jmarino wrote:when was the track from the Kingston point to the Hudson cement plant in east Kingston installed ? and how many customers did it serve ?
I remember when it was opened, and I think it was 1957. Colonial Sand and Gravel (Generoso Pope) owned the cement plant then, and most of the traffic was inbound coal. When the New York Central built the track, they had to install a crossing of the narrow gauge railroad of Hutton Brick Company. I was told that NYC had an agreement with Hutton to pay some outrageous fee if they blocked the crossing and held up the clay train for more than a few minutes at a time.
I think Colonial was the only customer on the track. What was then known as the "U&D Yard Engine" handled the operation, and a large part of the local business in Kingston, out to the O&W yard at Fair Street and everything in Rondout.
I made one trip down the hill from Kingston and up to the cement mill with the U&D Yard crew in the summer of 1959. About a week or two before they had had a runaway on the hill with about 20 loads of coal and engine 8320. Everyone jumped except the engineer, Jack Koltz, who rode it out to a hard stop against a cut of cars at Kingston Point. I was told that the speed recorder reached 50 mph during that trip.
The usual move had the engine in the lead going down the hill to Kingston Point, and the shoving the loads up the hill to the plant. They ran around the empties at Rondout and pulled them up the hill.
- Gordon Davids