Adirondack Scenic Railroad
Adirondack Scenic Railroad | |
---|---|
Saranac Lake Station | |
Locale | New York |
Commercial operations | |
Built by | Mohawk and Malone Railway |
Original gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
Preserved operations | |
Reporting mark | ADIX |
Preserved gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
Preserved era | 1992 - |
Commercial history | |
1913 | New York Central takes over |
Closed | 1980 |
Preservation history | |
1992 | Restoration starts |
The Adirondack Scenic Railroad (reporting mark ADIX)[1] (ASR) is a tourist railway located in the Adirondack Park that operates over trackage of the former New York Central Railroad between Utica and Lake Placid. The railroad is operated by the not-for-profit Adirondack Railroad Preservation Society, with train crews composed largely of volunteers.
ASR operates between Utica and Remsen over trackage of the Mohawk, Adirondack and Northern Railroad, part of the Genesee Valley Transportation Company. The Remsen-Lake Placid segment is owned by the state of New York and designated as a multi-use corridor for rail traffic during the spring, summer, and fall seasons, and as a snowmobile trail during the winter months.
Passenger trains operate from Utica to Thendara and to Lake Placid. Historic stations have been restored in Holland Patent, Remsen, Saranac Lake, and Lake Placid. The line is not used for freight traffic.
The railroads plans to restore passenger operations over the entire Utica-Lake Placid corridor. While this vision is supported by several local communities (most notably Tupper Lake and the Next Stop Tupper Lake organization), opponents are calling for the removal of the tracks to allow creation of a rail trail.[2]
History
The line was built in 1892 by William Seward Webb as the Mohawk & Malone Railway and later purchased by the New York Central.[3] It passed to the Penn Central Transportation Company, which abandoned operations north of Remsen in 1972. The Adirondack Railway operated passenger services between Utica and Lake Placid from 1979 to 1981.[4] Tracks were dormant from 1981 until 1992 when restoration began with a 4-mile (6.4 km) section from Thendara to Minnehaha, New York. The section was approved and demonstrated on July 4, 1992.
The line was named the Adirondack Centennial Railroad. It was renamed the Adirondack Scenic Railroad in 1994.
Route
- Built between 1912 and May 1914 by the New York Central Railroad, it is also served by Amtrak.
- Holland Patent Depot 43°14′24″N 75°15′16″W / 43.24000°N 75.25444°W
- Remsen Depot 43°19′46″N 75°11′07″W / 43.32944°N 75.18528°W
- Located in Remsen (village), New York this was a union station for the Utica and Black River Railroad and the New York Central Railroad.
- See remsendepot.com for more information.
- Kayuta Trestle
- Snow Junction 43°20′47.1″N 75°11′59.3″W / 43.346417°N 75.199806°W
- Forestport Station 43°25′59.5″N 75°11′03.2″W / 43.433194°N 75.184222°W
- Otter Lake, New York
- Thendara Station 43°41′54″N 75°00′21″W / 43.69833°N 75.00583°W
- Headquarters for the railroad and close to the tourist center of Old Forge.
- Carter Station
- Tupper Lake Station in Tupper Lake (village), New York, also served as a junction for the New York and Ottawa Railway.
- Saranac Lake Union Depot 44°19′51″N 74°07′57″W / 44.33083°N 74.13250°W in Saranac Lake, New York
- Lake Placid Station 44°16′34″N 73°59′10″W / 44.27611°N 73.98611°W in Lake Placid, New York
- Winter sports center, best known as the two-time host of the Winter Olympics.
Gallery
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ASR #6076
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NYC caboose, Lake Placid
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ASR #6076, Lake Placid
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Saranac Lake Station
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Remsen Depot. Rebuilt in 1999, on the same site and to the same plans as the original station.
See also
Notes
- ↑ "Search MARKs". Railinc. Retrieved July 2009.
- ↑ "World-class bikeway envisioned". Adirondack Daily Enterprise. June 3, 2011.
- ↑ Gove 2006, pp. 65–69
- ↑ Drury 1985, p. 14
References
- Drury, George H. (1985). The Historical Guide to North American Railroads. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing Company. ISBN 0-89024-072-8. LCCN 85080107.
- Gove, Bill (2006). Logging Railroads of the Adirondacks. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-0794-6. OCLC 61881113.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Adirondack Scenic Railroad. |
- Adirondack Scenic Railroad website
- History of the Railroad
- New York Railroads - History of the Adirondack Scenic Railroad
- Wikimapia - Saranac Lake to Lake Placid
- Wikimapia - Thendara to Utica
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