Mooers Branch

[Cactus Jack]

I am s till confused about this line.

Was this built as the Plattsburgh & Montreal or some such which was a Rutland backed line ? Or ?

Mapping I have from 1901 shows the line fom Mooers Jct. south as the D&H and north as the Grand Trunk.

Can someone shed some clarification on this as to who built it and why, how it was operated, why it was GT or why GT was there in the first place since they also connected at Rouses Point and how long any of it lasted. I have one source that indicates it still existed in the 1950's and another that states it was gone about 1925.

Thanks for any help.

[umtrr-author]

Without checking any reference materials (the first place I'd go is Jim Shaughnessey's book) I believe that the Mooers Branch was the original routing of the D&H, with the Rouses Point line being built later. Once the Rouses Point route was in place the line via Mooers was downgraded.

[Engineer Spike]

D&H owned a line into Canada, which ran north out of Mooers. Rouses Point later became a hub, with CN, CV, and Rutland. In the early 20th. century the NJ was built to Delson. The line north of Mooers was sold to CN. The junction is readily visible, just north of West Chazy. There are stone abutments for a short bridge on the branch, just north of the junction.

[ChiefTroll]

What became the Mooers Branch was the first railroad in Plattsburgh, the Plattsurgh and Montreal. It was organized and built by Plattsburgh interests, and opened from Plattsburgh to the International Border north of Mooers Jct. on September 20, 1852. Two Canadian roads were to connect at the border - the Lake St. Louis and Province Line and the Montreal and Lachine.

The P&M had planned to integrate its operation with the Canadians, but that did not work out. The P&M passed into the hands of a receiver, Moss Kent Platt, in February, 1877, where it remained until the summer of 1868, when it was reorganized as the Montreal and Plattsburgh Rail Road.

Meanwhile, south of Plattsburgh, the Whitehall and Plattsburgh Railroad had completed two segments. The first, from Rogers, near Ausable Forks, to Plattsburgh in 1868 became the second railroad into Plattsburgh. The segment from Addison, near Fort Ticonderoga, to Port Henry was completed in 1870. An inland connection was planned but never built.

Both railroads fell into the hands of Vermonters with the various lines including the Rutland, the Vermont Central, and the Ogdesburgh and Lake Champlain.

The New York and Canada Railroad was organized by The D&H Co. in 1872. It eventually built two connections - Whitehall to Addison, and Port Henry to Plattsburgh. The NY&C acquired the M&P and the W&P to form a through line from Whitehall to Mooers Jct. and the Canadian border which opened on November 29, 1875. The NY&C ran on the O&LC to reach the Grand Trunk at Rouses Point. The present line from Canada Jct. north of West Chazy to Rouses Point was opened on November 27, 1876, leaving the line to Mooers as the Mooers Branch.

The valuation map shows that the Mooers Branch was sold in its entirety in 1925, and railroad service ended.

An interesting artifact of the M&P and W&P was the operation of local passenger service between Plattsburgh, Ausable Forks and Mooers along both branches. The train left Plattsburgh in the morning, ran to Ausable Forks, then back north through Plattsburgh to Mooers Jct, then south to Ausable Forks, and returned to terminate in Plattsburgh.

Canada Jct, the south end of the Mooers Branch, is at Milepost A-177.2, just north of former MB Cabin, named for the Mooers Branch.

[Cactus Jack]

Thank you Chief Troll !

That makes it all a bit clearer and understandable. I suspect the line was built to Mooers in order to provide the quickest connection to the O&LC account of existing traffic patterns rather than to Rouses Point ?

[ChiefTroll]

I think the business objectives of the builders of the Plattsburgh and Montreal are lost in the mists of time. One can surmise, however, that the Canadian interests building the two roads south to the border through Hemmingford might have influenced the P&M to connect with them north of Mooers, rather than with the Grand Trunk at Rouses Point. The distance from Canada Jct to the border is almost equal on both routes.

[umtrr-author]

...An interesting artifact of the M&P and W&P was the operation of local passenger service between Plattsburgh, Ausable Forks and Mooers along both branches. The train left Plattsburgh in the morning, ran to Ausable Forks, then back north through Plattsburgh to Mooers Jct, then south to Ausable Forks, and returned to terminate in Plattsburgh...

Now that really IS interesting... I'm going to have to see if I have any collaterals old enough to show that service.

[Engineer Spike]

Didn't the D&H control a line into Canada? It was sold a the Rouses Point became the major northern terminal.

The NJ was built in the early 20th. century. Did D&H construct it?