U&D/NYC Catskill Mt. Branch - South Kortright

Hi all,

While on one of my treks on the rails to trails portion of the U&D, I stumbled upon an interesting structure.

Just outside of the town of South Kortright, there is a half-overgrown wooden structure that looks to be a RR related structure. Upon closer inspection, I thought I could see the remains of an old platform and another possible structure. Perhaps it was an old freight house for the local farmers?

The structure is at the corner of the old U&D ROW and an access road used by farmers. This road leads to the corner of Bovina Center-South Kortright Rd. and Roses Brook Rd.. It and the structure can be easily seen on Google maps.

I would be very glad if someone could tell me exactly what the purpose of this old building was.

ReadingCrusader

ReadingCrusader,
I can't tell you exactly what the structure is without looking at it myself (and maybe not even then).
However, here is some additional information which may help you identify it.
The road used to be a public road called "Creamery Rd."
There was a 587' runaround with a 234' stub siding off of that on the north side of the main. North of the runaround and west of the road was a creamery. The stub siding was east of the road. It is likely that the west end of the creamery was an ice-house.
On the south side of the tracks there was also a section house.
The stub siding is listed on the valuation maps as being "ind'l track" meaning that it was privately owned by commercial interests (more likely agricultural than truly industrial). No structure is show associated with that track, but a privately owned structure would not necessarily be shown. It may have also been constructed after the map was made. In any event, some loading structure was likely associated with this track.
It is possible that the stub-track was used as a "team track" by the local farmers. They sometimes formed co-ops to build the creameries and may have added the stub track for their own use as a "co-op" effort also.
With this information, perhaps you can now identify this structure. If you do, please share with the rest of us.
Thanks,
Burr Hubbell

Burr,

Thank you for your detailed response and providing an insight into what the building's former use could have been!

Since you said that you needed to view the building to make a definite conclusion, I have attached a photo of the discussed structure that I took. The U&D ROW is the path that goes from left to right.

Enjoy!

ReadingCrusader

ReadingCrusader wrote:The U&D ROW is the path that goes from left to right.

Hmmmm ... looking at that picture, I'd say that the path goes from right to left.

RussNelson wrote:

ReadingCrusader wrote:The U&D ROW is the path that goes from left to right.

Hmmmm ... looking at that picture, I'd say that the path goes from right to left.

I wouldn't be suprised but what the path remains stationary while it is we who wander back and forth in confusion.