Ulster and Delaware Railroad
| File:Rondout depot.jpg | |
| 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, often advertised as "The Only All-Rail Route Through the Catskill Mountains", was a small Class II railroad in New York that started at Kingston Point, New York, at the shores of the Hudson River in the Hudson Valley, went to its headquarters at Rondout, New York, a mile away, and went through the heart of the Catskill Mountains until it reached its western terminus at Oneonta, New York. There were also two branches, one going to Kaaterskill, New York, and the other going to Hunter, New York, which broke off from the main branch at Kaaterskill Junction Station, a little ways outside of Hunter. It junctioned with many railroads along the way; the West Shore Railroad, the Walkill Valley Railroad and the New York, Ontario and Western at Kingston, the Delaware and Northern at Arkville, the Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railroad at West Davenport, the Delaware and Hudson at Oneonta, and the Catskill and Tannersville at Kaatersill.
Starting in the Hudson Valley area, there was rather flat terrain, as the Hudson River carved a valley in this area, and it was near the beginning of what was once a plateau. In the middle of Ulster County, the Ashokan Reservoir was to the south of the line, with mostly conifer forest surrounding that area of the line, turning into a deciduous forest as it went away from the reservoir, and alternating between pine forests and deciduous forests as it went along. The trees were so close, some would say, that the branches were almost touching the train. The border line between the counties of Ulster and Delaware was at the top of the Pine Hill Grade, which stopped at the foot of Monka Hill. In Delaware County, there were flatter hills (which meant more farmland), and continued on like this until it got to Otsego County, where the town of Oneonta was founded, and still is.
Although this was a small railroad, it was rather big in stature, as it went through many favored tourist hotspots, and had many elegant hotels around to keep business going. There were also plenty of farms, most of them in Delaware County, as there was more proper farming land there, along with plenty of creameries. One of the few downfall was the many grades, some as steep as 4.4%, leading to the fact that it took a train almost four hours to get from Kingston Point to Oneonta, an average speed of around 30-40 MPH. If it went any faster, the train would derail. This was another downfall; the trains were too slow for some people. This would often lead to people getting cars, which took less time to get them where they wanted to go. This had a bad impact on the railroad, like it did on many other railroads.
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, along with canals such as the Delaware and Hudson Canal and the Erie Canal; artificial waterways that were used to transport 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 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, and 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 hotspot 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 shortly after, the railroad built a stucco station soon thereafter. It reached the small town of Big Indian, New York later that year. It got to Delaware County in 1871, and the first Delaware County town it reached was Arkville] (where it would eventually make a junction with the Delaware and Northern), with the railroad getting to Roxbury, New York later that year. The R&O now had 60 miles of railroad in operation, and was already in rather good business.
It was a very sucessful railroad, and it had plenty of passengers coming up from the surrounding towns along with the bigger cities. They either took the West Shore Railroad or the recently constructed Walkill Valley Railroad to Kingston, or take the steamboats to the banks of the Hundson River or along the D&H Canal to the outscarts of Rondout and walk to the station to take the train to where else along the R&O they wated to go. Locals that had never seen a train in their life could finally take a train to wherever along the line they wished to go, whether it was a small vacation hotspot or a city to go shopping. Freight was also very well handled. A lot of the freight income was made of coal, and 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 was also plenty of vegetables and fruit from the farms in the Catskills and the other parts of New York. There was also plenty of fur shipment to and from the railroad, most of it coming from the ports at New York City.
Even though it started out well, while the 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 ties and rails to lay meant more money to pay to make the rest of the railroad. Because the railroad couldn't make enough money to pay off the debt and continue with the making of the railroad, in 1872, R&O ownership was temporarily given to John A. Greene for 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 themitselves out of their troubles. It went bankrupt in 1872, and was re-organized as the New York, Kingston and Syracsue Railroad later that year.
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 soon after bankruptcy, with the president of thie 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 Chenago Valley Railroad. Progress with etension 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, Roxbury, South Gilboa and Stamford, with the first train to Stamford arriving in the town later that year, which made the locals very happy.
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 also many ways to get to this railroad; for instance, there was the newly-constructed Walkill 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 lie 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.
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 sentinal for the first morgtage 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.
Ulster and Delaware Railroad
Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain Railway
While Cornell was busy on the Ulster and Delaware, his stepson, Samuel Decker Coykendall, got the idea for a railroad that would start at the U&D station at Phoenicia, and go up along the Stony Clove Valley to the vustling village Hunter, New York. He decided to call it the Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain Railway, and it would be of three-foot gauge, as this would be cheaper to construct, and to run. It was planned to be a summer-only operation, but eventually became so successful, that it became year-round. It went through the communities of Phoenicia, Chichester, Lanesville, Edgewood and Hunter, and a stop at the Stony Clove Notch. There was also a station between the notch and Hunter called Kaaterskill Junction Station, where the Kaaterskill Railway came out and went to Kaaterskill.
This line, however, was torn out and sold for scrap in 1940, after going through three owners; the Stony Clove & Catskill Mountain, the Ulster & Delaware and the New York Central. The portion up to Kaaterskill Junction, and the Kaaterskill Railroad, were grouped together as a branch, and renamed the Stony Clove and Kaaterskill Branch, while the portion from Kaaterskill Junction to Hunter was renamed the Hunter Branch. These branches soon became the busiest section of the U&D, but this all changed, when the NYC purchased the U&D in 1932. It soon began deteriorating, and was apparently too much for the NYC to run. It ended up being abandoned in 1939, and scrapped in 1940, and the only surviving Stony Clove station is the one at Hunter.
Kaaterskill Railway
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 the creek the bridge crossed), and went to the bustling town of Tannersvile, where over half of the freight on the Kaaterskill Railway was handled, and where the secondary line, the Catskill and Tannersville Railway, began, although C&T trains were also transported on the KRy. It soon crossed the Girder Deck Bridge, which was the biggest on the line, and got to Haine's Falls. It soon got to the pathway up to the elegant Laurel House, where there was another station, and a view of the Kaaterskill Falls. It soon got to Kaaterskill, where the Catskill & Tannersville finally joined the line, and then went to Otis Summit Station.
This station was at the western end of the Otis Elevating Railway, which went up the Catskill Front to the Catskill Mountain House. But this connection was no more once the Ulster and Delaware standard-gauged this line, and made it part of the Stony Clove & Kaaterskill Branch. The branch still went to the bigger and more modern Hotel Kaaterkill, and the Laurel House, and this was one of various parts of the line where christmas trees would be shopped down and sent around the state. This branch, however, soon declined after NYC takeover in 1932, and ended up being abandoned in 1939, and scrapped in 1940. The only surviving KRy station is the one at Haine's Falls.
Ulster and Delaware Railroad
The Ulster and Delaware wasn't at the peak of Cornell's interests, as he had completed the Rhinebeck and Connecticut Railroad in 1870, along with chartering the Kaaterskill Railroad in 1884, and he was also president of the Walkill 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, but it only made it to Hobart in 1884, and was incorporated into the U&D later that year. His next attempt was the Delaware and Otsego Railroad. However, this never made it far, and it was incorporated into the U&D in 1887. Neither of these attempts worked, and Cornell refocused his attention on the Ulster and Delaware, and continued on its construction until his death in 1890. People started to have bad thoughts about the future of the U&D, such as it being sold to a bigger railroad, like the West Shore or the Delaware and Hudson, but Cornell's stepson, Samuel Coykendall, became the new president of the U&D. Once construction resumed, there were rumors that the U&D would make an extension to Cooperstown, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. But it would soon be the eastern end that would get an extension. In 1895, the eastern terminus was streched 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. It took five more years before the railroad finally got to Oneonta in 1900.
There were many stations that were replaced throughout the years of 1899-1901. The station that was closest to the eastern terminus to be replaced was the Kingston Station. The original one was a small builing wrapped in a portico, which was called the Fair Street Station. However, the West Shore Railroad built a new station in Kingston that served the main line of the West Shore, and the Walkill Valley Branch, which used to be the Walkill Valley Railroad. The Ulster and Delaware thought it was a bad idea to keep the Fair Street Station, considering there were already two stations, the second one owned by the New York, Ontario and Western, and was considered a bad idea if there was a third one. They tore it down in 1899, which angered the locals who helped pay for the ground it was on. The other stations that were replaced on the main line were Brown's Station, Cold Brook Station, Phoenicia Station, Allaben Station, South Gilboa Station, South Kortright Station, East Meredith Station, and the Davenport Center Station. Ones that were originally built with the design were the West Davenport Station and the Oneonta Station. Branch stations that were replaced in this time period were the Tannersville Station and the Laurel House Station. Ones that were just changed a bit were the Kortright Station and the Hunter Station.
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 abnd 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 Railroad 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 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 long, with the entire branch being a 4.4% incline.
The Stony Clove and Kaaterskill Branch sproutd out from the mainline of the Ulster and Delaware near where there is currently a bridge connecting the two sides of Phoenicia, crossing the Esopus Creek and going behind where the Tinker Tube Rental building is now, crossing Main St., going in what is now an alley, and making it's way to Chichester, going near a pond that was near the station site. From there it crossed the Stony Clove Creek, and made a loose curve, going off to the side in one area, and popping out near what is now someone's yard, and crossing the Stony Clove again, where it then went up on a hill above the town of Lanesville, where it was now in Greene County, New York, following on the east side of the Stony Clove Valley for most of the line's remaining right-of-way.
In Greene County, it went from Lanesville, crossing the Stony Clove once again, to the small community of Edgewood. It then made another crosing, being on the eastern portion of the valley again, and going up a 3-4% grade, near the Stony Clove Lake, to the Stony Clove Notch, where the valley narrowed down to just being a few yards wide. It then curved to the side again, going around a field that is now another pond. It later got to an area near Hunter, which was designated the site of the Kaaterskill Junction Station, which was the busiest depot on the line. The branch then made a turn and crossed the immense 'Light Dam Bridge' to Tannersville, another busy town, which had a high freight income level. It then crossed the Girder Deck Bridge; the largest one on either of the branches; to the community of Haine's Falls, where there were many hotels. The line then went to the front of the entrance way of the elegant Laurel House, where there was another station, the Laurel House Station. It finally got to Kaaterskill, where there lie the mile-long Hotel Kaaterskill, which was perhaps the biggest hotel served by the U&D.
There were a sleuth of hotels on the line, most of them either being built or sponsored by the U&D. Starting at Kaaterskill, there was the elegant Kaaterskill Hotel. This hotel was one mile long. It was a fierce competitor with the Catskill Mountain House, and was the main hotel on the Stony Clove & Kaaterskill Branch, being right at the end of the branch on the top of a hill in Kaaterskill. Another hotel along the Stony Clove and Kaaterskill Branch, which was especially busy, was the Laurel House, which was right next to the Kaaterskill Falls. There was the Laurel House Station to drop people off at, ane when they got there, a horse and carriage would take them up to the hotel. It was burnt down during the second half of the 20th century, along with the Laurel House Station. Yet another hotel along the railroad was the Tremper House in Phoenicia. This was a square-shaped hotel woth a tower on each corner, located on the edge of a hill near the railroad, and is the present site of the Camp David campsite. Another was located in Highmount on the edge of Monka Hill at the top of the Pine Hill Grade, and was called the Grand Hotel. This was indeed one of the biggest and grandest hotels in New York before it was torn down and intentionally burnt. It had an area in it where one would be right at the border point between the counties of Ulster, Delaware and Greene. There is now a closed restaurant where this hotel used to be, which is called the Owl's Nest.
The U&D was a very busy railroad for its size, and had plenty of locomotives and rolling stock. They had some rather odd equipment, too. One example was U&D #20, which was a 4-4-0 that had been built by the Schenectady Locomotive Works in 1896. It was an inspection engine, with a very long enclosed cab to keep the crew inside warm and cozy, as it would usually bring some of the railroad crew along as well as the engineer, the fireman (the person that shoveled the coal) and the conductor, and it had two uses. One was to go over the line and inspect for damage or things that needed fixing so the repair crew could fix the damage. The other was to signal a payday. It would go over the line and whistle when it was time for pay. Its whistle sounded different from the whistles of the other locomotives, so workers could tell by the sound of the whistle that they were getting their paycheck. Another was U&D #13, a 0-6-0T tank engine that had been built by the Brooks Locomotive Works in 1885. When it got to the U&D, it was immediately assigned to work at the yard in Rondout, and it would spend the rest of its service life shunting rolling stock. Both of these locomotives were scrapped in 1932.
The year was 1906, and the railroad now had 26 locomotives; locomotives 2-5, 7-9, 11-16 and 18-29, as the rest were now either scrapped or sold. Later that year, the U&D ordered 11 locomotives from the American Locomotive Company, more commonly known as Alco. They were of the 4-6-0 wheel arrangement, also known as 'ten-wheelers', would have 63-inch drivers, 20x26-inch cylinders, and would weigh 82 tons. They would be delivered as locomotives 30-41, with locomotives 30-35 being constructed and delivered in 1906, and 36-41 arriving in 1907. These were the heaviest locomotives on the line, and would be the last time the U&D would make a purchase.
In 1908, the City of New York purchased the Ashokan Valley; a 10 mile area of land in the heart of the Catskills. This area of land would be used to construct the Ashokan Reservoir, a water source that would carry water down to New York City. But the mainline of the U&D ran right through the middle of the valley, along with six stations; West Hurley Station, Olive Branch Station, Brodhead's Bridge Station, Brown's Station, Shokan Station, and Boiceville Station, which was bad news for the railroad. Considering the railroad went through where the reservoir was going to lay, the U&D carried supplies from different points to help make the dams, and along with help from the U&D, there was also the McArthur Brothers Company, the Ashokan Reservoir's contractor, who also happened to have a railroad. It connected to the U&D at Brown's Station, which was the main loading site for concrete and other supplies. When the project was finished, and the reservoir was about to be flooded, the railroad received $1,500,000, and relocated 12.45 miles of track, and replaced the previously-existing 64- and 70-pound rails with 90-pound rails from Kingston to Grand Gorge.
There were plenty of accidents on the line, as with any other railroad, and four of the most infamous happened in Halcotville, Hunter, Grand Gorge, Glenford and Hunter. The first 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", and it took place on the Hunter Branch near Hunter. 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 was, as it is considered by most, the worst wreck in the history of the line. 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. It was going faster than the train in front of it, and couldn't slow down in time. It rear-ended the coal train in Grand Gorge, and killed six people. There was also a big mess around, and it took a long time to clean up. 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, killing engineer John Scully and fireman Les Reed.
The New York Central didn't actually want to buy the U&D, 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. And the U&D didn't want to be sold to a bigger railroad, and wanted to stay in business. The NYC wanted to incorporate three midwestern 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, hence the Interstate Commerce Commission wouldn't let them. But the ICC decided that if they buy and run the U&D, then they might let them buy the other railroads. The NYC scoffed at the idea, but they wanted to but 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. They abandoned the portion from Kingston Point to Kingston, as the stops at Kingston Point and Rondout were worthless stops to the NYC, and all U&D locomotives were to be serviced at the Kingston Roundhouse or the shops at West Albany, Minnesota, leaving the Rondout and Kingston Point statiojns to fall apart, they were later destroyed, and the roundhouse at Rondout was destroyed, with a sewer plant taking it's place.They also slowed down trains to 35 MPH on e main line, and to 25 MPH on the branches. The stations at Chichester, Lanesville and Edgewood were shut down, the Stony Clove flagstop was entirely destroyed and the siding there taken out, and the Kaaterskill Junction Station, the depots at Haine's Falls, Kaaterskill, and the depot serving the Laurel House became summer-only stations, while the only year-round stations were all of the stations on the main line except for the West Davenport Station, which had already been closed down in 1923, and which eventually burnt down ten years later in 1933, and the stations at Tannersville and Hunter. The station at Kelly's Corners was also abandoned in the 1920s, and was demolished soon after, as it never made business.
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 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 Walkill Valley Branch of the New York Central, which used to be the Walkill 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. This was because the material used to build it were never strong enough to hold a modern locomotive. It was built in the 1870s, when locomotives were much smaller, and rebuilt in 1895, when lcomotives had only gotten a little bigger, and was never rebuilt, hence it was never a good bridge. 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. So they tried using the fx-light locomotives on the Walkill Valley Branch, and the results were far away from dissapointing. 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.
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, and the station agents that worked at any of the branch stations were eiter 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 Girder Deck Bridge in Haine's 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 were now nothing but abandoned rubbish, and only two of them survive to this day; the Hunter Station, now a house, and the Haine's Falls Station, a museum at present.
The steam locomotives did do 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 Walkill Valley and the Catskill Mountain Branches in 1948, and they were more preffered by the Central. First of all, 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, so 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 beforebeing scrapped. The last steam engine to run over the CMB was #813 (ex-U&D #36), which had by then been renamed NYC #1226, with all remaining U&D steam locomotives sent to Ashtabula, Ohio to be scrapped in 1949. 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. 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, and 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. 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. Catskill Mountain Branch ownership was passed on to the Penn Central in 1968 when the Penn Central was formed by the Central merging with the Pennsylvania Railroad.
At this point, the U&D was in such bad condition, due to poor care, that it would take several days for a train to get to Bloomville, the present western terminus. There was one train that took five days for the train to go from Kingston to Stamford, due to the frequent derailments. They ran the line until 1976, and by then it had all sorts of nicknames, such as the 'Up and Down' and the 'Useless and Dirty' (notice the 'U and D' in each phrase).
In that same year of 1976, a portion of the branch was taken over by Conrail. Conrail ran the portion from Rondout to Kingston for the Kingston Coal and Feed Company until 1979, when every last drop of service was rung out of the old branch.
Kingston Terminal Railroad
In 1980, the Kingston Terminal Railroad was organized to operate the approximately 5 miles of track between what is now the CSX River Line 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
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 next segment of the line, MP 2.8 to 41.4, is owned 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 owned by the Empire State Railway Museum, to eventually run the line from Kingston to Phoenicia. The tracks between Highmount and Phoenica, also leased by the Catskill Mountain Railroad, are isolated by three large washouts west of Phoenicia, and have not seen a train since 1976. There are plans to clear parts of this line in 2006, starting with the section between Highmount and Pine Hill, home to the scenic "horseshoe curve". This section also has a bad bridge abutment at Big Indian, MP 36.4, and several paved-over crossings.
The Delaware and Ulster Rail Ride, based in Arkville, where they currently have a stock of railroad cars, tracks, and ties, and where there are four diesels and a Porter Locomotive Works 0-6-0T steam locomotive, runs tourist trains from Highmount, MP 41.4, to Roxbury, MP 59.1 (where they are restoring the Roxbury Station), and has currently rebuilt line as far as Grand Gorge, MP 65.5. This section of the line is owned by the Catskill Revitalization Corporation. Halcotville Station, MP 53.0, was cut in half, with the passenger side moved a few hundred feet, where it is a shed, and the freight side moved to Arkville, where it is now a tool shed for the Delaware and Ulster Rail Ride. The line 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 South Gilboa Station, MP 70.6, is the only abandoned station on the line, but it is planned to be cosmetically restored by the Town of Gilboa Historical Society. The stations of South Kortright, MP 81.5, East Meredith, MP 97.9, and Davenport Center, MP 103.2, are currently private dwellings, with the final station at Oneonta, MP 106.9, being 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.
As for the branches to Hunter and Kaaterskill, which were torn up in 1940, all that remains now are overgrown paths, with an occasional road, and New York Route 214 overlapping in some areas where the railroad used to be, such as Chichester and Stony Clove. 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, and two in Chichester, although one has collapsed into the creek below. There is only one surviving bridge on the branches, and it's near the Ulster County-Greene County border line. It is privately owned, and the property owners don't like prople going on it. The Hunter Station, branch MP 2.5, is now a private dwelling, while the Haine's Falls Station, branch MP 18.5, is currently the headquarters of the Mountain Top Historical Society. The Empire State Railway Museum, based in the former Ulster & Delaware Station in Phoenicia, and the Ulster & Delaware Railroad Historical Society, based in the former U&D Roxbury station, are also focused on historic preservation and restoration of the line.
Stations
Main Line Stations
- Kingston Point Station
- Rondout Station
- Kingston Station
- Stony Hollow Station
- West Hurley Station
- Ashokan Station
- Cold Brook Station
- Mount Pleasant Station
- Phoenicia Station
- Shandaken Station
- Big Indian Station
- Pine Hill Station
- Grand Hotel Station
- Fleischmann's Station
- Arkville Station
- Kelly's Corners Station
- Halcotville Station
- Roxbury Station
- Grand Gorge Station
- South Gilboa Station
- Stamford Station
- Hobart Station
- South Kortright Station
- Bloomville Station
- Kortright Station
- East Meredith Station
- Davenport Center Station
- West Davenport Sation
- Oneonta Station
Ashokan Valley Stations
- West Hurley Station
- Olive Branch Station
- Brown's Station
- Brodhead's Bridge Station
- Shokan Station
- Boiceville Station
Branch Stations
Stony Clove and Kaaterskill Branch
- Chichester Station
- Lanesville Station
- Edgewood Station
- Stony Clove Station
- Kaaterskill Junction Station
- Tannersville Station
- Haine's Falls Station
- Laurel House Station
- Kaaterskill Station
Hunter Branch
External links
- Ulster & Delaware Railroad Historical Society
- Trolley Museum of New York
- Welcome to the Delaware & Ulster Railride Homepage!
- Empire State Railway Museum
- Catskill Mountain Railroad-Tourism in the Catskills
- U&D Railroad page at Railroad Extra
- History of the Catskill Mountains
References
- 1. Light Rails and Short Ties Trough the Notch: The Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain Railroad and Her Steam Legacy
- 2. The Old "Up and Down" Catskill Mountain Branch of the New York Central
- 3. Grand Old Stations and Steam Locomotives of the Ulster and Delaware
- 4. Ulster and Delaware Railroad Historical Society