Overview | |
---|---|
Headquarters | Old Forge, New York |
Reporting mark | ADIR |
Locale | New York |
Dates of operation | 1979–1981 |
Successor | Adirondack Scenic Railroad |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
Length | 118 miles (190 km) |
The Adirondack Railway( reporting mark ADIR) was a short-lived tourist railroad which operated in northeastern New York. The company was founded in 1976 to operate a disused railway line owned by New York State since 1974. It operated trains between 1979 and 1981, including from Utica to Lake Placid, New York, for the 1980 Winter Olympics, before multiple derailments led to the end of service. The route is now operated by the Adirondack Railroad from Utica to Thendara and Big Moose, New York, which will extend service to Tupper Lake by 2022 after New York State completes track renovation northeast from Big Moose: scheduled for November, 2021. [1]
The company's route ran from Utica, New York, northeast to Lake Placid. This route was originally opened by the Mohawk and Malone Railway, a predecessor of the New York Central Railroad, in 1892. [2] The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad purchased the line in 1894, and it was merged into the New York Central Railroad in 1913. The NYC maintained it as its Adirondack Division, with passenger service terminated on April 24, 1965. In 1972 the Penn Central Transportation Company, successor to the New York Central, discontinued its remaining freight operations between Remsen, New York, and Lake Placid. New York State purchased the line in 1974. [3]
The Adirondack Railway was incorporated in 1976 to rehabilitate and operate passenger services on the line. Conrail, successor to Penn Central, still owned the Remsen–Utica portion but permitted the Adirondack to operate trains over it. [4] The company spent $2.5 million rebuilding the section north of Remsen. [3] Service began on October 9, 1979. [4] In Utica the company used Union Station, with connections available to Amtrak's Empire Corridor services. [5] The journey from Utica to Lake Placid required over five hours, with the maximum speed often 30 miles per hour (48 km/h). [6] [7] However, this was significantly hampered by no fewer than seven derailments. Service ended in August 1980, briefly resumed in September, and ended for good in February 1981. [4]
The Adirondack Railway owned four diesel locomotives and 21 passenger cars. [4] The passenger cars were steam heated and included coaches, a parlor car, a dining car, and a club car. [6]
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midwest, along with the intermediate cities of Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Rochester and Syracuse. New York Central was headquartered in New York City's New York Central Building, adjacent to its largest station, Grand Central Terminal.
The Empire Service is an inter-city rail service operated by Amtrak within the state of New York in the United States. The brand name originated with the New York Central Railroad in 1967. Trains on the line provide frequent daily service along the 460-mile (740 km) Empire Corridor between New York City and Niagara Falls via Albany, the state capital.
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The Adirondack is a daily intercity passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Montreal. The scenic route follows the Empire Corridor through the Hudson Valley with major stops in Yonkers, Poughkeepsie, Albany–Rensselaer, and Schenectady. North of Saratoga Springs the route runs between the Adirondack Mountains and Lake Champlain until crossing the Canada–U.S. border at Rouses Point. Trains take approximately 11 hours to travel the 381-mile (613 km) route.
The Cardinal is a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York Penn Station and Chicago Union Station via Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Charlottesville, Charleston, Huntington, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis. Along with the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited, it is one of three trains linking the Northeast and Chicago. Its 1,146-mile (1,844 km) trip between New York and Chicago takes 281⁄4 hours.
The Vermonter is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between St. Albans, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., via New York City. It replaced the overnight Montrealer, which terminated in Montreal until 1995. Amtrak receives funding from the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont for Vermonter operations north of New Haven.
The Empire Corridor is a 461-mile (742 km) passenger rail corridor in New York State running between Penn Station in New York City and Niagara Falls, New York. Major cities on the route include Poughkeepsie, Albany, Schenectady, Amsterdam, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo. Much of the corridor was once part of the New York Central Railroad's main line.
The Michigan Central Railroad was originally chartered in 1832 to establish rail service between Detroit, Michigan, and St. Joseph, Michigan. The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in the United States and the province of Ontario in Canada. After about 1867 the railroad was controlled by the New York Central Railroad, which later became part of Penn Central and then Conrail. After the 1998 Conrail breakup, Norfolk Southern Railway now owns much of the former Michigan Central trackage.
The Adirondack Railroad is a heritage railway serving the Adirondack Park that operates over former New York Central Railroad trackage between Utica and Tupper Lake. The railroad is operated by the not-for-profit Adirondack Railroad Preservation Society, with train crews composed largely of volunteers.
The Boehlert Transportation Center at Union Station is a train station served by Amtrak and the Adirondack Railroad in Utica, New York. It is owned by Oneida County, and named for retired U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert.
Lake Clear is a hamlet and a lake in Franklin County, New York, United States. The area is named for 940-acre (3.8 km2) Lake Clear, part of the original Seven Carries canoe route. It is located in the town of Harrietstown.
The Mohawk and Malone Railway was a railroad that ran from the New York Central Railroad's main line at Herkimer north to Malone, crossing the northern Adirondacks at Tupper Lake Junction, just north of Tupper Lake. The road's founder, Dr. William Seward Webb, was president of the Wagner Palace Car Company and a Vanderbilt in-law. He began by purchasing the 3 ft narrow gauge Herkimer, Newport and Poland Railway, which ran 16 miles (26 km) from Herkimer to Poland, converting its trackage to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge, and straightening it to avoid multiple crossings of the West Canada Creek. He then had track built from Tupper Lake to Moira and thence to Malone. A separate company, the St. Lawrence and Adirondack Railway, completed the line to Montreal, Quebec.
Thendara station is the Adirondack Scenic Railroad's longest-duration northern terminus, and is near Thendara, New York. It is served by trains heading south to Utica beginning around the month of May each year. Trains continue along the 57-mile route along the Moose River in Adirondack Park. In the Winter, the right-of-way is used as a major snowmobile trail in the area after trains stop running in October. The resort village of Old Forge is 1.9 miles northeast of Thendara.
Saranac Lake Union Depot is a former New York Central Railroad station in Saranac Lake, New York. It was built in 1904 by the Delaware and Hudson Railway. In its heyday, the station served several daily trains going north to Malone, New York, on to Montreal, Quebec, and south to Utica, New York and Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Passenger coaches went direct from New York City to Saranac Lake until late 1952 or early 1953. Direct sleeping cars from trains such as North Star and then Iroquois continued as late as 1964 to the station. Tourist trains were operated on the 8-mile sector between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid by the Adirondack Railroad between 2000 and 2016. The tracks were removed in 2022 to enable construction of a rail-trail between Lake Placid and Tupper Lake, to be completed in 2024.
The Lake Placid Station is a former railroad station, built by the Delaware and Hudson Railway in Lake Placid, New York.
The Saratoga and North Creek Railway was a heritage railway that began operation in July 2011. Passenger operations ceased on April 7, 2018, and the final revenue freight train to remove stored tank cars operated in May 2018. The railroad ran in the upper Hudson River region of the Adirondack Mountains, in the U.S. state of New York.
The Montrealer was an overnight passenger train between Washington, D.C., United States, and Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The train was operated from 1924 to 1966, and again under Amtrak from 1972 to 1995, excepting two years in the 1980s. The train was discontinued in 1995 and replaced by the Vermonter, which provides daytime service as far north as St. Albans, Vermont. Current Amtrak service to Montreal is provided by the daytime Adirondack from New York City via Albany.
The Mohawk, Adirondack and Northern Railroad (MA&N) is a class III railroad operating in Central and Northern New York. Specifically, it serves Oneida, Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties. It operates over trackage of the former New York Central Railroad.
Remsen station is an historic train station in Remsen, New York. It serves as a flag stop on the Adirondack Scenic Railroad and has been serving trains since the 19th century.
The North Star was a named night train, train #21, 1947–1962, of the New York Central Railroad (NYC) that went from Grand Central Terminal of New York City to Union Terminal of Cleveland, Ohio. It was distinctive in the history of the New York Central's history of service to the North Country of New York State, because it was the longest lasting train in the NYC's later decades that hosted sleeping cars that went continuous from New York City to Lake Placid in the Adirondacks. Predecessor trains in the pre-World War II period carrying direct sleeping cars to the Adirondacks included the Niagara (#29) and the Ontarian.