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  • Central Valley Railroad

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

 #802148  by chen1234
 
I found this website about a month ago, it's actually pretty interesting!

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyche ... s/cvrr.htm

I know it didn't last long very long or go that many places, but it was most likely the first narrow guage RR in the US, so it does bear some level of importance as far as I'm concerned. Does anyone here know more about it? Do any photos or maps exist? I know there is no trace of the old ROW (at least that I could find) left.

It's too bad they only stopped in Smithville Flats. If they could have extended it further and kept it alive for a few more years they could have linked up with the Erie & Central New York RR in Cincinattus and had a link to Cortland.
 #803325  by JoeCollege
 
I believe this line also served one of the first refrigerated warehouses in the US, there's some sort of historical marker along CR 2 indicating something along those lines. Been a number of years since I've been out that way.
 #803888  by RussNelson
 
chen1234 wrote:Do any photos or maps exist? I know there is no trace of the old ROW (at least that I could find) left.
Mmmmm, not quite true. I found a few traces of it on the ground. There's a cut on both sides of the road that goes down to Lake Petonia, and north of there are a few treelines in fields. It corsses a couple of creeks. A bit of looking there might get you something.

The historical marker reads:
STONE RUIN
East of this spot believed to be the first refrigeration plant in United States
1875-1900

Here's the route of the railroad, as best I've been able to determine it. Dick Palmer wrote a book on the Central Valley Railroad, and included my map in his book. http://rutlandtrail.org/gmap.cgi?centra ... y.ny.track
 #804299  by chen1234
 
RussNelson wrote:
chen1234 wrote:Do any photos or maps exist? I know there is no trace of the old ROW (at least that I could find) left.
Mmmmm, not quite true. I found a few traces of it on the ground. There's a cut on both sides of the road that goes down to Lake Petonia, and north of there are a few treelines in fields. It corsses a couple of creeks. A bit of looking there might get you something.

The historical marker reads:
STONE RUIN
East of this spot believed to be the first refrigeration plant in United States
1875-1900

Here's the route of the railroad, as best I've been able to determine it. Dick Palmer wrote a book on the Central Valley Railroad, and included my map in his book. http://rutlandtrail.org/gmap.cgi?centra ... y.ny.track
I've known about that old plant forever. Have you ever read any of the books by Roy Gallinger? He wrote quite a few stories about the history of Chenango County (including one about how the first frozen turkey ever served at the White House came from there). I guess it would make sense that the railroad passed by the facility. After that initial post I received some further info via PM and discovered that a Trestle once passed over Echo Lake Road. The remains of the foundation & abutments are still said to be there, but as of yet I haven't had time to confirm this.
Do you know where I can get a copy of Mr. Palmer's book?
Great map by the way! I had a hunch that the large grove of trees near the old DL&W line just below Lower Genny (on the west bank of the river after it crosses the bridge) may have been the junction point, but I wasn't sure.
 #804309  by Cactus Jack
 
Palmers book is available from the Chenango County Museum in Norwich, NY

http://www.chenango.history.museum/

The "junction" or interface between the 3ft gage CV and the DL&W was just south of the DL&W Stillwater River Bridge by the Geneganstlet Golf Course - north of Chenango Forks on the east side of Route 12 north of Binghamton. The CV RR had a station there.
 #820303  by scottychaos
 
Central Valley Railroad
3-foot narrow gauge Central Valley Railroad (1872-1875) that ran from just south of Greene to just short of the village of Smithville Flats.
Believed to be the first narrow gauge railroad in the United States.
nope..
probably Fourth narrow gauge railroad in the United States:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrow_gau ... ted_States

Scot
 #820390  by lvrr325
 
CV's loco and cars went to the Bath & Hammondsport, but they went standard gauge after a year. Where did they go after that? Surely somewhere there's a photo of the loco on some railroad, I would think being only 4, 5 years old it still had secondhand value at that point.
 #820406  by chen1234
 
lvrr325 wrote:CV's loco and cars went to the Bath & Hammondsport, but they went standard gauge after a year. Where did they go after that? Surely somewhere there's a photo of the loco on some railroad, I would think being only 4, 5 years old it still had secondhand value at that point.
The Smithville Historical Society is currently renovating an old gas station in Smithville Flats (the old north terminus of CVRR), perhaps when they open they'll have a few pictures! :-D
 #1498535  by Richard1
 
I posted those notes on the Central Valley Railroad and have written a book about it. $10 plus $4 for postage to Richard Palmer, 224 Arnold Ave., Syracuse, NY 13210. It included a map and images. The railroad never reached the hamlet of Smithville Flats but stopped out in the country about a half mile from town so the gas station that is (or was) in town was certainly not the depot.