West Shore Railroad information

Hi, Hit the jackpot today. Went to Montgomery County historical archives. Found out much info on great uncle and questions I had. My great uncle was a section gang worker stationed in Randall. He was called "Old Nick" by locals and railroad men. The station was destroyed in a big flood in 1943 and torn down. This explains why my cousin Rena never saw the station but the water well behind the station when she visited Nick. The flood destroyed most all the buildings there and Nick gathered the remains and built himself another new home( shack) to live in. He had gardens, and sheds from remains of buildings. This is in a local book that the archives have. No longer in print but have a photo of this section where they mention him. Going to get in touch with Root historian as suggested and see what info he might have. Am going to buy the John Ham book West Shore railroad book. Photos of station and building in there. Still missing family data spotty at best but got some leads on this. On a side note I have my grandfathers pocket watch he used on the railroad. Not a certified one as told but his he used when an employee. Thanks .

Hi, On thinking of solving the way my great Uncle rode the train from Randall. I agree with the above poster that it would be difficult to get to the Union Station in Schenectady back then. I lived right by the Carmen cutoff on Chrysler Ave. and now live on the other end right by the Army depot. In thinking about this someone thought there was a station in South Schenectady. I do know there was an engineers hotel right in South Schenectady that is still there right by the tracks. My father would point it out to me as a child when we were train watching many years ago. Could this building have also been a depot of sorts for employees only for them?

I drove over to this spot today. The hotel is on the corner of Old Mariaville Rd. and Keller Ave. Interesting if you look on a google map this Hotel (possibly station) is right on top of the wye tracks that connect to the old West Shore and the D&H tracks that lead into G.E and end up at Union Station in Schenectady. Old Mariaville rd was cut off many years ago I assume a level crossing back then. Now the rd is cut off on each end. I also looked over the notes i took at the Montgomery historical archives and a book stated that a big flood took out all the building in Randall in 1943 and the West shore removed one of the main track thru there.

Hi, I was lucky to meet with an author of many books we buy. He called a friend with the possibilities of Old Nick riding the train into Schenectady. Possibilities would be from Randall to Fultonville, walk across the river to catch the train into Schenectady. the other possibilities would have been to ride the train to Fullers in Guilderland , then transfer to the branch line at Fullers to Carmen's store in Rotterdam then on the line into Schenectady. My understanding is the time tables he has would support this route. My friend did not think he could have come into South Schenectady and hop on a D&H train from the wye to Union station. Chances are the D&H would not allow this. He did this up until about 1950ish. As he got sick and my cousins family moved him to Schenectady where he died in 1952. The above photo of Randall and the hay barn is where Old Nick made his home. He repurposed the wrecked building from the 1943 flood to make a better home right by the tracks. Reached out to a local historian near Randall and he is researching any info or photos of Nick and his home in Randall. Thanks.

Glad to hear you are making some progress. Do not give up, sometimes things come to light years, decades or even a century later. A few years back someone posted on Facebook the first (and so far only) known pic of a railroad facility in Rochester, which ceased operation in 1910. You are covering a lot of bases on this and you hopefully will find more.