Route of the Saratoga and Schenectedy Trolley?

Gino

Yes those piers are still in there. I have been back there (behind the choclate Factory). I was looking for any piers that may exist for the Trolley bridge which was very close to the D&H Trestle. I could not find any. At one time there was a dam just to the east of the Trolley Bridge. I have seen pictures of it. There was a little Park in there that had a spring in it. Also close by ( just to rear and North was the Trolley Depot for the line going up the Kadeross creek. I think the line had three names. Started off as the Ballston Terminal railroad. Then the Eastern Railroad and the last being the Kaydeross railroad. The Depot I think was behind and Northwest of Sub shop (Quisnoes ?). This was a Licquor store for a few decades. Anyway when the Licquor store was open . They had some real interesting pictures on the wall of that area . Showed the Falls and Dam(Blue mill pond) plus some Trolley pictures. If my memory serves me I seem to remember a picture of a Trolley Car which got away and ended up in the Pond. I think you can still see where the line ran up out of the Kaydeross Valley to a point very near the North end of the D&H Trestle. There are some very good pictures of it in Dave Nestles Book (Rails along the Kaydeross.)

I know the photo your talking about, but I'm not sure it's the Blue Mill Pond that the car is in. I'll have to dig it out! Dave's BT Book has it. Yes,
the Liquor Shop had neat photos. Wonder where they went!

There's a semi-neat book available on the BT. It came out last year. I haven't had the money so I can't get it. I do wish to grab one. It's available at the Brookside Musuem.

Gino

SARATOGA LAKE RAILFAN wrote:Gino

Yes those piers are still in there. I have been back there (behind the choclate Factory). I was looking for any piers that may exist for the Trolley bridge which was very close to the D&H Trestle. I could not find any. At one time there was a dam just to the east of the Trolley Bridge. I have seen pictures of it. There was a little Park in there that had a spring in it. Also close by ( just to rear and North was the Trolley Depot for the line going up the Kadeross creek. I think the line had three names. Started off as the Ballston Terminal railroad. Then the Eastern Railroad and the last being the Kaydeross railroad. The Depot I think was behind and Northwest of Sub shop (Quisnoes ?). This was a Licquor store for a few decades. Anyway when the Licquor store was open . They had some real interesting pictures on the wall of that area . Showed the Falls and Dam(Blue mill pond) plus some Trolley pictures. If my memory serves me I seem to remember a picture of a Trolley Car which got away and ended up in the Pond. I think you can still see where the line ran up out of the Kaydeross Valley to a point very near the North end of the D&H Trestle. There are some very good pictures of it in Dave Nestles Book (Rails along the Kaydeross.)

Gino

I would surmise who ever owns the building has those pictures. I seem to remember that before it was a licquor store it was Pastore!s Pharmacy for years. Could be someone in the Pastore family still owns the building and has been leaseing it out. I will ask around. While we are talking about pictures of that immediate area. The restaurant inside the old Choclate factory has quite a few historical pictures on the walls. Kind of funny the name of the restaurant is ironicialy named the Factory. (food is pretty good also). Back to the Trolleys. The old Car Barns are still pretty much intact. I think the little hamlet west of Ballston is named factory village where they are located. I have followed the line as far up as Rock City Falls. Back in its hayday there were numerous mills along the Kaydeross. There are still a few places where the ROW is still visable. However not much left in general. This is probably the best time of year to locate abandoned lines. With the foilage gone and a little snow on the ground . The slight rise in the ground is easier to pick up.

Gino

The building I was checking into (sub shop-Liqueor Store) has been sold. I took a ride up to the Brookside building and that was closed (Sundays). So I am o fer 2 at the moment. While checking the map Russ put in on the old ROW on the Saratoga lake extension (trolley). I noticed the Satellite map clearly shows a good portion of the old ROW of the Saratoga& Schuylerville Railroad on the Eastern side of Saratoga Lake. Also the Wye on Dwyer switch road is plainly visable. This is a great tool for finding abandoned lines. The only draw back is the map reaches a point (away from a city) where the clarity becomes bad. However I downloaded Google earth and have been able to track the Saratoga &Schuylerville up out of Mechanicville to a point (halfway to Saratoga Lake). I am sure you probably have done the same. I guess I feel like a kid with a new toy.

SARATOGA LAKE RAILFAN wrote:This is a great tool for finding abandoned lines.

Exactly! I can load these routes into my Nokia n800 (Internet Tablet), connect it to a GPS receiver, go out into the field, and locate railroads which you can barely see on the ground. The same ..../gmap.cgi link can be converted into a .../gpx.cgi and it will hand you a GPX file, which the gpsbabel program can load into your GPS receiver.

Saratoga Lake Railfan was talking about the freight line, which went to the paper mills. Did it go all the way to Rock City Falls? I have noticed that there is an abandoned bridge abutment on Rock City Road. It is just near where Rock City Road joins Northline/Galway Rd., but is on the far bank. Was this a railroad bridge?
I also wonder about another bridge in Rock City Falls. From R. C. F., by Cottrell Paper, take Rte 29 west. Go by the church on the right, there is an old mill on he left. They have a small mill pond, where people fish. It looks like a railroad type bridge acroos the dam, into the mill. Did they have ail service?
Lets all participants of this thread get together. Sometime we could explore Ballston area. I live just over the line in Saratoga. Someone send out a pm if there is interest.

I have a picture of a railroad bridge by Saratoga Lake on Brown Road by Shady Rest. It had the number 76 painted on it. I may have been used to go to one of the lake houses.

I am aware of the abutment you are talking about (Brown road-painted 76). This abutment carried the trestle over Brown road. It did not go to any Lake Houses. If you turn off rt 9P and follow Brown road about a quarter mile . You will come to Putnam road (close to the 76 abutment). Turn right onto Putnam and follow the road. You can see the old ROW leading up to the abutment. This is a good time of the year to track old ROW!s . With the leaves gone. You can see the old ROW very clearly.

What are we waiting for? Let's go out and explore. Soon the leaves will be off of the trees.
I have been out in Rock City exploring. I have also looked at some of the old geographic maps on the University of New Hampshire site, but the maps show the line ending at a quarry up behind Cottrell's How did the line get over that knoll, in order to continue across Rte.29, by the mill that I mentioned?

http://docs.unh.edu/nhtopos/nhtopos.htm

Hi folks: Just found this site and it already answers some questions I had about bridge abutments off in the woods such as off Browns Rd near Lake Saratoga. Did the idea of getting together to explore ever take off? Thanks. railhist

I'm familiar with those bridge abutments on Brown Road; I've taken photos of them. The line in question there was not the trolley, but the ROW of the B&M's old Saratoga and Schuylerville branch, which began in Mechanicville, went up the east side of the lake, crossed it, then branched in two directions --- the westerly segment heading into downtown Saratoga and the easterly segment through Victory Mills and into Schuylerville. The B&M sold this line to Samuel Pinsly around 1947. Pinsly operated it as an independent shortline until its abandonment in 1956. There are lots of interesting vestiges of it that can still be seen.

revpaul, can you post that photo of the Brown Road bridge? Some of us would love to see it.

There is a webpage on the S&S. Do a Google search for "Gino's New York Rail Page." That may not be the exact title of the host page, but it's close enough to get you there.

trainsinmaine wrote:I'm familiar with those bridge abutments on Brown Road; I've taken photos of them. The line in question there was not the trolley, but the ROW of the B&M's old Saratoga and Schuylerville branch, which began in Mechanicville, went up the east side of the lake, crossed it, then branched in two directions --- the westerly segment heading into downtown Saratoga and the easterly segment through Victory Mills and into Schuylerville. The B&M sold this line to Samuel Pinsly around 1947. Pinsly operated it as an independent shortline until its abandonment in 1956. There are lots of interesting vestiges of it that can still be seen.

revpaul, can you post that photo of the Brown Road bridge? Some of us would love to see it.

There is a webpage on the S&S. Do a Google search for "Gino's New York Rail Page." That may not be the exact title of the host page, but it's close enough to get you there.

This abutment is less than one mile from my home. The nearest stop on the old Saratoga & Schuylerville was called Maple Shade (about 200 yds from the abutments). I can still remember the time they tore up the rails. If my memory serves me , I think I was about seven or eight. There are still many vestiges of the line to be seen. However you have to know where to look. A usefull tool is Google Earth. You can track it from Mechanicville to the junction point for Schuylerville (bear swamp) . The line from Rt 29 to downtown Saratoga is pretty hard to locate. I have walked large segments of this line. At one time there was some talk of building a rail trail from Mechanicville to Saratoga. However nothing ever came of this. Probably to costly and large segments of the old ROW has reverted back in ownership to the abuters (those who owned land abuting the ROW). There is a plan however to put in a rail trail from Saratoga (City) to connect up with the rail trail on RT 29 (Bog meadow) This rail trail runs from RT 29 south to the Junction point for the Schuylerville branch.

Hi guys,

Just revisiting the chat about the Saratoga and Schuylerville Railroad. The remains of the trestle on Brown's Road is amazing. I would love to see an old photo of it in it's heyday. To the guy who grew up near Maple Shade, anything else you can dig up from your memories? I am in the process of writing a history of the S&S and need all the little facts and things as such.

If anyone here has some S&S artifacts or photos or paper items, please write me at [email protected]

Thanks,

Gino

http://ginosrailpage.com