Unfinished Railroads of New York State

Yeah, and it's got that silly Mr.Sid browser software. They should just georeference the map and then publish it using WMS.

In order to find the map, I had to first:
click on "Geographic Location"

Thanks, I've updated the unfinished-railroads page.

Saratoga and Sacketts Harbor RR. According to Dick Palmer, it was graded clear across Fulton and Herkimer Counties, and made it into Lewis County. Anybody know anything about this? It's on the 1854 McAlpine map of New York State.

UPDATE: no, he actually said it was NOT graded through the Adirondacks, but that it was graded in Lewis County. That makes more sense, since you can build a railroad faster by building from both ends.

My 1883 Report of the New York Rail Commissioners has a list of RR companies formed under the laws of the state of NY. It shows Sackett's Harbor and Saratoga as being formed in 1852, with remarks that it changed its name in 1857 to Lake Ontario and Hudson River. In 1857, it shows Lake Ontario and Hudson River then changed it's name to Adirondack Estate and Railroad Company in 1860. For that entry it says "probably merged into the Adirondack Railroad in 1868."

There's a whole page in Jim Schaughnessy's D&H book that talks about this progression of companies, which were bought by the Adirondack Company, which wanted the 250,000 acres the SH&S had purchased. It says "Beyond a few survey reports, prospectuses and a mile or so of disconnected grading in the middle of nowhere, the only tangible results were a torrent of fanciful oratory and indigestion from the innumerable banquets held for the purpose of discussing and promoting the project."

I just found out about the Chicago New York Electric Airline interurban line, begun in 1907. It was a straight shot, 90 mph, very flat run from Chicago to New York. Unfortunately, they got hit by a depression after building about twenty miles between Gary, Indiana and La Porte. Plus their construction standards were impossibly ambitious. You can still see the railbed, cuts, and fills, on the topo maps and aerial photos:
http://rutlandtrail.org/gmap.cgi?chicag ... e.in.track

No portion was built within New York State, but it WAS to have been in New York, and portions WERE BUILT, so it's possible to call it an Unfinished Railroad of New York. hehe. But I'm not gonna.

Kuyahoora Valley wrote: a mile or so of disconnected grading in the middle of nowhere,

Ja, it's that mile or so that I'm wanting to find. That's what will escalate the S&SH into Unfinished Railroad status. (why do I feel like the Pope, waiting for that miracle to be able to canonize a new saint?)

Aha! Thanks to Keith Maloney (one of four authors of Rails in the North Woods), I've located some bits and pieces of the Saratoga and Sackets Harbor. Some parts are obvious grades with cuts and fills marked in the topographic lines. Other parts are a bit more speculative on my part. I'll try to walk it this summer and see for sure. Web page updated: http://russnelson.com/unfinished-railroads.html .

More information on the Saratoga and Sackets Harbor and Ogdensburgh, Clayton and Rome. Plus a table of contents! With railroad names! In alphabetical order! Did you know the phone book is in alphabetical order, too? That's SOOOOOO useful!

I've now set a goal of having a picture of at least some bit of every unfinished railroad. I've added pictures for the BR&U, Dunderberg Spiral Railway, Fort Plains & Richfield Springs, Murdock Line, NYK&S, OC&R, and SH&S. If I don't have a photograph of a line near you, please consider taking a few snaps. Happy to give credit.

Here are all the unfinished railroads in New York State of which I'm aware: http://rutlandtrail.org/gmap.cgi?allunfinished

Oops, Chris Granger had to remind me of the would-be extension of the New York and Ottawa Railroad, which was called the Racquette River Railroad. It's right there in Kudish's Mountain Railroads of NYS Volume One, I don't know how I could have neglected it. I met up with ''steamer'' today near Tupper Lake and after we parted I went chasing the Racquette River Railroad remains. Got some photos:
http://russnelson.com/unfinished-railro ... erRailroad

The Skaneatlas & Jordon Railroad or Skaneatlas & Jordon Shortline Railroad Was to build from Skaneatlas Jct. to Jordon, NY but went bankrupt before work began. When the railroad reorganized it became what is or was known as the Skaneatlas Junction Shortline Railroad.

scharnhorst wrote:The Skaneatlas & Jordon Railroad or Skaneatlas & Jordon Shortline Railroad Was to build from Skaneatlas Jct. to Jordon, NY but went bankrupt before work began. When the railroad reorganized it became what is or was known as the Skaneatlas Junction Shortline Railroad.

Okay, but was any of it built? That's what I'm trying to keep track of -- linear pre-track railroad ruins.

RussNelson wrote:

scharnhorst wrote:The Skaneatlas & Jordon Railroad or Skaneatlas & Jordon Shortline Railroad Was to build from Skaneatlas Jct. to Jordon, NY but went bankrupt before work began. When the railroad reorganized it became what is or was known as the Skaneatlas Junction Shortline Railroad.

Okay, but was any of it built? That's what I'm trying to keep track of -- linear pre-track railroad ruins.

Well yes and no. It went as far as Skaneatlas Jct. before they went bankrupt. When the company reorganized they became the Skaneatlast Jct. Shortline Railroad and there for never crossed over the NYC to go to Jordon. I don't know know if they did any kind of surveying work to map out a route but it would have been interesting to see where they would have connected.

Did you know that the Rumsey St. bridge in Seneca Fall,NY was buildt by the town for the Pennsylvannia

and Sodus Bay RR. Do you have any information as to who was behind this railroad ?

News to me! Do you mean that the bridge was built for the railroad to travel over the Seneca Canal? Was it west of the current Veterans Bridge? This photo implies that the bridge went over the canal: http://cdm128401.cdmhost.com/cdm4/item_ ... OX=1&REC=7
So does this postcard:

Have you got the "Suffolk Traction" on Long Island? It ended up running battery cars on lines from Holtsville LIRR to the piers at Sayville and Patchogue, but also wanted to build an interurban from Holtsville LIRR to Port Jefferson Harbor. It started building from the last place and built a bridge over the LIRR Greenport branch at Port Jefferson LIRR, getting as far as Terryville. It never had any traffic over this northern section, but the LIRR used part of it for its spur to Port Jefferson Harbor.

There's a photo of the bridge at

http://www.lioddities.com/Trolleys/SuffolkTraction.htm

I wonder if the abutments, approach fills etc survive?