Last passenger trains on the Adirondack Division

Can anyone tell me about the last days/months of passenger service on the Adirondack Division? I dont have any tt's in front of me, what was the length of the average ride from Utica? Did all trains run to Lake Placid?

-otto-

The last run was April 26, 1965 according to a news item in August 65 Trains. The same news item said the power was Alco RS-3 #8256.

Utica-Lk. Placid is 142 miles.

That's on my list of rides I'm sorry I missed --- I mean I missed riding all of it. I realize you can ride some of it today.

It's an incredible route. There are actually stations up there that are so remote they're not accessible by anything but the RR!

Wasn't the line opened again around the time of the 1980 olympics? Was Amtrak the operator for these trains?

n2xjk wrote:Wasn't the line opened again around the time of the 1980 olympics? Was Amtrak the operator for these trains?

The line was opened or rather reopened for the 1980 winter games in
Lake Placid by a private outfit the Adirondack Railroad. Unfortunately, the
work they did on the railroad was not up to standards and the spring thaw
and other problems caused a lot of problems and they were hampered by
various operating problems including a number of derailments.
A derailment of a train carrying a load of passengers on this very remote
line is no laughing matter.
I rode the entire line in the early summer of 1980 and enjoyed it very
much. We made decent speed although there were some rough spots and
I was hoping that we would not encounter any trouble, we made it in one
piece all of the way up and back in the same day out of Utica. I got lots
of pictures of the line too.
Adirondack Scenic runs the line out of Thendara between there and Utica
and they also run the section between Lake Placid and Saranac Lake too.
Although the rest of the line is not in use, the track is passable after a
fashion as they need to use it to ferry the equipment up to Lake Placid in
the spring and down again in the fall.
Trains Magazine for May, 2005 has an interesting eight page article on this
line and it is well worth reading.
Noel Weaver

I was born in Tupper Lake, and in the early 1960s briefly lived in Tupper Lake Junction, just north of the tracks, near what was the former train station. By that time there were very few frieghts, and we moved west to Batavia shortly after that last passenger train ran. Years before, my father made the trip from his native New York City via that train, and the scenery alone was what made him really appreciate the area.

The Canada Southern web site http://www.canadasouthern.com has scanned many of the original NYC Passenger train schedules, including the timetable regarding the final days of that service on the Adirondack.
As of 1964, the train departed Utica at 455 AM, arriving at Lake Placid at 1005 AM. Going to Utica, you departed Placid at 900 PM, getting to Utica at 210 AM. Stops along the way included Big Moose, Brandeth, a private station at Ne-ha-sa-ne and the American Legion had a stop before Tupper Lake. Lake Clear Jct was next, which if I remember was a transfer point if you were continuing on to Canada. (That was years earlier than the 60s), then on to Placid.

The amount of freight trains would continue to dwindle in numbers, serving the O W D (Oval Wood Dish) Plant about two miles south of there, in Tupper Lake proper till 1972. I returned in 1975 to see that the weeds had overtaken the rails.

Heres hoping the Adirondack Railroad is successfull in restoring the full Lake Placid to Utica line.

Are there any good collections of photos of NYC operations on the Adirondack Div in publication? I assume there's nothing as grandiose as Trackside NYC Adirondack Division with xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (or I'd have heard about it)

Tom- having a "Trackside" book on a single line like the Adirondack probably isn't in Morning Sun's best interests- the topic is too specific. That said, I dont think there are any books on the Adirondack that I know of.

I think Penn Central abandoned the line shortly after all the Hurricane Agnes business in 1972- the traffic north of Remsen was not enough to justify the long, winding, dead-end line. I think sometime after 1976, New York State purchased the line and it was operated as the Adirondack Railway for the Olympic Games in 1980... I think the line shut down after 1982 for a variety of reasons and the equipment was auctioned off. The line lay dormant until 1992...

I got this from the Adirondack Scenic Railroad website: The Adirondack Railway Preservation Society (ARPS) - In 1992 a group of devoted rail enthusiasts banded together and proposed to operate a short section of the line from Thendara south to Minnehaha. New York State approved the 4-mile train ride and on July 4, 1992 the Adirondack Centennial Railroad ran its first train out of Thendara station. By the end of the season the railroad carried over 55,000 passengers. With such a positive response from the public, New York State allowed the railroad to operate in 1993 and has extended the permission to run each year since. In July of 1994 the Adirondack Centennial Railroad became the Adirondack Scenic Railroad, which is operated by ARPS. ARPS is a 501(c) (3), not-for-profit corporation and is run by a staff of 150 volunteers and a few full and part-time employees.

http://www.adirondackrr.com/

-otto-

There is often aggressive bidding on eBay for photo postcards of the Adirondack Division and related branch lines. Several of us are trying to create our own private "book" via old postcards. As I type this there is a photo postcard image at the Raquette Lake waterfront showing mostly the hotel but also several open vestibule passenger cars and the bidding on this card is over $330 !! Another card of the lower carry on the Marion River Carry RR is also over $300. I have been able to acquire cards of both Big Moose stations and stations at Old Forge, Fulton Chain (now Thendara), Carter, and Beaver River. And I have numerous photo postcards of the Marion River Carry RR as well as a card of a NY&HRRR work train in the sand pit at Beaver River. When I've been outbid on a card I really like I'll sometimes snarf the image just to have the picture. I did this to get as great shot of an entire logging camp being transported on flat cars - one building per flat car. I sent it to Mike Kudish but he wasn't able to identify the location. BTW, he has created a large library of Adirondack railroad info at Paul Smiths College where he is a professor. Last time I talked to him he was stilll not wired - strictly snailmail. Anyhow, if you want to see pictures of the Adirondack Division you'll have to start your own collection. I've thought about trying to create a website to display some of my cards but I don't think I know enough html.

Otto, I'm not sure when the exact shut-down of Adirondack Railroad operations was but your date is a bit late. Equipment was moved off line (the pieces that were fit to move) in November 1981, and the auction was held in Webster on March 27, 1982.

While there in't a trackside photo book for the Adirondack Division. The following may be the closest there are:

FAIRY TAIL RAILROAD; Henry A. Harter; North Country Books'copyright 1979. This is still listed as available in their 2005 catalog. It contains many photos (the quality could be better.)

RAQUETTE LAKE: A TIME TO REMEMBER; Ruth Timm; North Country Books; copyright 1989. Out of print (I think) This has the photo of Raquette Lake with the passenger cars and hotel. Raquette Lake material only.

RAILROADS OF THE ADIRONDACKS; Michael Kudish; copyright 1996, Out of print (again I think) This is more of the nuts and bolts on the stations, mile posts etc. Photos are weak.

North Country Books website: http://www.northcountrybooks.com

Otto Vondrak wrote:Tom- having a "Trackside" book on a single line like the Adirondack probably isn't in Morning Sun's best interests- the topic is too specific. That said, I dont think there are any books on the Adirondack that I know of.

I think Penn Central abandoned the line shortly after all the Hurricane Agnes business in 1972- the traffic north of Remsen was not enough to justify the long, winding, dead-end line. I think sometime after 1976, New York State purchased the line and it was operated as the Adirondack Railway for the Olympic Games in 1980... I think the line shut down after 1982 for a variety of reasons and the equipment was auctioned off. The line lay dormant until 1992...

I got this from the Adirondack Scenic Railroad website: The Adirondack Railway Preservation Society (ARPS) - In 1992 a group of devoted rail enthusiasts banded together and proposed to operate a short section of the line from Thendara south to Minnehaha. New York State approved the 4-mile train ride and on July 4, 1992 the Adirondack Centennial Railroad ran its first train out of Thendara station. By the end of the season the railroad carried over 55,000 passengers. With such a positive response from the public, New York State allowed the railroad to operate in 1993 and has extended the permission to run each year since. In July of 1994 the Adirondack Centennial Railroad became the Adirondack Scenic Railroad, which is operated by ARPS. ARPS is a 501(c) (3), not-for-profit corporation and is run by a staff of 150 volunteers and a few full and part-time employees.

http://www.adirondackrr.com/

-otto-

Otto, I agree with you with regard to the Adirondack Division but I would
think that if the former New York Central east of and north of Syracuse
together with the Delaware and Hudson lines in the Adirondacks were to
be done together as a "Railroads of the Adirondacks" or something of that
nature, maybe a good volume could be produced. Naturally the former
St. Lawrence division of the New York Central could be included and
maybe even the old Rutland across the top of New York State too.
The lines of the former New York Central in this area were very important
at one time years ago.
Noel Weaver

Noel - See the reference above to "Fairy Tale Railroad" and also "Where Did The Tracks Go" by Kudish. Between the two you may not have everything, but most of what you're after.

Aji-tater wrote:Noel - See the reference above to "Fairy Tale Railroad" and also "Where Did The Tracks Go" by Kudish. Between the two you may not have everything, but most of what you're after.

I have copies of both of the above books and they are good for what they
are.
What I think is being referred to here is a color picture book of the
territory in question.
Morning Sun books are basically the best of assorted slide collections but
they are good for what they are. If one was done on this territory, I would certainally add it to my collection.
Noel Weaver

Morning Sun did a book "Trackside around Sayre, Towanda, Waverly"
which is very small region..(yes, it had a bit on Elmira too..)
they also did "trackside around Allentown"...just one tiny town.

So I would think the ENTIRE Addirondack region, taking in the NYC and the D&H would have a much larger "interest base" than "Sayre, Towanda, Waverly"!
although, COLOR photos of historic Adirondack operations would be very hard to find...most of the Morning Sun "color" books deal with 1950 or later, simply because thats when color photography came into widespread use..color photos before 1945-1950 are very rare...

Scot

That would be good enough for me! After all, NYC was still operating the Adirondack Division at the point (1950). I have to assume that since highways were slow to penetrate the Adirondacks, the RRs there probably did good business until trucks started to show up. There must be some good color pics out there somewhere! It might even be an occasion for me to want to see a PC diesel switching.

This theoretical book might also gain attention if it included other regional operations like the Rutland, O&W or Lowville & Beaver River. It might even be a good idea to included current lines like Mohawk, Adirondack and Northern or the Upper Hudson RR. Noel, you're retired so this might be a good project for your spare time. That is, if you want get involved!