountain House.
Another one of the busier hotels on the KRR was the Hotel Kaaterskill, which was perhaps the main reason the Kaaterskill Railway was built. The Laurel House was another popular hotel that was served by the KRR. It had its own train station, which was called the Laurel House Station, although it was just a platform, and tickets were purchased inside the hotel. This was also one of various parts of the line where Christmas trees would be chopped down and sent around the state by train. One busy spot was at Haines Falls. There were many hotels at Haines Falls, along with boarding houses, and people would often come up from the city to stay at these hotels and boarding houses. And in Tannersville, there was the Tannersville Supply Company, on the site of the old "Railroad House", an old bar. The Tannersville Supply Company manufactured products like animal feed and lumber, and was a very profitable business.
The KRR was taken over by the U&D in 1892. A year later, in 1893, the Catskill and Tannersville Railway, which had been built on a tight budget had obtained trackage rights to the KRR. It also leased the entire line, including the rest of its own right-of-way to the Catskill Mountain House. The C&T used the KRR's locomotives and equipment, thus meaning passengers didn't have to get on a separate train to go to the Mountain House. The C&T had made plenty of money from the railroad it leased, and eventually got enough money that it didn't, have to lease it anymore. When the U&D was about to standardize the KRR in 1898, the C&T had stopped running trains on it. It later on used the money it had made, and made its own extension to Tannersville. [3]
Ulster and Delaware Railroad
The Ulster and Delaware wasn't at the peak of Cornell's interests. He had completed the Rhinebeck and Connecticut Railroad in 1870, along with chartering the Kaaterskill Railroad in 1884. He was also the president of the Wallkill Valley Railroad. Because he was preoccupied with these other railroads, he ordered other railroads to be chartered to go to Oneonta. His first attempt was the Hobart Branch Railroad, which would start at Stamford, and then go to Oneonta. However, it only made it to Hobart in 1884, and it was incorporated into the U&D later that year. His next attempt was the Delaware and Otsego Railroad. But it never made it far, and it was incorporated into the U&D as well in 1887. Neither of these attempts worked, and Cornell refocused his attention on the Ulster and Delaware. He continued with its construction until his death in 1890.
The next year in 1891, another president came into office; a man named Edwin Young. He kept the railroad from being sold to a bigger railroad until he also died in 1893. It would go through presidents Horace Greeley Young and Robert C. Pruyn, each having a one-year term, until it got a new president in 1895. [2] Cornell's stepson, Samuel Decker Coykendall, then became the new president, and also took over as the construction supervisor. And in 1895, the eastern terminus was extended from Rondout to Kingston Point, another town that was incorporated into Kingston, where steamboats could stop at the U&D's new Kingston Point Station. However, it took five more years before the railroad finally got to Oneonta in 1900. [1]
The U&D took over the Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain Railroad and the Kaaterskill Railroad in 1892, and ran them as the Narrow Gauge Division of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad. However, throughout the years of 1898 and 1899, the Narrow Gauge Division was converted to standard gauge, and fully incorporated into the U&D in 1903. After the Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain Railroad and the Kaaterskill Railway became part of the Ulster & Delaware, they quickly became the busiest parts of the line. The Stony Clove and Kaaterskill Branch was the combination of the portion of the Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain Railroad up to Kaaterskill Junction Station, and the Kaaterskill Railroad. This branch was 19 miles (30.5 km) long, and had ten stations. The Hunter Branch was the part of the SC&CM that went from Kaaterskill Junction Station to Hunter, and was the shortest branch on the line, having only two stations. It was 2.66 miles (4.3 km) long, with the entire branch being a 4.4% incline. [3]
There were plenty of accidents on the line, as with any other railroad. One was the wreck of U&D #9 at Halcotville in 1911. The train derailed, and was damaged so badly that it was deemed unrepairable, and it was scrapped later that year. Another accident was the infamous "cow wreck" that took place on the Hunter Branch. Locomotive #27 was backing into Hunter when it ran into a cow and killed it, with the tender nearly falling into the Schoharie Creek nearby. After this accident, it was a rule that all locomotives that were to go on the Hunter Branch had to have a cowcatcher applied to the back of the tender. The next one took place in Grand Gorge in 1922. U&D #22 was pulling a coal train from Oneonta, but it caught up with a work train headed in the same direction, eventually rear-ending the work train in Grand Gorge, and killing six people. Another infamous accident took place in Glenford in 1930. While underway to Oneonta, locomotive #24 began building up steam and was unable to release it. The boiler exploded, destroying the locomotive and killing engineer John Scully and fireman Les Reed.
In 1908, the City of New York purchased 12-miles of the Esopus Valley, a valley that had been gouged out by the Esopus Creek. The area of land that New York City purchased only stretched from Boiceville, New York to West Hurley, New York. This would be used to create the Ashokan Reservoir, a reservoir that would be used to supply New York City with drinking water. They already had 12 reservoirs, but they were now becoming inadequate, and they needed another one. However, the mainline of the U&D ran right through the middle of the valley, and had six station there, which was bad news for the railroad. One good thing was that the U&D carried supplies from different points to Brown's Station, which would be used to help make the dam at Olivebridge. When the project was finished, and the reservoir was about to be flooded, the railroad received $1,500,000, and relocated 12.45 miles (20 km) of track, and replaced the previously-existing 64- and 70-pound (35- and 38.5.-kg) rails with 90-pound (49.5 kg) rails from Kingston to Grand Gorge. [1]
Samuel Coykendall died in 1913 when the Ashokan Reservoir project was complete, and the railroad was purchased by Samuel's son, Thomas C. Coykendall. The new president, however, retired from office the same year, and ownership of the railroad was given to one of his relatives; Edward Coykendall, who would eventually sell the railroad to the New York Central. [2] The stations at Kelly's Corners and West Davenport were abandoned by the railroad in 1923, as they never generated much business, and the Kingston Point Station was abandoned in 1924 when the steamships stopped toting passengers up and down the Hudson River. Cars also started to become popular within the decade, and people started to rely on cars to get around more than they would a train, along with trucks starting to make more money from hauling freight. Along came the Great Depression in 1929, and lots of people didn't have enough money to buy a train ticket or to pay to keep their products in one of the freight houses. This made the railroad lose a considerable amount of money, and the railroad finally went bankrupt in 1932. [1]
The NYC wanted to incorporate three mid-western railroads into its system; the Michigan Central, the Big Four, and the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern. They were already leased by the NYC, but not fully absorbed into their system, because the Interstate Commerce Commission wouldn't let them. But the ICC eventually decided that if they bought and ran the U&D, then they might let them buy the other railroads. The NYC scoffed at the idea, as it wasn't important enough for them and the stops were in a bunch of small mountain towns which weren't busy enough to the NYC, even though there were plenty of hotels. But they wanted to buy the other railroads, so they finally purchased the U&D in late 1931 for a price of $2,500,000, and made it a part of the NYC in 1932.
They renamed the U&D the Catskill Mountain Branch, the Stony Clove and Kaaterskill Branch was shortened to the Kaaterskill Branch, and the Hunter Branch kept its name. The roundhouse at Rondout was destroyed, with a sewer plant taking its place, the station, however, was still in use. They also slowed down trains to 35 MPH on the main line, and to 25 MPH on the branches. The stations at Chichester, Lanesville and Edgewood were shut down, the Stony Clove Notch flagstop was entirely destroyed and the siding there taken out, and the Kaaterskill Junction Station, the depots at Haines Falls, Kaaterskill, and the depot serving the Laurel House became summer-only stations. The only year-round stations were all of the stations on the main line and the stations at Tannersville and Hunter. This excluded the West Davenport Station, which had already been closed down in 1923, and eventually burnt down ten years later in 1933. The station at Kelly's Corners was also abandoned in the 1920s, and was demolished soon after. [3] [4]
As for the locomotives, Ulster and Delaware #2, 8, 12-14, 16-19, 20, 24 and 29 were deemed worthless, and were scrapped by the New York Central during the takeover in 1932. The other U&D locomotives had been either scrapped or sold off in the earlier years. However, they kept locomotives #19, 21-23, 25-28, and 30-41 (which were renamed NYC #800-818 in 1936), as the turntables in front of the stations were too small for the regular New York Central locomotives, and they were the only ones with mountain-gear brakes that were specially designed for the steep grades in the Catskill Mountains. These locomotives were assigned as "class F-x" and "class F-x light". Locomotive #31, however, was deemed unreliable by the Central, and they sent it to West Albany in 1933 to be scrapped, becoming the first of the heavier CMB locomotives to go. They also introduced two new locomotives to the branch; NYC moguls #1013 and 1076. They were the only engines run on the CMB and the smaller branches until diesels took over.
The NYC's F-x light" class locomotives (#800-807, ex-U&D #19, 21-23 & 25-28), were assigned to work on the Wallkill Valley Branch of the New York Central, which used to be the Wallkill Valley Railroad, as well as working on the CMB. These trains were light, yet powerful, which was what they needed; the high and frail Rosendale Bridge in Rosendale, New York had always been plagued with annoying weight restrictions for the size of the locomotive going across, and any locomotive heavier than what was acceptable would force the spindly bridge to collapse. The material used to build it was not strong enough to hold a modern locomotive. It was built in the 1870s, when locomotives were much smaller, and rebuilt in 1895, when locomotives had only gotten a little bigger, and was never rebuilt. The locomotives the NYC had been using on the WVB were "Class C" 4-4-0s, and were not as powerful as the U&D's 4-6-0s. They tried using the fx-light locomotives on the Wallkill Valley Branch, and the results were far away from disappointing. Two fx-lights could easily haul a 40-car train on the branch, and they wouldn't cause the bridge to collapse. They were a lifesaver, and were extensively used until the Central tried out light diesel locomotives on it, and replaced the F-x light locomotives as the main source of power on the WVB. [1]
The railroad finally gave in to the several complaints from passengers of the seemingly endless trip from Phoenicia to Kaaterskill or Hunter, as the speed limit on the branches was 25 MPH, and the hard work of running the branches (maintenance, paying to run the trains, etc.), and got permission from the ICC to abandon the Kaaterskill and Hunter branches in 1939. The station agents that worked at any of the branch stations were either assigned to other stations or retired altogether. The Central finally scrapped the branches in 1940. They carried along a demolition crew, and a line of gondola cars, ex-U&D steam crane #1 and NYC #802 (ex-U&D #22) for the scrap train. The demolition crew tore out various bridges,
such as the Light Dam Bridge near Tannersville, the six-span bridge at Haines Falls, and the one in Phoenicia, where the Kaaterskill Branch crossed the Esopus Creek. The rails were sent to be scrapped in Selkirk, New York. The branches were but a memory, and the stations now nothing but abandoned rubbish. Only two of them survive to this day; the Hunter Station, now a house, and the Haines Falls Station, a museum at present. [3]
The steam locomotives did a rather good job on the CMB and the WVB, and were very busy, being used heavily on these branches. However, the Central tried diesel locomotives on the Wallkill Valley and the Catskill Mountain Branches in 1948, and they were more preferred by the Central; they were on time more often because they didn't have to take frequent stops for water, and they performed better than the steam locomotives. NYC #809 was scrapped in 1945, locomotives #800 & 807 were scrapped in 1946, locomotives #802, 804 & 811 were sent to West Albany in 1948, leaving only locomotives #801, 803, 805-806, 808, 810 & 812-818, which were then renamed NYC #1218, 1220-1223 & 1225-1231, with #801 keeping its number. The engines that had been scrapped in 1948 were supposed to be renamed as NYC #1217, 1219 & 1224, but weren't reassigned before being scrapped. The last steam engine to run over the CMB was NYC #1226 (ex-NYC #813, and ex-U&D #36). Soon after, all of the remaining U&D steam locomotives were sent to Ashtabula, Ohio to be scrapped in 1949. [4] After that, these branches were diesel locomotive only branches, not seeing another steam locomotive until the a three-mile tourist line was started in the late 1960s that went from Oneonta to a bridge near West Davenport.
The line was entirely dieselized by 1949, and passenger service soon ended in 1954, with the CMB being a freight-only line. The NYC then started to abandon it, using it less and less.[1] The Arkville station was nearly destroyed by a runaway milk truck in the 1960s, and the Central tore the remains of the station down as they were in grave fear that someone would get hurt if they went near there. The Kingston Union Station was abandoned after the end of passenger service in 1954. It was in such bad condition that the Central tore it down for safety sake, although some locals formed groups and tried to save it. [4] The Central then got permission from the ICC to abandon the portion from Bloomville to Oneonta in 1965, and scrapped the abandoned portion in 1966. The Central then abandoned the rest of the branch in 1968. [1]
After the New York Central abandoned the CMB in 1968, there were heated rumors that the branch was now going to be sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Central's fierce competitor. However, the PRR ended up merging with the Central that same year, forming the Penn Central Transportation Company. The Penn Central purchased the CMB that same year. The branch's eastern terminus was now at Bloomville and the route from Kingston to Rondout was in great disrepair, and the only businesses that kept it open were the Kingston Coal and Feed Company and the Hudson Cement Company.
But the branch was still in poor shape, and the PC barely ran trains on it. There were frequent derailments on the branch, and the train would have to go so slow, as to not derail, that it would sometimes take days for a single train to travel across the line. They replaced the ties to help with the derailment problems, but that only helped a little bit. The rails were also a problem; they were so old and deteriorated that they were at risk of collapsing, making the train derail. After the many problems with running the branch, the PC filed a petition to abandon the branch. They finally abandoned it in 1976. [1]
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In that same year of 1976, a portion of the branch from Rondout to Kingston was purchased and run by Conrail, as the rest was in too poor condition, and was owned by the State of New York. This portion was used to transport goods from the Kingston Coal and Feed Company at Rondout, and the Hudson Cement Company, the last potential customers of the branch, to the junction at Kingston. From there, the goods would be transferred to the West Shore River Division (which used to be the West Shore Railroad) for shipment to New York City and elsewhere. Conrail ran this small portion until 1979, when it decided it couldn't run the line anymore. [1]
Kingston Terminal Railroad
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In 1980, the Kingston Terminal Railroad was organized to operate the approximately 5 miles of track between what is now the CSX River Division to Hudson Cement in East Kingston. Hudson Cement, the last potential customer on the former U&D, closed in 1980. The Kingston Terminal Railroad was also dissolved, having never operated a single train.
Present condition
Ulster County
Starting at Kingston Point, Milepost 0, the Trolley Museum of New York operates the trackage in Kingston east of the CSX River Line, up to about Milepost 2.5. The line in this section is owned by the City of Kingston and leased to the Trolley Museum. The Trolley Museum is focused on the preservation of the use of trolleys, and to restore the old Rondout Yard. They rebuilt the engine house in 1987, and the idea of rebuilding the utility building and the station has been suggested.
The next segment of the line, MP 2.8 to 41.4, is owned by Ulster County, which bought the line from Kingston to the Delaware County line from the Penn Central in 1979. The Catskill Mountain Railroad leases this portion of line from Ulster County, and operates a tourist train from Phoenicia, MP 27.5 to just north of Cold Brook, MP 22.1. The tracks between Kingston and Cold Brook have been partially cleared for track car use, and currently being fully cleared as of 2006. The Catskill Mountain Railroad is currently applying for funds to restore the line for tourist service to Ashokan, MP 16.2, as well as for freight service in Kingston. They are also working hard to restore a steam engine, former LS&I 23, owned by the Empire State Railway Museum, to eventually run the line from Kingston to Phoenicia.
A small portion of the branch line in Phoenicia is partially submerged under a few inches of water, being that it is now part of a mountain stream. There is only one surviving bridge on the branches, near the Ulster County-Greene County border line, which is privately owned, and the property owners don't like people going on it. It is located in the northernmost Ulster County village that was served by the branch line, Chichester, New York. There is also a washout along the old right-of-way in Chichester, which has torn out the dirt where the railbed was to a depth of almost 30 feet in some places. It has exposed the soft, delicate clay underneath, and is very difficult to walk on.
The portion of the line between Highmount (MP 41.4) and Phoenicia (MP 27.9), also leased by the Catskill Mountain Railroad, is isolated by three large washouts west of Phoenicia, and has not seen a train since it was abandoned in 1976. This section of the line has been cleared for track car use between Pine Hill (MP 39.8) and Highmount, home to the scenic "horseshoe curve" and is planned to be cleared for track car use to the Route 28 crossing in Shandaken (MP 33.6), despite several paved-over crossings and a weak bridge abutment in Big Indian (MP 36.4). The remaining six mile segment between Shandaken and the washouts just west of Phoenicia will be cleared in 2007.
Delaware County
The Delaware and Ulster Rail Ride, based in Arkville, is currently in possession of a stock of railroad cars, tracks, and ties for restoration and further construction. They also have four diesels and a Porter Locomotive Works 0-6-0T steam locomotive, which is being restored by the Ulster & Delaware Railroad Historical Society. The DURR runs tourist trains from Highmount, MP 41.4, to Roxbury, MP 59.1, where the Roxbury Station is being restored by the Ulster & Delaware Historical Society. They have currently rebuilt the line to Hubbell Corners, MP 60.2. Beyond Hubbell Corners, the right-of-way has been turned into a rail trail which extends to Bloomville (MP 86.2). This section of the line from Highmount to Bloomville is owned by the Catskill Revitalization Corporation.
The Halcotville Station, MP 53.0, was cut in half, with the passenger side moved a few hundred feet, where it serves as a shed on private property, and the freight side moved to Arkville, where it is now a tool shed for the Delaware and Ulster Rail Ride. The old right-of-way from Grand Gorge, MP 65.5, to Bloomville, MP 86.2, also owned by the Catskill Revitalization Corporation, is now a biking trail, called the Catskill Scenic Trail. The stations at South Kortright, MP 81.5, East Meredith, MP 97.9, and Davenport Center, MP 103.2, are currently private dwellings, with the railbed in front of them also being privately owned.
Interstate 88 was planned in the 1970s to go from Schenectady, New York to Binghamton, New York, although the original plans suggested that it go to New England and near the Atlantic Coast. The portion that was constructed covers a portion of the U&D's right-of-way in the township of Oneonta, where it connects with New York State Route 28.
Schoharie County
The South Gilboa Station, MP 70.6, is the only station on the remainder of the Ulster & Delaware that is in any state of poor condition. It is still in its original spot in between the Delaware County stations of Grand Gorge and Stamford. The old right-of-way in front of it is part of the Catskill Scenic Trail. It is also one of many buildings in the United States, including two other Ulster & Delaware railroad stations, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been proposed by the Town of Gilboa Historical Society that the South Gilboa station should have a full cosmetic restoration. However, this is only a proposal, and it is unclear whether it will take place.
Otsego County
The final station at Oneonta, MP 106.9, was part of a tourist line called the "Delaware and Otsego Railroad" that was created shortly after the portion was abandoned in the late 1960s. It ran trains from the station to a bridge that crossed Charlotte Creek a little ways from the old site of the West Davenport Station. However, it is currently a pub/restaurant called "The Depot". The line from Bloomville, MP 86.2 to Oneonta, MP 106.9, which was abandoned in 1965, is currently in the hands of private owners; all rails from here were removed in the 1960s. [1]
Greene County
As for the portion of the branches in Greene County, which were torn up in 1940, along with the smaller portion of the branches in Ulster County, the remains are abundant with overgrown paths, bridge abutments, and washouts, with an occasional road, such as most of the right-of-way in Lanesville. New York State Route 214 overlaps where the railroad used to be at the Stony Clove Notch. However, a two mile section of the line from Bloomer Road to Clum Hill Road in Tannersville has been converted into a "Rail Trail" and is locally called the "Huckleberry Trail". There are also a few bridge piers; such as one on the southern side of the Esopus Creek in Phoenicia, one in Chichester (the other one collapsed into the Stony Clove Creek after a flood), and two in Edgewood, where there used to be a bridge that went over Silver Hollow Rd. (now Notch Inn Rd.), along with a small creek.
There are only two surviving stations on what used to be the branches. They are the stations at Hunter and Haines Falls. The Hunter Station, branch MP 2.5, is now a private dwelling. There was an extra set of rooms added onto the station, and the station itself was painted white. The freight house at Hunter is now used as a shed. The Haines Falls Station, branch MP 18.5, is currently the headquarters of the Mountain Top Historical Society. They don't like non-members on their property. The station has new benches based on the benches in the station at Phoenicia. The station was re-painted from brown to blue, and the windowpanes from red to white.
Stations
Main Line Stations
- Kingston Point Railroad Station
- Rondout Railroad Station
- Kingston Railroad Station
- Stony Hollow Railroad Station
- West Hurley Railroad Station
- Ashokan Railroad Station
- Cold Brook Railroad Station
- Mount Pleasant Railroad Station
- Phoenicia Railroad Station
- Shandaken Railroad Station
- Big Indian Railroad Station
- Pine Hill Railroad Station
- Grand Hotel Railroad Station
- Fleischmann's Railroad Station
- Arkville Railroad Station
- Kelly's Corners Railroad Station
- Halcotville Railroad Station
- Roxbury Railroad Station
- Grand Gorge Railroad Station
- South Gilboa Railroad Station
- Stamford Railroad Station
- Hobart Railroad Station
- South Kortright Railroad Station
- Bloomville Railroad Station
- Kortright Railroad Station
- East Meredith Railroad Station
- Davenport Center Railroad Station
- West Davenport Railroad Station
- Oneonta Railroad Station
Esopus Valley Stations
- West Hurley Railroad Station
- Olive Branch Railroad Station
- Brown's Railroad Station
- Brodhead's Bridge Railroad Station
- Shokan Railroad Station
- Boiceville Railroad Station
Branch Stations
Stony Clove and Kaaterskill Branch
- Chichester Railroad Station
- Lanesville Railroad Station
- Edgewood Railroad Station
- Stony Clove Notch Railroad Station
- Kaaterskill Junction Railroad Station
- Tannersville Railroad Station
- Haines Falls Railroad Station
- Laurel House Railroad Station
- Kaaterskill Railroad Station
Hunter Branch
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l John M. Ham, Robert K. Bucenec (2003), The Old "Up and Down" Catskill Mountain Branch of the New York Central, Stony Clove & Catskill Mountain Press
- ^ a b c Delaware, Ulster & Greene County NY Railroad Information (website), courtesy of Phillip M. Goldstein
- ^ a b c d e John M. Ham, Robert K. Bucenec (2002), Light Rail and Short Ties Through the Notch: The Stony Clove & Catskill Mountain Railroad and Her Steam Legacy, Stony Clove & Catskill Mountain Press
- ^ a b c John M. Ham, Robert K. Bucenec (2005), The Grand Old Stations and Steam Locomotives of the Ulster & Delaware, Stony Clove & Catskill Mountain Press