Hanging above a window in our Twitchell Lake cabin northeast of Big Moose, Herkimer County, in the Adirondacks is this five-foot-long saw with a handle at both ends, and a row of sharp knife-like teeth. I have never used it, but now know it is an antique crosscut saw for use by one or two persons. [Read more…] about William Seward Webb’s Railroad & Logging The Adirondacks
New York Central RR
The Silk Train That Killed Financier Spencer Trask
On the morning of December 31, 1909, Saratoga Springs philanthropist and financier Spencer Trask was just waking up after a night in a railroad sleeping car at the rear of the Montreal Express. The night before this southbound train had picked up Trask in Saratoga as it made its way toward New York City.
At 8:03 am, only moments after the express train had stopped unexpectedly on the mainline near Croton, Westchester County, New York, a train transporting bales of raw silk crashed into its rear, killing Trask, the porter in his sleeping car, and injuring several other of the passengers. While the direct cause of this deadly wreck pointed to a failure of signal equipment and railroad personnel, events leading up to the tragedy had been put into motion six thousand miles to the west seventeen days earlier. [Read more…] about The Silk Train That Killed Financier Spencer Trask
Temperance & Fire At The Delavan House: Albany’s Finest 19th Century Hotel
Edward Delavan was born in Westchester County, NY, in 1793. His father died when Edward was eight and he and his mother, brother, and two sisters moved to Albany. Edward began work in a printer’s office at 13 years of age and after several years, left to work at his brother’s hardware store. While at the hardware store, he began selling wine, which proved very successful. [Read more…] about Temperance & Fire At The Delavan House: Albany’s Finest 19th Century Hotel
Railroads, The Spuyten Duyvil Disaster & Faustian Legend
On September 27th, 2025, it will be two hundred years ago that the world’s first public railway, known as the Stockton & Darlington (S&DR), was opened in north-east England.
As well as carrying coal, the train offered space for six hundred passengers, most of them traveling in wagons, but some distinguished guests were allocated a seat in a specially designed carriage called The Experiment. [Read more…] about Railroads, The Spuyten Duyvil Disaster & Faustian Legend
“Labor’s Slaves in the Adirondacks”: Building the Adirondack Railroad
The St. Lawrence & Adirondack Railroad, also known as the Mohawk & Malone – eventually owned by the New York Central and called the Adirondack Line or the Adirondack Railroad ran directly through the Adirondacks from Herkimer (near Utica) to Malone connecting the rail lines along the Mohawk River to the Main Trunk Line running into Montreal. The line is often attributed to William Seward Webb, but it was the men who actually built the line that are the subject of this essay.
On March 29, 1892 a Boston Globe article titled “Labor’s Slaves in the Adirondacks” reported that Utica “resembled Washington during war times, hundreds of penniless and destitute Negroes are camped out tonight in the temporary places of shelter given them, and the citizens of Utica are consulting as to the best means of returning them to their homes.”
The Globe told readers that all night, “runaway slaves” had been coming into town. One hundred and fifty of them, mostly black laborers from the Deep South, but some recently arrived European immigrants as well. [Read more…] about “Labor’s Slaves in the Adirondacks”: Building the Adirondack Railroad
Adirondack Rail Trail Design & Construction Starting
The New York State Departments of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Transportation (DOT), in cooperation with the Office of General Services (OGS), have announced the completion of the transfer of jurisdiction for a 34-mile segment of the Remsen-Lake Placid Travel Corridor. [Read more…] about Adirondack Rail Trail Design & Construction Starting
The Albany Origins of the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop
The Capital District’s Dudley Observatory is considered “the oldest non-academic institution of astronomical research in America.” Originally, it was located north-east of downtown Albany, NY.
Construction there began in 1852 and the facility was dedicated in 1857. Albany’s Congressman Erastus Corning, the founder and first president of the New York Central Railroad, was instrumental in donating a high quality telescope and time-keeping system at the new Dudley Observatory in Albany. [Read more…] about The Albany Origins of the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop
Canton Eddie, Turn of the Century Safecracker
“Canton Eddie” (a.k.a. “Boston Shorty,” Edward Collins, Edward Burns, Harry Wilson and possibly Harry Berger and Eddie Kinsman) who real name is believed to have been Edward Wilson, was a native of St. Lawrence County, born in about 1876 in Canton.
He was the perpetrator of a string of daring robberies in New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont, and probably elsewhere during his lengthy career. Using nitro-glycerin and “the rest of the safecracker’s outfit” he blew the safes of more than 30 post offices, including the Montpelier, Vermont Post Office at least twice in 1905 and in 1907. By the time he was arrested for the last time in 1916, he had already served a number of prison sentences totaling more than nine years. [Read more…] about Canton Eddie, Turn of the Century Safecracker
NY Central Railroad Highlighted In New Albany Exhibit
The Albany Institute of History & Art has announced “Romancing the Rails: Train Travel in the 1920s and 1930s,” a new exhibition featuring objects and library materials from the Albany Institute’s New York Central Railroad collection. [Read more…] about NY Central Railroad Highlighted In New Albany Exhibit
New York Central Railroad Photo Archive Gets Update
The New York Central System Historical Society (NYCSHS) has announced the creation of a second-generation archive system as a resource for railroad historians and model railroaders of the New York Central System. With more than 58,000 images, the archive is the largest offering from the Society to date. [Read more…] about New York Central Railroad Photo Archive Gets Update