The Growth of Railroads in the Capital District

A chronological study on the growth of railroading in New York State’s Capital District told primarily through maps.
http://www.vizettes.com/kt/cd-rr-history/index.htm

Very well done! You might note somewhere that the Mohawk & Hudson originally had incline planes which required extensive relocation.

My apologies. I see that you mentioned that in the text.

"The West Shore Railroad was organized as a competitor to the New York Central and the Hudson River Railroad -- the first part of the line was built as the Saratoga and Hudson River Railroad which opened in the spring of 1866. It ran south from Albany to New York City and was built to the highest engineering standards (it even had lower grades than the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad). Antique maps indicate it continued up to Schenectady by 1866 as indicated."

Slight inaccuracy here. The Saratoga and Hudson River was built and operated between close to Schenectady and Athens (at the Hudson River), and not from Albany, and not to New York City. The New York, West Shore and Buffalo leased the S&HR from New York Central &HR, built the branch Ravena to Albany, and completed the line to Weehawken, NJ in 1882 or thereabouts.

Great job on the rest of it, though.

Nicely done. I love the format.

Thanks to all for the feedback!
[The 1868 S.A. Mitchell Jr. map of New York State on the David Rumsey site confirms the rail line stopped at Athens]
The page has been updated with Wayside's correction. It did seem strange that so much of the West Shrore was built so quickly and early on!

I love old maps, especially for areas I am familiar with in the present.

The West Shore pieced together some rights of way already established, such as the Jersey City and Albany (that never made it to Albany) on the lower end, and the S&HR on the North end.

The West Shore didn't compete with the NYC&HR for very long, as Vanderbilt ran an anticompetitive (prior to ICC) rate war that forced the property into bankruptcy, then picked it up in total for basiclly scrap value. Those were the "good old days," when anything went.

The Growth of Railroads in the Capital District
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https://www.vizettes.com/kt/rr/cd-rr-history/index.htm