Eastern NY Utilities Rwy.?

I've long been curious about the ROW that crosses Route 20 in downtown Nassau, a few miles east of Rensselaer. There's a power line that runs along the roadbed. I checked old topo maps recently, and one from the '30s indicated that this was the ROW of something called the Eastern New York Utilities Railway, which I assume was an electric trolley line.
It apparently ran from Troy southeasterly through Nassau and then down to Kinderhook. I haven't yet found any info. as to where it went from there. Does anyone know the history of this line? Did it carry freight as well?

here is a history of the line:

http://www.crisny.org/not-for-profit/ra ... tm#alb_sth

I dont know anything about it, other than what I just read on that webpage..never heard of it until tonight!

Scot

It was a unique system at the time, since it adopted third rail as a power delivery system- usually the domain of heavy rail and rapid transit systems. There was a softcover book published maybe thirty years ago called "Third Rails, Pantographs & Trolley Poles" by the venerable William Gordon, 1973. The title refers to the three power collection methods used by the Albany-Hudson Fast Line. The book is widely available, check swap meets and eBay.

Operations under ENYU ceased in December 1929. The ROW and some tracks were stille widely visible through the 1970s!

-otto-

And you can see several extant stations on my site:

http://ny.existingstations.com/

Look under Columbia and Rensselaer Counties.

Charles