Wallkill Valley Railroad

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Wallkill Valley Railroad
NS train on WVRR.jpg
A Norfolk Southern freight train near the southern end of the former Wallkill Valley Railroad in Campbell Hall in 2006.
Overview
Locale upstate New York, United States
Dates of operation1866 (1866)
Successor Conrail
Technical
Track gauge 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm)
Route map

Contents

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Kingston
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Whiteport
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Binnewater
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Rosendale trestle over Rondout Creek
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Rosendale
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Springtown
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Springtown bridge over Wallkill River
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New Paltz
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Plattekill Creek bridge over Plattekill Creek
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Forest Glen
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overpass at Forest Glen Road
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Gardiner
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New Hurley
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Wallkill
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Walden
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overpass in Walden
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Montgomery
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Campbell Hall

The Wallkill Valley Railroad is a defunct railroad which once operated in Ulster and Orange counties in upstate New York. Its corridor was from Kingston in the north to Montgomery in the south, with a leased extension to Campbell Hall. It crossed both the Wallkill River and Rondout Creek.

The railroad was founded in 1866 and ceased regular service in 1977. Throughout its history, the Wallkill Valley Railroad was owned by a variety of companies, including the West Shore and New York Central railroads, as well as Conrail. After its closure, portions of the rail bed were purchased by municipalities along the corridor and were converted to rail trails.

History

Wallkill Valley Railroad

The Wallkill Valley Railway was founded in 1866, and was constructed to match the Erie Railroad's six-foot gauge so that it would be easier to transport goods from one railroad to the other. It was operated by the Erie for the next ten years after its construction. It came to New Paltz in 1870, and bridged Rondout Creek and the Delaware and Hudson Canal in 1872. That year, steamboat Captain Thomas Cornell became president of the railroad, though people thought that he bought the railroad just for his own sake. He completed it to Kingston, but left his post soon thereafter. Newspaper articles suggested that it was a financial scandal, and the Wallkill Valley went bankrupt.

However, Cornell purchased it again in 1877, with the name being amended to the Wallkill Valley Railroad. He learned later, with the help of his son-in-law Samuel Decker Coykendall, that the West Shore Railroad was chartering a route to New York City and that the new route would pass through Kingston on the way. Cornell responded by chartering an extension for the Wallkill Valley right into West Shore-chartered land. What this meant to the West Shore was that it could have a new branch. The West Shore purchased the line at a price of almost $1,000,000 in 1881.

The northern end of the remaining WVRR tracks, in Walden WVRR end of line.jpg
The northern end of the remaining WVRR tracks, in Walden

New York Central

The line soon became the rural Wallkill Valley Branch of the West Shore Railroad, although the locals whose profits were wiped out during the previous bankruptcy did not agree with this. An occasional scheme was hatched to extend it to the Pennsylvania coal mines to bring more money to the railroad, though it was never successful. The New York Central then bought the West Shore Railroad in 1884 when passenger service was slowly declining, as with other rural branches. The southern terminus of the railroad was at Montgomery. [1] The service from Montgomery to Campbell Hall was the beginning of the Erie Railroad's route from Montgomery to Erie's mainline at Goshen. [2] Passenger service was completely abandoned in 1937.

After the abandonment of passenger service some of the former Ulster and Delaware locomotives were sent to operate on the Wallkill Valley Branch, since they were light enough to cross the Wallkill Valley's Rosendale Bridge. Those locomotives were all gone by 1949 and the branch was entirely dieselized, together with the NYC's Catskill Mountain Branch. [3]

Conrail

Conrail almost entirely abandoned the branch, though it was considered briefly as a new route to Allentown, Pennsylvania, via Kingston, Campbell Hall and the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway. It was discovered in 1977 that the piers supporting the Rosendale Viaduct had shifted, and that repairs were not worth the money to keep the line open. The physical plant was formally abandoned in 1982, and the infrastructure was torn out and sold for scrap, except for the Rosendale trestle; a little spur from Walden to Campbell Hall and a team track in Kingston. The process of dismantling the railroad took from 1983 to 1984.

Norfolk Southern Railway and remaining facilities

The remaining spur from DeGroodt's Paving in downtown Walden to the Campbell Hall Metro-North station is used for freight service by Norfolk Southern. The station in New Paltz remains along the trail, though the station in Gardiner burned down in 2002. Walden station was moved to a village park, and remains intact. The Middletown and New Jersey Railroad currently provides freight service on the line. [4]

Rail trails

The Wallkill Valley Rail Trail in New Paltz Wallkill Valley Rail Trail.jpg
The Wallkill Valley Rail Trail in New Paltz

Portions of the line in both Ulster and Orange Counties have been converted into rail trails, described here from north to south. Note that north of River Road in Rosendale, the Wallkill Valley Railroad actually runs in the Rondout Valley.

The Wallkill Valley Rail Trail runs 12.2 miles (19.6 km) from Gardiner through New Paltz to Rosendale. [5] The addition of an 11.5-mile (18.5 km) section in 2009 extended it farther north to Kingston. [6]

The Walden–Wallkill Rail Trail has been paved and runs from NY 208 in Wallkill south to Walden, NY, in Orange County. Parking availability is limited to street parking. The section of the rail bed north of Rte 208 to Birch Road is owned by the Town of Shawangunk but is unimproved. The 1.4 mile section from Birch Road north to Denniston road (southern terminus of the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail) is owned by the New York State Department of Corrections where the Shawangunk Correctional Facility and Wallkill Correctional Facility are located. This section is closed to the public.

Rosendale Trestle Wallkill Valley Rail Trail Rosendale trestle Walkill Valley Rail.jpg
Rosendale Trestle Wallkill Valley Rail Trail

Stations

Related Research Articles

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

Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster.

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

Rosendale is a town in the center of Ulster County, New York, United States. It once contained a village Rosendale, primarily centered around Main Street, but which was dissolved through vote in 1977. The population was 5,782 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosendale (CDP), New York</span> Hamlet & CDP in New York, United States

Rosendale is a hamlet located in the Town of Rosendale in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 1,285 at the 2020 census. It was also a census-designated place known as Rosendale Village until 2010, when the U.S. Census Bureau designated it Rosendale Hamlet. Some maps continue to list the place as just Rosendale. As of 2020, the "Hamlet" in the CDP name was dropped.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montgomery, New York</span> Town in Orange County, New York, US

Montgomery is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 23,322 at the 2020 census. It was named in honor of Richard Montgomery, a Revolutionary War general killed in 1775 at the Battle of Quebec. The northern town line is contiguous with the Ulster County border. Montgomery is immediately west of the town of Newburgh. Within its borders are three villages, one eponymous, as well as Walden and most of Maybrook.

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.

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The Delaware and Hudson Canal was the first venture of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, which would later build the Delaware and Hudson Railway. Between 1828 and 1899, the canal's barges carried anthracite coal from the mines of northeastern Pennsylvania to the Hudson River and thence to market in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wallkill River</span> Tributary of Rondout Creek in New York and New Jersey

The Wallkill River, a tributary of the Hudson, drains Lake Mohawk in Sparta, New Jersey, flowing from there generally northeasterly 88.3 miles (142.1 km) to Rondout Creek in New York, just downstream of Sturgeon Pool, near Rosendale, with the combined flows reaching the Hudson at Kingston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rondout Creek</span> River in New York, United States

Rondout Creek is a 63.3-mile-long (101.9 km) tributary of the Hudson River in Ulster and Sullivan counties, New York, United States. It rises on Rocky Mountain in the eastern Catskills, flows south into Rondout Reservoir, part of New York City's water supply network, then into the valley between the Catskills and the Shawangunk Ridge, where it goes over High Falls and finally out to the Hudson at Kingston, receiving along the way the Wallkill River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York State Route 208</span> Highway in southern New York state, U.S.

New York State Route 208 (NY 208) is a state highway located in southern New York in the United States. The southern terminus is at an intersection with NY 17M in the Orange County village of Monroe. Its northern terminus is located at an intersection with NY 32 and NY 299 in the Ulster County village of New Paltz.

There were four stations built to serve the city of Kingston, New York. The first station was known as "Higginsville Station" built by the Rondout & Oswego railroad company. The second station was served by three different railroads, all of which eventually became part of the New York Central railroad company. The third station, known as "Fair Street Station", replaced the Higginsville Station in 1882. The fourth station was for the New York, Ontario and Western Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campbell Hall station</span> Metro-North Railroad station in New York

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<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">Wallkill Valley Rail Trail</span> Rail Trail in the Wallkill Valley

The Wallkill Valley Rail Trail is a 23.7-mile (38.1 km) rail trail and linear park that runs along the former Wallkill Valley Railroad rail corridor in Ulster County, New York, United States. It stretches from Gardiner through New Paltz, Rosendale and Ulster to the Kingston city line, just south of a demolished, concrete Conrail railroad bridge that was located on a team-track siding several blocks south of the also-demolished Kingston New York Central Railroad passenger station. The trail is separated from the Walden–Wallkill Rail Trail by two state prisons in Shawangunk, though there have been plans to bypass these facilities and to connect the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail with other regional rail-trails. The northern section of the trail forms part of the Empire State Trail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walden–Wallkill Rail Trail</span> Rail trail in New York, US

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

Gardiner is a town in the south-central part of Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 5,610 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Paltz (village), New York</span> Village in New York

New Paltz is a village in Ulster County located in the U.S. state of New York. It is approximately 80 miles (130 km) north of New York City and 70 miles (110 km) south of Albany. The population was 7,324 at the 2020 census.

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

New Paltz is an incorporated U.S. town in Ulster County, New York. The population was 14,407 at the 2020 census. The town is located in the southeastern part of the county and is south of Kingston. New Paltz contains a village, also with the name New Paltz. The town is named for Palz, the dialect name of the Palatinate, called Pfalz in standard German.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosendale Trestle</span> Railroad truss bridge in New York, U.S.

The Rosendale Trestle is a 940-foot (290-meter) continuous truss bridge and former railroad trestle in Rosendale Village, a hamlet in the town of Rosendale in Ulster County, New York. Originally constructed by the Wallkill Valley Railroad to continue its rail line from New Paltz to Kingston, the bridge rises 150 ft (46 m) above Rondout Creek, spanning both Route 213 and the former Delaware and Hudson Canal. Construction on the trestle began in late 1870, and continued until early 1872. When it opened to rail traffic on April 6, 1872, the Rosendale trestle was the highest span bridge in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Paltz station</span> Former railroad station in New Paltz, New York

New Paltz station is a former train station in the village of New Paltz in Ulster County, New York. The building was the first of two railroad stations constructed in the town of New Paltz, and it is the only former Wallkill Valley Railroad station standing at its original location.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joppenbergh Mountain</span> Mountain in Ulster County, New York

Joppenbergh Mountain is a nearly 500-foot (152 m) mountain in Rosendale Village, a hamlet in the town of Rosendale, in Ulster County, New York. The mountain is composed of a carbonate bedrock overlain by glacially deposited material. It was named after Rosendale's founder, Jacob Rutsen, and mined throughout the late 19th century for dolomite that was used in the manufacture of natural cement. Extensive mining caused a large cave-in on December 19, 1899, that destroyed equipment and collapsed shafts within Joppenbergh. Though it was feared that several workers had been killed, the collapse happened while all the miners were outside, eating lunch. Since the collapse, the mountain has experienced shaking and periodic rockfalls.

References

  1. "New York Central Railroad, Table 82". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 64 (9). February 1932.
  2. "Erie Railroad, Table 32". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 64 (9). February 1932.
  3. "Ulster and Delaware: Railroad Through The Catskilld", by Gerald M. Best
  4. "Wallkill Valley Railroad". www.udrrhs.org. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  5. "History of the Trail". Wallkill Valley Rail Trail Association. Archived from the original on July 11, 2011. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
  6. Bosch, Adam (June 1, 2009). "Wallkill Rail Trail could double in size". Times Herald-Record . Middletown, NY: Dow Jones Local Media Group . Retrieved November 1, 2010.

Bibliography