It was high-speed rail – a little too high speed for some passengers’ comfort level. “The fastest time on the new railroad was made yesterday by the accommodation freight train, which ran from this place [Glens Falls] to Lake George in eleven minutes,” the Glen’s Falls Messenger reported on June 23, 1882.
“The few passengers on board, as the cars flew around the curves at the ponds, began to look around for life preservers, but before they hardly knew it, they were on the deck at the lake.”
In other 19th century railroad news collected from Northern New York historic newspapers:
Investors pooled $20,000 – the equivalent of $713,362 in 2024 dollars – to construct and operate a new two-mile rail line. “A new railroad in the Adirondacks has been incorporated under the name of the Old Forge Road, and will extend from Fulton Chain Station of the Adirondack and St. Lawrence Road to Old Forge, two miles,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on September 27, 1894.
“The Raquette River Railroad, to run from Tupper Lake post office to Axton, a distance of ten miles, has been incorporated. The capital stock is $100,000 [the equivalent of $3.72 million in 2024 dollars],” The Morning Star reported on April 27, 1895. Majority investors were C. A. Arnold of New York City, at $70,000, and A. J. Boyer of Albany, at $27,300.
“Electricity will soon be the motive power on the Mechanicville and Stillwater Street Railroad,” The Morning Star reported on November 17, 1894. ”A charter for that purpose has been granted to Powers Brothers of Lansingburg, who are heavy stockholders in the Glens Falls Road.”
“The prospect of building an extension of the Adirondack Railroad from North Creek to Blue Mountain Lake is again under discussion,” The Morning Star reported on December 11, 1894.
“The recent extension of the Delaware and Hudson branch to Ausable Forks from Plattsburg has proved such a paying investment that a still further extension to Lake Placid and Upper Jay is under consideration,” The Morning Star reported on December 31, 1894. “This would be the shortest route to Lake Placid from New York, and would secure the summer travel to and from the Ausable Valley, Keene Valley and Lake Placid, besides large amount of freight, pulp wood, lumber, etc.”
That proposal lost momentum. “We do not hear any more of the Adirondack Railroad extension. We would like to see the railroad built. It would be nice to ride through the mountains,” the North Creek correspondent reported in The Morning Star on January 23, 1895.
“If any corporation can afford to invest money for less one-half percent, and that is more than the road would pay, let it build by all means. Somebody will get this money. Keep the ball running.”
Between September 1 and Dec. 31, 6,272 barrels of apples were shipped by rail from Glens Falls,” The Morning Star reported on January 24, 1895. “Most of them were sent out by C. A Hovey. The next largest seller was H. G. Haviland.”
“The largest train ever hauled on the Adirondack Road was hauled from Corinth to Saratoga on Monday. It was comprised of seventy-one cars,” The Morning Star reported on February 15, 1895.
“The Delaware and Hudson Railroad has decided to establish a station at the Geysers, two miles north of Saratoga Springs. Four trains will stop there daily and a side track for freight will be put in,” The Morning Star reported on February 20, 1895.
“The Delaware and Hudson Company is building an ice house at Whitehall from which the passenger train on the Rensselaer and Saratoga and Champlain passengers will be supplied during the summer. It will be filled with Lake George ice,” The Morning Star reported on February 23, 1895.
“The Delaware and Hudson Company has adopted a new system of sealing freight cars. The doors are now fastened with a patent seal, upon which the number of the station is stamped,” The Morning Star reported on March 4, 1894.
“The early freight train from Salem, known as the ‘Wild Cat,’ was wrecked at this place [Granville] Saturday morning. The tracks of two cars leaving the track. One of the track cars was off in the bridge,” The Granville Sentinel reported on March 29, 1895. “The track was not opened until nearly noon. The passenger trains north and south were delayed here by the obstruction.”
“Superintendent Voorhees has designed a neat uniform for the station employees of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, by which the traveling public can distinguish their respective duties,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on June 6, 1879. “The uniforms will be donned June 30, with the inauguration of the summer train schedule.”
“A railroad post office has been established on each of the sleeping car trains between Albany and Rouses Point,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on June 19, 1895. “This will be a great convenience to all towns along the line – Glens Falls included – which hereafter have received only closed pouches from the night trains.”
“The Delaware & Hudson Canal Company has lately added a very useful improvement to one of their passenger cars. It consists of movable steps, which, at the station are let down within one feet of the ground. When in motion, the steps are raised high,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on August 29, 1879. “It is hoped that they will add this to all their cars and that other railroad companies will follow the example.”
Read more stories about railroads in New York State.
Photo: Northern Adirondack Railroad’s “Tupper Lake” (National Park Service).
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