Jersey Field Lumber Company's railroad service

Kuyahoora Valley wrote:Lucinda parker's book "Into Salisbury County" has a lot of information about Irondale, Jerseyfield Lumber and the LF&D. It states that locomotive #3 was purchased from NYC&HR in 1910 and sold on August 16, 1916 to General Equipment company who on the same day sold it to the Pittsburg and Shawmut RR and renumbered P&S 101.

I've seen three engine rosters for this company and each one is different. The only constant is that these were all Shays. What's for sure is there were three engines and that they were numbered 1, 2 and 6. According to Gove's Logging Railroad book, Number 1 was purchased new, Number 2 came from the Goodyear Lumber Co. and the Number 6 came from The Kentucky & Tennessee R.R. as their former Number 2. In my research, I've seen that all the equipment came from other logging operations as well as the rail. The plan of Goodyear was to rip up the Jerseyfield and then move on to the next operation. Gove's roster said all three engines went to The Emporium Forestry Co. in 1930. Two of them went there for sure. I'll check my notes for which ones.

Gino

Kuyahoora Valley wrote:The covered brisge is a road and you can still drive on it. Looking at a map in Parkers book it appears the RR was to the east of Spruce Creek but definitely crossed Black Creek to the north.

http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/way/173551397 is the railroad bridge, which kinda might be covered. To the east of it, also crossing Spruce Creek, is a covered bridge for Fairview Road: http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/way/181035602

Aye, but how far past Black Creek did it go? Parker is the only source saying that it went past Black Creek. That was one heck of a slope getting down to Black Creek from the south, even for a Shay. Kudish says it didn't go past Black Creek. Then again, he makes it pretty clear that he didn't do any field work.

I'm interested in modeling the entire Little Falls and Dolgeville line including the spurs to Irondale and Jerseyfield Lake. Unfortunately I don't have any further info than what is found in Parker's two books on LF&DRR. However, while surfing the net today I found there is a book entitled Logging Railroads of the Adirondacks by Bill Gove. On the Barnes & Noble website, you can read a snippet of the book, and there is a section on the Jerseyfield Lumber Company Railroad. Here's the link:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/logging ... 1101024858

I may just mosey over to Barnes & Noble to see if this is worth a buy!

Here's some more info on the Jerseyfield railroad.

In 1839, a bed of magnetic oxide was discovered north of Salisbury Center. Within a few decades, magnetic
ore was extracted there and shipped to Port Leyden for smelting, since there were no iron-processing facilities
nearby. During the first years of the twentieth century, Captain William H. Switzer organized the Salisbury
Iron and Steel Company, incorporating the company with a million dollars’ capital. A mile long railroad was
built from the northwest to bring the ore to processing facilities in Irondale, on Irondale Road north of
Salisbury Center. In 1909, the railroad went into full scale operation with the completion of a spur
connecting Irondale and Salisbury Center to the Dolgeville and Little Falls Railroad.
The Jerseyfield Lumber Company soon extended the railroad from Salisbury Center north through a small
crossroads known as Curtis. With no waterways or highways to transport logs to the market, extending the
railroad was the least expensive way to reach the rich forests to the north. The railroad headed northeast
toward Trammel Creek, then northwest toward the present Jerseyfield Road. Branches headed west from
here as well as northeast along the upper reaches of Trammel and Black Creeks.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/lands_forest ... rosec2.pdf

Wow,

I'm excited for the dude who is going to model the whole LF&D, as well as the Jerseyfield extension. Just to make clear, here are some common misconceptions on the Jerseyfield Lumber Railroad Company.

All this information is a precursor to the book I am currently writing on this neat, little lumber line...

The Jerseyfield Railroad did not reach Jerseyfield Lake and the ROW is not the current Jerseyfield Road. The railroad reached as far as Black Creek, 2.5 miles south of Jerseyfield Lake.
There is not a wreck of an engine in the woods, but a Barnhart/Marion-Model 10 Log Loader. It was used on flatcars and moved along them to load the logs.
The railroad was only in operation from 1914 to 1919. They didn't exhaust their timber supply, other factors led to a shutdown.
The Jerseyfield Company went bankrupt in 1926.
The West Virginia Paper and Pulp purchased the property in 1926 and harvested logs until 1946.
The railroad was used by a superintendant of the WVP&P to oversee the land. He used a gasoline rail car.
The railroad was never scrapped, nature and people reclaimed it!
The map that is closest to showing the route of this railroad is the USGS Survey from 1945. There were also other spurs built to reach other pockets of timber and they are not on the map.

I visited this area last week and talked to people who grew up along this line and have hunted the state land for years. I have most answers to the questions people have on the operation and the businesses it served which will all be in my book!

Gino

OK, finally found my pics from my second (and last) trip to the Jerseyfield Railroad from back in 2006. I've uploaded the good ones to my album. No snow this time but boy was it raining!

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/archiv ... x?id=10249

Great photos Matt!!!!! This proves it once and for all. That is their Marion Loader for sure. I can't believe the condition of it. At least the condition of her in 2006. Go to this link and see a restored Marion Log Loader #10. Supposedly the last remaining in the US! http://www.flickriver.com/photos/cooks_ ... 165120695/

All the pieces are there, minus the crane and the wood for the log loader's cab. I've really got to find that sucker!!!

Thanks again for posting...

Gino

I wanted to mention that your photo of the under-carriage is great. You can see the pivot-base of the cab and it's looks like it would still work. We better hope no one sees your photos of her on Railpicture Archives, because they'll want to take it and restore it! I wonder if the flat car that it sat upon was pulled away or if it derailed. Any signs of a flat car out there? I told the hunters I met up in Jerseyfield that what was in the woods was a log loader. They were convinced it was a steam engine. I said it ran on steam, but not a steam engine. Somewhere east of there I was told there is the wreck of several flatcars, wheels included, but it's a hike across a swamp!

I went up there this past Friday to explore and it was pouring. The forest reminded me of the one Rambo hid in in First Blood. Wow, it really is the wilderness!!!!

You could have told me that this photo was the remains of Skylab and I would have believed you!

Gino

Parts of the flatcar are there. It appears that it overturned and the wheels and trucks were salvaged and the rest left behind. There are two rails (presumably for the log loader to ride on atop the flat) overturned with upside down couplers on each end. I'm assuming there was a wood body in between. It's an interesting archaeological site. I never did find the other site with the derailed flats.

Here's a copy of the topo map for Salisbury that starts right at the wye for the Irondale and Jerseyfield branches and the mainline to Dolgeville. You can trace it all the way up to Black Creek where it ends at Jerseyfield road, not Jerseyfield Lake as Parker's book erroneously shows. It shows a branch and two switchbacks which I'm going to model. You can also trace the Dolgeville line back to Little Falls. This was really helpful for me because it shows the track layout at the Dolgeville freight house and Dairy Producers Coop. It actually shows three tracks there. I grew up in the area and the freight house and coop are still there and I couldn't figure out how they were on the same track. It also shows spurs to what is now North Hudson Woodcraft and the Tricot Factory on the south side of town.

I've already been through your website several times Gino and enjoyed it greatly. Looking forward to your new book. Right now my plan includes NYC's Gulf Curve, the climb of LF&DRR out of the cliffs of Little Falls, John Pierce Stone Company, Ransom Creek Trestle, Tricot Manufacturing, Silvernail Coal, Producers Coop, the Dolgeville freight and passenger stations, Salisbury Steel and Iron, Brooklyn Cooperage Co., and the logging branch into the Jerseyfield Tract. I've got a 12' x 20' to a accomplish it in, and will be picking up my first locomotive, a 2-6-0 Alco for the Dolgeville branch shortly.

graystork wrote:Here's a copy of the topo map for Salisbury that starts right at the wye for the Irondale and Jerseyfield branches and the mainline to Dolgeville. You can trace it all the way up to Black Creek where it ends at Jerseyfield road, not Jerseyfield Lake as Parker's book erroneously shows. It shows a branch and two switchbacks which I'm going to model. You can also trace the Dolgeville line back to Little Falls. This was really helpful for me because it shows the track layout at the Dolgeville freight house and Dairy Producers Coop. It actually shows three tracks there. I grew up in the area and the freight house and coop are still there and I couldn't figure out how they were on the same track. It also shows spurs to what is now North Hudson Woodcraft and the Tricot Factory on the south side of town.

I've already been through your website several times Gino and enjoyed it greatly. Looking forward to your new book. Right now my plan includes NYC's Gulf Curve, the climb of LF&DRR out of the cliffs of Little Falls, John Pierce Stone Company, Ransom Creek Trestle, Tricot Manufacturing, Silvernail Coal, Producers Coop, the Dolgeville freight and passenger stations, Salisbury Steel and Iron, Brooklyn Cooperage Co., and the logging branch into the Jerseyfield Tract. I've got a 12' x 20' to a accomplish it in, and will be picking up my first locomotive, a 2-6-0 Alco for the Dolgeville branch shortly.

The layout sounds Great!!! Are you doing it in N, or HO?
I didn't see the topo map you said you posted! Have you walked the Jerseyfield right-of-way? I'm guessing that the route that the line climbs out of Curtis is the local snowmobile club's trail? And if so, there's a posted sign there?

Gino

Sorry I forgot the topo map. Here it is.

http://www.trails.com/topo.aspx?lat=43. ... tyle=drgsr

I haven't walked the Jerseyfield line at all. I have walked the LF&D where it climbs out of the Valley and the portions that run through Dolgeville. I was actually able to piece together the ROW from Little Falls to Dolgeville and Dolgeville to Salisbury Center using Google earth. You can also make out the branch to Irondale. The Jerseyfield branch though is just about impossible to see, except for where it ends up by where the Jerseryfield Road crosses the Black River. A lot of old friends of mine have been over it since it's now a snowmobile trail. There used to be a snowmobile club called the Salisbury RidgeRunners. They could probably provide you with a lot of info.

The map was a big find for me though. It shows a branch on the Jerseyfield and two switchbacks out by the Klondike Reservoir.

Yes, that is a great map! There are spurs that are not shown, since they were temporary. I was told that there was a spur on Weaver Hill and that there is 'rail road junk' remaining there.

Gino

I am new to this forum and have a lifetime addiction to railroads and the like. I grew up in the Dolgeville area and have trekked most of the roadbed over the years. Also, have a hunting camp in the Jerseyfield area although on the other side of Jerseyfield road(west) from the old logging r.r.. I have been to the switchback. I also have copies of the last 8mm color movies of the last runs of the LF&D branch of the NYC in 1964 taken by Bob Flagler of Utica taken from the locomotive!

Welcome to the discussion Manheim. Although not on the USGS maps, there was a spur (or two) that ran across Jerseyfield Road to the West. I was told by some locals on Jerseyfield Road and thought maybe they were confusing the logging roads that are up in the area. I was wrong and right.

There are some logging roads to the West of Jerseyfield Road up near the end of track. I do hope to map it in the Spring and will share it with the group. After the Jerseyfield railroad began to deteriorate, a tractor built by the Linn Tractor Company was used to pull wagons full of logs down the mountain to the Wye at Salisbury. The Linn Tractor company of Morris, NY produced half-track tractors, perfect for this operation from 1916 to the 1950's. Giant and I mean giant piles of logs were stacked to be loaded on The LF&D to be sent to mills of The West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company and their plant in Mechanicville, NY. There were other destinations, but this was the main receiver of the wood.

Lumberjacks from Johnson and Son were hired to cut and haul this wood out of the forest. Johnson also cut wood in the Western Adirondacks near Old Forge and Newton Falls. Water was the best choice of transport, but in the Jerseyfield's case, no navigable water existed. (A Canal was discussed) So early in the 1900's, no tractor was invented yet powerful enough to pull the logs. The Linn's main route down the Mountain was Jerseyfield Road. A truck would travel the road an ice it (Yes, ice it) which provided a smooth flangeway for the wagons used to haul the wood. The wheels on the Linn Tractor had spikes for easy traction down the hill. Momentum was very important in bringing the logs down.

(Just a little more info to add to the history I've provided already!)