Haines Falls station

Last updated
Haines Falls
Haines corners station.jpg
Postcard of the former Haines Falls station
General information
Location Haines Falls, Greene County. New York
Tracks1
History
OpenedJune 1883 [1] [2]
ClosedJanuary 22, 1940 [3] [2]
Services
Preceding station New York Central Railroad Following station
Laurel House
toward Kaaterskill
Kaaterskill Branch Tannersville
toward Phoenicia
Ulster and Delaware Railroad Station
USA New York location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationNY 23A, Hamlet of Haines Falls, Hunter, New York
Coordinates 42°11′45″N74°5′29″W / 42.19583°N 74.09139°W / 42.19583; -74.09139
Area1.5 acres (0.61 ha)
Built1913
NRHP reference No. 96000861 [4]
Added to NRHPAugust 08, 1996

Haines Falls is an abandoned train station in Haines Falls, New York. It was owned by the Ulster and Delaware Railroad. The abandoned station was restored in 1999 and is one of two surviving U&D branch stations. [5] It is now the headquarters of the Mountain Top Historical Society. [6] It is also the start of the Kaaterskill Rail Trail, a scenic hiking trail along the former railway.

Contents

History

Kaaterskill Railroad

The station was owned by the narrow-gauge Kaaterskill Railroad, MP 6.6, and was one of the busiest stations on the line. It was called Haines Corners Station, as the town's original name was Haines Corners. It was very busy and was across from a boarding house. It was near a six-span bridge, called the Girder Deck Bridge, which was the largest structure on the railroad. It was right across from another station that was owned by another narrow-gauge railroad. The KRR station soon became a station that belonged to a standard-gauge railroad called the Ulster and Delaware, which turned the Kaaterskill Railroad into a branch, and combined it with a portion of another narrow-gauge railroad, called the Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain Railway.[ citation needed ]

Ulster and Delaware Railroad

The station, located at branch MP 18.4, wasn't changed during the period that pre-fabricated stations being erected in between the years of 1900 and 1901. However, the station was causing problems; as passenger trains grew the early 1910s, the State of New York was sending complaints that the station was too small for the town it was serving. In 1913, U&D finally gave in and tore the old station down, making way for a new one, a few hundred feet away.

This new station, branch MP 18.5, looked like the Tannersville station, but it didn't have the portico sticking out of the back. It was a full season passenger station until the New York Central purchased the U&D in 1932. This was when it became a summer-only station, with it being a flagstop in the other seasons. If a passenger were to get picked up at the station in another season, the business and income would be handled by the station agent at Tannersville.[ citation needed ]

But when the NYC was granted permission by the ICC to abandon the branches in 1939, and to scrap it in 1940, the station was abandoned. However, it was recently restored to perfect condition and painted blue. It is, at present, the headquarters of the Mountain Top Historical Society, and one of only two surviving U&D branch stations. [7]

In 2012, the Ulster & Delaware Railroad Historical Society donated 132 feet of 105lb rail to the Mountain Top Historical Society so that a display track could be built on the former railroad right-of-way besides the station.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 as the Ulster and Delaware Railroad Station. [4]

Kaaterskill Rail Trail

In 2013, a hiking track called the Kaaterskill Rail Trail was completed. [8] The first phase was a 1.5 mile section between the Mountain Top Historical Society property and DEC land at the end of Laurel House Road. [9]  In 2016, further improvements were completed allowing visitors to travel from Haines Falls Station to the North/ South Lake Campground via the Rail Trail and the Escarpment Trail, with multiple views of Kaaterskill Falls accessible to the public. These upgrades also sought to improve safety at the falls, as a number of falling deaths have occurred in recent years. [10]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

Tannersville is a village in Greene County, New York, United States. The village is in the north-central part of the town of Hunter on Route 23A. The population was 568 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunter, New York</span> Town in New York, United States

Hunter is a town located in Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 3,035 at the time of the 2020 census. The town contains two villages, one named Hunter on the west, and the second called Tannersville, as well as a number of hamlets such as Haines Falls, Platte Clove, Lanesville and Edgewood. Additionally, there are three residential parks location within town limits: Onteora Park, Twilight Park and Elka Park. The town is on the southern border of Greene County and abuts the towns of Woodstock and Saugerties, located in Ulster County.

The Ulster and Delaware Railroad (U&D) was a railroad located in the state of New York. It was often advertised as "The Only All-Rail Route to the Catskill Mountains." At its greatest extent, the U&D extended 107 miles (172 km) from Kingston Point on the Hudson River through the Catskill Mountains to its western terminus at Oneonta, passing through the counties of Ulster, Delaware, Schoharie and Otsego.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otis Elevating Railway</span> Narrow gauge cable funicular railroad

The Otis Elevating Railway was a 3 ft narrow gauge cable funicular railroad leading to the Catskill Mountain House in Palenville, New York. For the first 64 years of its existence, the Catskill Mountain House was accessible only by a long stagecoach from Catskill Landing on the Hudson. Faced with increased competition from the Hotel Kaaterskill, Charles Beach hired the Otis Elevator Company to build a cable funicular railroad straight up the Great Wall of Manitou. Opening on August 7, 1892, the line measured 7,000 ft (2,134 m) long with a rise of 1,630 ft (497 m), a maximum grade of 34%, and an average grade of 12%. In 1904, the line was shortened and the lower trestle eliminated.

The Catskill Mountain Railroad is a heritage tourist railroad based in Kingston, New York, that began operations in 1982. The railroad leases a 4.7-mile portion of the former New York Central Railroad Catskill Mountain branch from Kingston to Stony Hollow, New York. The tracks are owned by Ulster County, New York, which bought them in 1979 from the bankruptcy estate of the Penn Central Railroad. The railroad's current permit with Ulster County expires on December 31, 2028.

Laurel House station, branch MP 18.5, was built as part of the three-foot gauge Kaaterskill Railroad, an extension of the Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain Railroad. It was built so passengers could stop there and take a carriage to the Laurel House, a hotel that was nearby. When it was built, it was anything but an actual station; in fact, it was nothing but a platform. When the Ulster and Delaware standard-gauged the railroad in 1899, it was replaced with an actual station. The branch it served would become an actual part of the railroad in 1903.

Kaaterskill Junction station, branch MP 11.8, was one of the smallest stations on the Ulster & Delaware, and served as the station at the junction between the Stony Clove and Kaaterskill Branch and the Hunter Branch, hence the word "junction" in its name. The station was originally known as the Tannersville Junction station, but its name was changed soon after it was made.

Chichester station was the Ulster and Delaware Railroad's small station that served the village of Chichester, New York, branch MP 1.6. The old Chichester station was a lot like a small shack with a platform on it that was two miles away from the Phoenicia station, and 29.5 miles from Kingston Point. It had a nearby lumber shoot where wood would be delivered to the furniture factory across the creek. The old station burnt down in 1902, and was replaced with a shelter. It didn't generate much business, and was abandoned after the New York Central bought the U&D in 1932, and it was later scrapped.

Edgewood was a former train station for the New York Central Railroad in the hamlet of Edgewood, located in the town of Hunter, Greene County, New York, United States. Built by the Ulster and Delaware Railroad for its branches to Kaaterskill and Hunter, the station opened on September 28, 1881. The station, located 7.9 miles (12.7 km) from the junction at Phoenicia, closed on January 22, 1940.

This Ulster and Delaware station, branch MP 9.8, was at the summit of a grade that went to the Stony Clove Notch, where the Stony Clove Valley narrowed and was but a few yards wide. It was a flagstop, where people would have to signal a train to stop for them. This station never made much business, and was immediately taken out of service when the New York Central took over the U&D on February 1, 1932. It was also a house, and a U&D employee lived there who would walk from Edgewood station to Kaaterskill Junction station to check for fires.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catskill and Tannersville Railway</span> Historic railroad in New York, US

The Catskill and Tannersville Railway was a historic 3 ft narrow gauge railroad operating in New York.

TannersvilleStation was a train station in Tannersville, New York operated by the Ulster and Delaware Railroad. It ceased operation in 1940 and was burned down on March 2, 1966.

Kaaterskill station, branch MP 19.1, was one of the busiest railroad stations on the branch lines of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad (U&D). It was near the banks of South Lake in Kaaterskill, New York, and was a major stop for people who wished to stay at the Hotel Kaaterskill or the Catskill Mountain House, which was 0.93 miles from the station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catskill Mountain Railway</span> Railroad in New York (1882–1918)

The Catskill Mountain Railway (CMRy) was a 3 ft narrow gauge railroad, 15.73 miles (25.31 km) long, running from Catskill to Palenville in Greene County, New York. Organized as the Catskill Mountain Railroad (CMRR) in 1880, it was built in 1881 and 1882. The principals had interests in shipping on the Hudson and in hotels in the Catskill Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunter station (New York Central Railroad)</span> Former station on the Ulster and Delaware Railroad

Hunter was a former station on the Hunter Branch of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad (U&D) and was the busiest station on the branch lines of the U&D. Within several yards of the station were the Standard Oil Co. and the Otto Gordon Coal Co. The village of Hunter, which the station serviced, was also home to several popular resorts.

The Delaware and Ulster Railroad (DURR) is a heritage railroad based in Arkville, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulster & Delaware Railroad Historical Society</span>

The Ulster & Delaware Railroad Historical Society is a chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS). It focuses on the history of the railroads and related social, economic, and cultural institutions of the Catskill and Hudson Valley regions. That history, which began with the charter of the Catskill & Ithaca Railroad in 1828, encompasses numerous proposed and built railroads and trolley lines within Ulster, Delaware, Greene, Schoharie, Albany and Otsego counties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haines Falls, New York</span> Hamlet in New York, United States

Haines Falls is a hamlet located east of Tannersville in the Town of Hunter, in Greene County, New York, United States. Haines Falls is located at 42°11′45″N74°5′49″W. The hamlet of Haines Falls was always a mountain resort town, unlike Hunter and Palenville which had tanneries. Haines Falls is at the head of Kaaterskill Clove and is the former site of the Catskill Mountain House, Kaaterskill Hotel, and Laurel House which sat atop the famous Kaaterskill Falls. In 1825, Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River School of landscape painters, did his first Catskill mountain paintings in Haines Falls: Lake with Dead Trees at South Lake and the Kaaterskill Falls.

Kaaterskill Creek is a 25.9-mile-long (41.7 km) tributary of Catskill Creek in Greene and Ulster counties in New York. Via Catskill Creek, it is part of the Hudson River watershed.

References

  1. Hibbard, F.B. (July 3, 1883). "Kaaterskill Railroad". The New York Tribune. p. 6. Retrieved May 6, 2021 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  2. 1 2 Interstate Commerce Commission 1940, p. 156.
  3. "Mountain Branches Allowed to Suspend". The Kingston Daily Freeman. January 22, 1940. p. 1. Retrieved May 6, 2021 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  4. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  5. "History of the MTHS – MTHS" . Retrieved 2024-06-19.
  6. "MTHS - MTHS Through the Years". mths.org. Retrieved 2023-06-12.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. John A. Bonafide (May 1996). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Ulster and Delaware Railroad Station". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Archived from the original on 2012-10-12. Retrieved 2010-05-08.See also: "Accompanying nine photos". Archived from the original on 2012-10-12. Retrieved 2010-05-09.
  8. New York-New Jersey Trail Conference. "Kaaterskill Rail Trail in the Catskill Mountains". New York-New Jersey Trail Conference. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  9. Senterman, Jeff (2016-10-21). "Kaaterskill Rail Trail in the Catskill Mountains". New York - New Jersey Trail Conference. Retrieved 2022-08-19.
  10. "Kaaterskill Falls safety, public access improvements completed". Daily Freeman. 2016-11-24. Archived from the original on 2020-11-15. Retrieved 2023-06-28.