Bridge over I 787

There is an abandoned RR bridge over I 787 north of Watervliet. Where did it go to and when was the track abandoned?

These tracks were used by both the Delaware & Hudson and the New York Central (for its Troy-Schenectady branch). East of the bridge the tracks split; a Delaware and Hudson branch went northward, through Green Island, and rejoined the D&H main north of Waterford. The other branch continued east over the Hudson River into Troy (at the approximate location of the current Green Island Bridge), and into the Troy Union Railroad (a joint operation of the NYC, D&H, and Boston & Maine).

C.J.V.

I suspect by the time this bridge was built it was only for serving some customers along the former branch. The bridge to the west shows it was built for three tracks.

You can still trace the line that went north, it was in place but out of service up to some industrial complexes in Green Island as recently as at least 2007.

There was an article in Trains magazine in the early 2000s about the D&H (I think it had red CP engines on the cover) and I kept the magazine for that article. In their "News postings" section, there was an announcement about the acceptance of the formal abandonment of the track over this bridge. If I can find the magazine when I get home I will look it up. That being said, I think it was actually out of service before the 2000s.

Looked in that issue for you, but didn't have any luck. It was the November 1999 issue, if I have the right cover and D&H article.

Unfortunately, I have several D&H issues. One had CP on the cover and I think the caption was "Last Chance for the D&H." Another I think had Guilford on the cover. I couldn't dig it out last night and am out of town this weekend, but if I remember I will look it up when I get home. I took a highlighter to the paragraph that mentioned it, so it won't be hard for me to find it again.

OOh: and it wasn't in the feature article itself. It was in the back of the magazine, where they list each railroad and what it is doing or has announced.

Wasn't that the line into the Ford Green Island plant?

Perhaps, in the 2007 Google images the plants at what looked to be the end of the line were all demolished to the concrete pads.

Must have been expensive to build, several bridges to the north if you follow it, one looks to be hikeable, a couple are repurposed to vehicle traffic.

Ginos Railpage has some good info and pictures of this area.

I cannot find the notice in the "Scanner" section of all the magazines I have. I threw most of them out when I moved last year, so that might be part of the problem.

If you have a search term or two that I can use, I can search for it using my Trains DVD.

I had tried Watervliet several days ago, and didn't have any luck.

I would try the phrase "Green Island."

If this is the right entry, it was in the July 2004 issue with an Iraq Railway locomotive on the cover.

The entry in the Abandonments/Acquisitions log on page 15 says the "Delaware & Hudson Railway Company (Canadian Pacific Railway) to abandon the Troy Branch, 1.3 miles, extending from MP T1.81 at Green Island to MP T3.11 at Cohoes, N.Y. This trackage is immediately across the Hudson River from the site of Troy Union Station. "

The date for the listing is February 18th, although I don't know if that was when they filed for permission or when abandonment was granted. I would assume that it was the latter.

Dope! That is exactly the issue I was thinking of! I forgot I had that issue (the Iraq cover reminded me) but when I moved last year I threw it out because I couldn't remember why I kept it, and I knew the cover story didn't relate to the D&H. I forgot to flip through the entire issue for any highlighting.

I am not sure if that Scanner news is exactly what the OP is looking for, but what you quoted is the news article I was thinking of.

Thank you for helping with this!