Most recent NY trackage

As I read about some tracks being pulled up in NY in one of the threads recently, I began thinking about how hard it would be to install new trackage nowadays in NY. I don't think it is possible to connect two different cities with a rail line anymore due to all the private land ownership issues. Assuming there was a need for the route that wasn't already covered by other trackage, it would be hard to justify. It seems to me that, unlike highways which will probably exist once built until the end of time, railroads peaked in the 1940s and the trackage is slowly withering away. (Perhaps in another hundred years the same will happen with roads).

Situations that do not count:
1. New industrial tracks (ex: ethanol plants, the G&W salt mine tracks in Mt. Morris, etc) unless they are several miles long.
2. Restoring out-of-service tracks or building new tracks on existing ROWs (ex: Adirondack Scenic, Catskill Mountain RR, etc.)
3. Double tracking in areas where there was once only single trackage.
4. Commuter trackage/elevated lines/subway lines- unless they involved substantial emminent domain takings.

Does anyone know the more recent examples of new trackage built in New York State? Does it go back decades?

This is just a guess, but perhaps the Somerset Railroad out in Niagara County. It is 15 miles long which is a decent length for what you're looking for but parts of it are on reactivated ROW

joshuahouse wrote:This is just a guess, but perhaps the Somerset Railroad out in Niagara County. It is 15 miles long which is a decent length for what you're looking for but parts of it are on reactivated ROW

Most of was built new but about 1-2 miles of it in Lockport is former Erie ROW and another 3 miles of near Somerset are former Hojack ROW. The new sections were built in 1983.

However, I think FGLK's spur to Guardian Glass would qualify as the newest track under Benjamin's specs. As I recall, it's a couple miles long and was built in the late '90s.

How about the volunteer-built line between the New York Museum of Transportation (NYMT) and the Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad Museum (RGVRRM)? The line is just under two miles long and was completed in 1995. (I believe work began in the 70's at the NYMT end. The portion that heads north out of Industry began a little later.) The line was even added to Google Maps a few years ago!

Joe

Construction of the Rochester & Southern's spur to the Hampton Roads salt mine, circa 1998?

edit: whoops, I see that's excluded under the conditions of the original post. sorry!

Thanks guys. I don't mean to exclude stuff because I think it's unimportant. The museum trackage in Rush might count but it is only a couple of miles (though that is NOT to say that 2 miles is easy to build!) I am thinking of mainline trackage. The Somerset Railroad's tracks would probably be the winner.

Dover plains to Wassaic on Upper Harlem by MNCR.

Really the newest major piece of track I can think of other than the Somerset RR is the current CSX mainline from a point east of Canastota to a point just short of the Thruway overpass around MP 257 by the Turning Stone - the tracks were relocated out of Onieda, including a small yard at CP-266 and an all-new connection down to the former mainline and West Shore tracks (which are now all abandoned). That dates to about 1961. You might find some other relocations that are newer than that, but not too many.

What about the Oak Point Link in the Bronx. That was installed in 1996 and it is around 1+ miles in length. It is built on pilings in the Harlem River and connects the Hudson Line to Oak Point yard

Dutch, would you count Wassaic as new track? New service, for sure, but the old track was still there and just OOS, right?

What about a complete new yard plus connecting trackage?

I suppose if it didn't involve property that the railroad already owned being used. My original thought was that it is rare for the government to allow railroads to assume ownership of new property for the purpose of constructing a railline. A yard... maybe not. But a "connecting line" would depend on the length of the line as to whether it would meet my own original question.

How about the Brookhaven Rail Terminal in Yaphank? That's being built on a green field. Of course, it's not done yet, so I'm not sure it counts.

The NYS&W in Cortland has been up to some neat stuff in the past ten years or so. Rebuilt a portion of the DL&W Cincy branch (2-3 miles were in place) and another mile and half or more was relaid on right of way and some virgin ground! In the same vicinity, they laid a passing siding to the west of the Syracuse branch where there never was one and also put in a connecting track to the Cincy line making for a complete wye, again, on virigin ground. In town, a new customer siding was put in.

As for more new bits, the bridge project in Binghamton resulted in some new track/bridges.

The SD45

The new connector track at East Hall connecting the Southern Tier and Hudson Secondary track. Built by NYS&W late 1987/early 1988. Maybe 1000 feet long...