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Overview | |
---|---|
Locale | Columbia County, New York |
Dates of operation | 1838–c. 1983 |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
Length | 31.5 mi (50.7 km) |
The Hudson and Boston Railroad was a railroad that spanned across Southern and Central Columbia County, New York. It was chartered in 1855 and acquired by the Boston and Albany Railroad in 1870, only to face its gradual demise beginning in 1959. Despite its name, it never actually reached Boston, but it did serve as an important connecting line for the Boston and Albany Railroad, which converted it into the B&A Hudson Branch upon acquisition. The line formed a cutoff between the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad towards New York City and the Boston and Albany Railroad, toward Pittsfield, Springfield, Worcester, and Boston.
The Hudson and Boston was originally chartered in 1828 as the Hudson and Berkshire Railroad by James Mellen in order to build a railroad line from Hudson, New York to the Massachusetts state line. Construction began in 1835 and was completed in 1838. The company was leased to the Berkshire Railroad, along with the connecting West Stockbridge Railroad, in 1844, but was sold at foreclosure to the Western Railroad of Massachusetts on November 21, 1854. The name was changed to the Hudson and Boston Railroad on February 23, 1855, and the part east of Chatham was abandoned around 1860, since it was redundant with the newer Albany and West Stockbridge Railroad (part of the Boston and Albany Railroad main line). [1]
The line was acquired by the B&A on November 2, 1870, and thus became its Hudson Branch, also called the "Hudson and Chatham Branch." It was important both for passengers and for freight services, especially those used by the various mills in the county. In its waning years, the Hudson Branch would serve freight exclusively. In the summer of 1892, an accident took place in Claverack, New York. [2] In 1900, the line along with the B&A itself were acquired by the New York Central Railroad, thereby making Hudson, Harlem, and B&A Main Line work as one with the former H&B. (However, the B&A would run under its own name until 1961.) Passenger service on the line ended on December 21, 1932. [3] In 1936, the "BA" Tower in Ghent which controlled movements between the NYC Harlem Division and the B&A Hudson Branch was closed, and the segment between Ghent and Chatham became exclusively part of the Upper Harlem Division.
Maps from the 1950s still show the line as existing, [4] however, by 1959, it only ran as far east as Claverack. As the NYC merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1968 to form Penn Central Railroad, PC renamed it the "Claverack Secondary Track" and kept cutting the line back farther west, while abandoning all passenger service on its Upper Harlem Division north of Dover Plains. When Conrail took over in 1976, it continued the cutbacks, with the line moving farther west from Claverack, while the UHD segment was abandoned between Millerton and Ghent, transforming it into little more than a freight spur between Ghent and Chatham. That segment would be gone as well by 1983. Today, the only remnant of the line is that of the former Lone Star Cement factory east of Hudson, at a spur off the line once known as "Greenport Center." [5]
The entire line was in Columbia County, New York
Locality | Station | Lat/long | Notes/Connections |
---|---|---|---|
Hudson | Hudson | 42°15′15″N73°47′52″W / 42.2541°N 73.7977°W | Also served the Hudson River Railroad (NYC). Still used by Amtrak. Wye with NYC Hudson Division. |
Hudson Upper | |||
Albany and Hudson Junction | |||
Claverack | Claverack | ||
Country Club | Near the present day Columbia Golf and Country Club; Also called "Millers Crossing." | ||
Mellenville | 42°15′11″N73°40′5″W / 42.25306°N 73.66806°W | NRHP since September 29, 2000. | |
Ghent | Pulvers | ||
Ghent | 42°19′37″N73°37′07″W / 42.3270°N 73.6187°W | Junction with New York and Harlem Railroad (NYC) | |
Payn's | |||
Chatham | Chatham | 42°21′43″N73°35′49″W / 42.36194°N 73.59694°W | Junction with Boston and Albany Railroad Main Line and Chatham and Lebanon Valley Railroad (Rutland); NRHP since May 1, 1974 |
Columbia County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. At the 2020 census, the population was 61,570. The county seat is Hudson. The name comes from the Latin feminine form of the surname of Christopher Columbus, which was at the time of the formation of the county a popular proposal for the name of the United States. The county is part of the Capital District region of the state.
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The Harlem Line is an 82-mile (132 km) commuter rail line owned and operated by the Metro-North Railroad in the U.S. state of New York. It runs north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower 53 miles (85 km) from Grand Central Terminal to Southeast, in Putnam County, is electrified with a third rail and has at least two tracks. The section north of Southeast is a non-electrified single-track line served by diesel locomotives. Before the renaming of the line in 1983, it eventually became the Harlem Division of the New York Central Railroad. The diesel trains usually run as a shuttle on the northern end of the line, except for rush-hour express trains in the peak direction.
The New York and Putnam Railroad, nicknamed the Old Put, was a railroad line that operated between the Bronx and Brewster in New York State. It was in close proximity to the Hudson River Railroad and New York and Harlem Railroad. All three came under ownership of the New York Central system in 1894. The railroad was abandoned starting in 1958, and most of the former roadbed has been converted to rail trail use.
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The Hudson Line is a commuter rail line owned and operated by the Metro-North Railroad in the U.S. state of New York. It runs north from New York City along the east shore of the Hudson River, terminating at Poughkeepsie. The line was originally the Hudson River Railroad, and eventually became the Hudson Division of the New York Central Railroad. It runs along what was the far southern leg of the Central's famed "Water Level Route" to Chicago.
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The Millerton station is a former New York Central Railroad (NYC) station on the NYC's Harlem Division that served the residents of Millerton, New York.
The Boston Corners station was a former New York Central Railroad station that served the residents of Ancram, New York.
The Ghent station was a former New York Central Railroad station that served the residents of Ghent, New York.
The Philmont station was a former New York Central Railroad station that served the residents of Claverack, New York.
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