Cobleskill industries

How many sidings were in Cobleskill and what kind of industries? I know about the Agway siding and the Cobleskill stone products siding. Looks like an old grain elevator now occupied by an insurance company by the tracks across from Price Shopper plaza? Any other industries hidden around?

Up until probably the mid '80's there was alot of tracks in Cobleskill. KSI Industries/Klein Woodworking (Discussed earlier on this forum) had a track which went across MacArthur Ave right through where the Bridge Apartments now stand. Once the track got into KSI property it had 2 more tracks off of it there. On the opposite side of Agway, and slightly North/East was a track for the lumber yard there, I think it used to be Briggs. Just West of there, on the same side of the tracks was the branch connection for the Cherry Valley Branch, torn up by around the mid '50's (56?). There were several more sidings towards Cobleskill Coal, and there was an LPG (Amerigas?) on the South side of the tracks near the fairgrounds. If you walk the pedestrian overpass you can see how many more tracks used to be there, just by seeing how long that bridge is there. It's hard to believe it's been so long.

-- Mark

I never knew there was a cherry valley branch. Im sure the ROW is almost invisible by now.

Acutally, you can see it pretty good in a few places. And some staions survive.

BobLI wrote:I never knew there was a cherry valley branch. Im sure the ROW is almost invisible by now.

If you drive up Rte 10 from Cobleskill to Sharon Springs you can see the right of way a number of times. The Sharon Springs station is also in very good shape and easy to access.

Go to RTE 20 just East, I think, of Cherry Valley, and you'll see an old 2 span thru girder bridge. No tracks left or anything, but if you climb topside you can clearly see the old ROW from up there. If I am not mistaken, I believe that was built by NYS, and is one of the first girder bridges with horizontal ribs or something like that. I bet early spring, before the leaves grow in, would be a good time to check it out. If you go to Seward, at the intersection od RTE 165 and Slate Hill RD, there is an old Station on the North side of 165, and then south, there is a park that filled in what was left of the roadbed, formerly a sewer before the water system was put in in the mid to late 80's. South from there, down behind the highway department, you should still be able to find most of the ROW along the lake behind the HWY DEPT. If I remember, that roadbed leads to some old abutments. It may be private property now though. My Father once had a small hunting/summer place right there.

-- Mark

As an added note the Cherry Valley Fire Dept. is now housed in the former
D&H freighthouse. My uncle had a farm in Cherry Valley (Roseboom) and use to get supplies from the Montgomery Ward whse in Menands, NY and it would come in on the rear steps of the caboose. An RS -3 was used for any traffic back then, Shipway used to get Int'l Harvester equip. on flat cars from time to time. At one time Borden had a creamery in Cherry Valley but this was gone by the end of WW II. Everything was gone by the end of 1956.

Speaking of the warehouse in Menands NY, is that the huge building on broadway north of Albany south of Watervliet?

Next time in near Cherry Valley i'll have to check out the FD

Yes that tall building you are referring to is the old Montgomery Ward whse in Menands. Also, I haven't been in the area for 15 years or so, but at the bottm of Rt 20 hill going towards Leesville (and Sharon Springs) the
D&H crossed Rt 20 at a 45 degree angle. You could at that time still make out the ROW.

ladder2 wrote:Yes that tall building you are referring to is the old Montgomery Ward whse in Menands. Also, I haven't been in the area for 15 years or so, but at the bottm of Rt 20 hill going towards Leesville (and Sharon Springs) the
D&H crossed Rt 20 at a 45 degree angle. You could at that time still make out the ROW.

You have to get south of the school on Rte 10 now before you can see anything of the right of way. Too much new construction in the last 20 years has wiped it out.

A quick sightseers guide

The junction was right next to the Warnerville Cutoff grade crossing, in fact the branch used to duck under the cutoff road. The highway overpass was filled in in the 1980s while I was living out west. There's a NYS historic marker on Route 10 marking the spot.

Much of the ROW north of here was close to West Creek, and has been blown away by several flood events.

Tough to find the ROW at Hyndsville, but it can be done in the months with no foliage.

Station at Seward still stands, as noted previously. Has a big ugly garage door in it, but hey it's still there. Compare with the pic in Shaughnessy's book.

Just south of Sharon springs, the ROW pulls up alongside NY Route 10 for half a mile, maybe. Quite visible, even in summer.

Sharon Springs depot still stands, pretty good shape. Inside is still pretty much as built.

Note that the ROW crosses Route 20 TWICE, once just W of Sharon Springs, once around Cherry Valley on the overpass noted earlier. RR came into town from the northeast. One interesting note: this bridge was built at the very end of operations, probably hosted fewer than 20 round trips. Completion of the fancy rebuild of Rte 20 allowed truck transport of milk, which doomed the RR. I understand that the D&H objected strenuously to being forced to fund it, but was over ruled by the mighty DOT.

D&H had to contribute to the RTE 20 Rebuild, or just for the overpass itself?

As I understand it, D&H paid a portion of the cost of the bridge itself (I think I remember reading that it was about half). I can't see how they would have gotten tagged for any of the other road building costs. My bad for the ambiguous language in the orignal post.

BTW, in the early 90s a portion of the ROW actually came up for sale, as part of a large sale of farmland that surrounded the line on both sides. I seriously considered buying it, but couldn't cough up the money--I'd just paid to get my caboose moved, and was in the process of building a house.

If it had come on the market a year or two sooner, I probably would have bought it, built a house, and put the caboose on the ROW nearby.

I just thought it was just some sort of NYS Tax or something where railroads had to contribute to taxes for State Roads. I've always had interest in this branch, but there is very little information on it, or pictures.

I lived in Seward as a teenager and am very familiar with the old D&H right of way through town and going through to Cherry Valley. The old freight house was owned by my stepfather's relatives and was used for storage. We used to ride snowmobiles up and down the old right of way. The bridges were gone, but we usually could negotiate down through the bottom and back up the other side. I also used to hunt along the ROW as well. I worked on a relative's farm along Route 20 between Sharon and Cherry Valley while in high school and the right of way cut right through the middle of the farm. Makes me wonder if this is the farm that was being sold mentioned in a previous thread. I also remember when the Warnerville cutoff bridge over the right of way was removed and filled in. As a younger child I grew up in Richmondville and remember the double track line up over Richmondville Hill with 6 axle Alco's and rear end pushers. Conjurs up many fond memories from my youth!

Allegheny