When I was young and used to come up from Massachusetts to visit relatives in the Schenectady area, there was a branch of the D&H --- a spur, really --- that extended about two miles, I would guess, from the yard near Alplaus to a junction with the NYC main near Scotia. It crossed Alplaus Road via a tiny underpass and extended across Freeman's Bridge Road, roughly paralleling the B&M about two-tenths of a mile to the south.
I've looked at it on old USGS topo maps and can't figure out what its purpose was except to function as a bypass that enabled trains to go from the D&H main in Alplaus to the NYC main in Scotia without having to go through the city. Did it serve any businesses? If memory serves, it was removed sometime in the late 1960s or early '70s. If it was just a bypass, why didn't the D&H keep it?
I've looked at it on old USGS topo maps and can't figure out what its purpose was except to function as a bypass that enabled trains to go from the D&H main in Alplaus to the NYC main in Scotia without having to go through the city. Did it serve any businesses? If memory serves, it was removed sometime in the late 1960s or early '70s. If it was just a bypass, why didn't the D&H keep it?