Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge
All railroad operating property of the Castleton Improvement and Selkirk Yard was built and owned by The Hudson River Connecting Railroad Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the New York Central Railroad Company. The Boston and Albany Railroad Company had no ownership interest in any of it, although the line from Post Road to SS-SM (exclusive) was operated and maintained by the B&A when it was a separate corporation leased to the NYCRR Co. Some of the land not used for railroad operating purposes was held by New York State Realty and Terminal Company, another NYCRR subsidiary.
Signal Station SM was the junction between the lines from Post Road and from Stuyvesant (SS-90 on the Hudson Division). The Mohawk Division had operating jurisdiction over the HRCRR from SM (inclusive) through Selkirk Yard to Unionville, the west end of the HRCRR and the junction with the original West Shore Main Line to Frankfort and Buffalo.
The HRCRR was leased to the NYCRR Co. In 1924 for a fixed rental of 6% of the value of the outstanding stock, so essentially the NYCRR was paying itself. The rental was not dependent on traffic operated on the line. That rental changed over the years, but remained independent of traffic.
The creation of subsidiary corporations for construction of improvements was common in the railroad industry. One purpose was to segregate bonded indebtedness on the improvements from the overall bonded debt of the parent company.
So,
> Was this bridge considered part of the B&A or the NYC proper?
- The Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge was owned by the HRCRR and operated and maintained by the NYCRR Co.
> A few maps I've seen suggests that the eastern part of the Castleton Cutoff was officially B&A, ending directly over the Hudson River.
- The B&A operation, but not ownership, ended at the eastern limit of SS-SM.
> So really, who "owned" the cutoff?
- The Castleton Cutoff and associated improvements were owned by the New York Central Railroad Company, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, The Hudson River Connecting Railroad Company.
By searching the property tax records of the Town of Schodack, Rensselaer County, it appears that the ownership of the property of the Hudson River Connecting Railroad Company has been assumed by CSX Transportation through its subsidiary New York Central Lines LLC. That entity was created by CSXT to facilitate transfer of its share of former Conrail property in 1999.
- Gordon Davids
