![Saratoga_County_Railroads](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Saratoga_County_Railroads.gif)
The Saratoga and Schenectady Railroad was incorporated on February 16, 1831. The founders were
Henry Walton,
John Clarke, William A. Langworthy, John H.
Steele, Miles Beach, Gideon W. Davison, and Rockwell Putnam.
The line was opened from
Schenectady
Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
to
Ballston Spa
Ballston Spa is a village and the county seat of Saratoga County, New York, United States, located southwest of Saratoga Springs. The population of the village, named after Rev. Eliphalet Ball, a Congregationalist clergyman and an early settler, w ...
on July 12, 1832, and extended to
Saratoga Springs
Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over ...
in 1833 for a total of . The
Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad
The Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad was chartered on April 14, 1832. It completed between Troy and Ballston Spa on March 19, 1836.
The railroad was largely conceived and built by businessmen of Troy in response to Albany's construction of the ...
leased the line on January 1, 1851, and the lease was reassigned to the
Delaware and Hudson Canal Company
The Delaware and Hudson Railway (D&H) is a railroad that operates in the Northeastern United States. In 1991, after more than 150 years as an independent railroad, the D&H was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). CP operates D&H ...
on May 1, 1871.
[ Interstate Commerce Commission, 116 I.C.C. 611 (1926)]
Valuation Docket No. 328, Delaware and Hudson Company et al.
p. 649
Initially most of the business of the line was passenger travel in the summer. It lost money until the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad and the Saratoga and Washington railroad linked it into a continuous line between 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 ...
and
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain ( ; french: Lac Champlain) is a natural freshwater lake in North America. It mostly lies between the US states of New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canada, Canadian province of Quebec.
The New York portion of t ...
by 1848.
Rail trails
![Schenectady and Saratoga Railroad Viaduct](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Schenectady_and_Saratoga_Railroad_Viaduct.jpg)
Much of the original right-of-way has been abandoned and adapted for recreation.
* The ''Ballston Veterans Bike Trail'' runs for along the west shore of
Ballston Lake in the town of
Ballston.
*Since 2005 the ''James Tedisco Fitness Trail'' follows the route of the Saratoga and Schenectady for approximately through the village of Ballston Spa from Front Street to Prospect Street.
*The ''Railroad Run'' trail in Saratoga Springs runs for between West Circular Street and Congress Avenue.
References
Schenectady, New York
Saratoga County, New York
Defunct New York (state) railroads
Predecessors of the Delaware and Hudson Railway
Railway companies established in 1831
Passenger rail transportation in New York (state)
American companies established in 1831
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