The Catskill Mountain Railway (CMRy) was a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

railroad, long, running from Catskill to

Palenville Palenville is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 1,037 at the 2010 census. Palenville is in the southwestern part of the town of Catskill, located at the junction of Routes ...

in Greene County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Organized as the

Catskill Mountain Railroad 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 (MP 3.6 to MP 8.3) of the former New York Central Railroad Catskill Mountain br ...

(CMRR) in 1880, it bas built in 1881 and 1882. The principals had interests in shipping on the Hudson and in hotels in the Catskill Mountains. Unlike most railroads, the CMRR was built primarily for the purpose of transporting passengers and was intended to operate seasonally. Most people using the line were summer tourists who travelled by steamboat from points along the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. Their final destinations were

hotels A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

and boarding houses located high in the

Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...

. While the railroad served its purpose of bringing passengers closer to the mountain top resorts, it still left them with an arduous hour-long stage trip up the face of the

Catskill Escarpment The Catskill Escarpment, often referred to locally as just the Escarpment or the Great Wall of Manitou, and known as the Catskill Front to geologists, is the range forming the northeastern corner of the Catskill Mountains in Greene and Ulster cou ...

(also known as the Wall of Manitou). In 1885 a branch was built to

Cairo, New York Cairo is a town in Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 6,644 at the 2020 census. The town is in the southern part of the county, partly in the Catskill Park. The town contains a hamlet, also named Cairo. History The fi ...

, with the intent to carry bluestone, hay and fruit, and was run year round. That same year, the CMRR was reorganized as the Catskill Mountain Railway.

Competition

Competition soon arose, in the form of the Stony Clove & Catskill Mountain and the Kaaterskill railroad companies, both controlled by the

Ulster and Delaware Railroad 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 from Kingston Point on the Hudson R ...

. These narrow gauge railroads brought passengers much closer to their final destinations, saving them the difficult stage trip CMRR patrons had. To counter the competition, the

Otis Elevating Railway The Otis Elevating Railway was a 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 ...

was formed, hiring the company of

Elisha Otis Elisha Graves Otis (August 3, 1811 – April 8, 1861) was an American industrialist, founder of the Otis Elevator Company, and inventor of a safety device that prevents elevators from falling if the hoisting cable fails. Early years Otis was b ...

's sons to build a cable railroad. This railroad was completed in 1892. in length, it raised passengers in 10 minutes - saving a one-hour stage ride. At the summit, of track was laid to connect with the terminus of the Kaaterskill Railroad. By 1897 connecting service on the Kaaterskill Railroad had become so bad, that a new railroad, the

Catskill and Tannersville Railway The Catskill and Tannersville Railway was a historic narrow gauge railroad operating in New York. Also known as "The Huckleberry", the C&T operated tracks that were laid to a narrow gauge. The railroad commenced at the Otis Summit station in ...

was constructed to run from the Otis to Tannersville. This line paralleled the existing Katterskill one as far as Tannersville. Hastily built, this line had curves as sharp as 20 degrees and a maximum speed of 7 miles per hour. Locally, it was affectionately known as the "Huckleberry" for the fruit which grew along its right of way. During a 1904 reconstruction of the Otis, a switch was installed to connect with the C&T permitting through freight to operate from Catskill to Tannersville. Because of the slanted seats necessary on the Otis, passengers still had to change cars. A great boon to the CMRR was the development of the shale brick in 1888 by the Elmira Shale Brick Company. By 1898, raw material mined on the Cairo branch for the Catskill Shale brick company comprised, by tonnage, 95% of the freight carried. The last trains were run in 1918.

Route

The train route ran from Cairo, southeast to Catskill and then Catskill Landing. Catskill provided a connection to the

New York Central The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

West Shore Railroad The West Shore Railroad was the final name of a railroad that ran from Weehawken, New Jersey, on the west bank of the Hudson River opposite New York City, north to Albany, New York, and then west to Buffalo. It was organized as a competitor ...

trains from Albany to

Weehawken, New Jersey Weehawken is a Township (New Jersey), township in the North Hudson, New Jersey, northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located largely on the Hudson Palisades overlooking the North River ...

. The Catskill Landing location provided a connection for boats across the

Hudson, New York Hudson is a city and the county seat of Columbia County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 5,894. Located on the east side of the Hudson River and 120 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, it was named for the rive ...

. Service between Cairo Junction and Palenville and Otis Summit on the C&T Railway was available in the summer months only.'Official Guide of the Railways, 1910, p. 290.

Locomotives

Passenger Cars

Freight Cars

External links

Catskill Mountain Railway

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Catskill Mountain Railway Defunct New York (state) railroads 3 ft gauge railways in the United States Narrow gauge railroads in New York (state) Catskills Railway companies established in 1880 Railway companies disestablished in 1918