Catskill and Tannersville Railway
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The Catskill and Tannersville Railway, also known as "The Huckleberry", was a small three-foot gauge railroad that started at the Otis Summit Station at the end of the Otis Elevating Railway, and stopped at Tannersville. It was a fierce, and to some, annoying, competitor with the Stony Clove and Kaaterskill Branch of the Ulster and Delaware, as the two railroads were almost side-by-side. It started at the Otis Summit Station near the edge of Kaaterskill, New York, at the top of the Wall of the Manitou, where it made a connection with the Otis Elevating Railway, and travelled 5.2 miles to its headquarters at Tannersville, New York.
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[edit] History
The Catskill Mountain Railway didn't always have the Catskill & Tannersville to connect the Otis Elevating Railway to Tannersville. Instead, the Kaaterskill Railroad served that purpose, as it was the same gauge as the Otis Elevating and the Catskill Mountain; three feet, and connected by a shorter C&T from the Otis Summit Station, too. But the C&T was also present in the area, and was very close to the Kaaterskill. In fact, the two lines were so close that the C&T ran trains on the KRR from 1893-1898. This stopped when the Ulster and Delaware standard-gauged the Kaaterskill Railroad in 1899, and the connection was no more. So the CMR president solved that problem by lengthening the C&T to Tannersville in 1900.
It was built on a tight budget, and used 3-foot gauge so it could interchange freight cars with the Otis, and because it was cheaper. It only had two locomotives in its roster, both eventually being replaced by outside-frame engines. This railroad was known to some as the Ulster & Delaware's annoying narrow-gauge competitor; it did offer an alternative route, but this "alternative route" was right next to the U&D, and most of the C&T stations were right across from the U&D stations. There were downfalls to using this railroad, and that included the fact that the railroad barely ever ran on time. This was probably due to the frequent stops to let passengers get out and see the Kaaterskill Falls, the Mountain Laurel in full bloom, and even to pick blueberries, which the locals called "huckleberries", hence the railroad's nickname, and was probably enjoyed by the fellow passengers.
The railroad was somewhat profitable, and managed to survive for quite a while, but one thing it couldn't stay away from was bankruptcy. It went bankrupt in 1918, and was torn up and sold for scrap, along with the rest of the Catskill Mountain Railway system in 1919. The two locomotives that were previously owned by the C&T were shipped to the Bellevue and Cascade Railway in the State of Iowa.
[edit] Stations
- Tannersville Station
- Clum Road Station
- The Antlers Hotel
- Haines Falls Station
- Laurel House Station
- Otis Summit Station
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- 1. Light rails and Short Ties Through the Notch: The Stony Clove & Catskill Mountain Railroad and Her Steam Legacy
- 2. Ulster and Delaware Railroad Historical Society
- 3. Rip Van Winkle Railroads, by William F. Helmer
