The Adirondack Railroad (formerly the Adirondack Scenic Railroad) is a
tourist railway
A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...
serving the
Adirondack Park
The Adirondack Park is a part of New York's Forest Preserve in northeastern New York, United States. The park was established in 1892 for “the free use of all the people for their health and pleasure”, and for watershed protection. The park ...
, which plans to operate over trackage of the former
New York Central Railroad
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 Mi ...
between
Utica and
Tupper Lake. The railroad is operated by the not-for-profit Adirondack Railroad Preservation Society, with train crews composed largely of volunteers.
ADIX operates between Utica and
Remsen over trackage of the
Mohawk, Adirondack and Northern Railroad
The Mohawk, Adirondack and Northern Railroad (MA&N) is a class III railroad operating in Central and Northern New York. Specifically, it serves Oneida, Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties. It operates over trackage of the former New Y ...
, part of the
Genesee Valley Transportation Company
The Genesee Valley Transportation Company (GVT Rail), based in Batavia, New York, is a holding company for several short-line railroads located in New York and Pennsylvania. Founded by Jeffrey Baxter, Charles Riedmiller, John Herbrand, Michael Th ...
. The Remsen–Tupper Lake segment is owned by the State of New York and is designated as a multi-use corridor for rail traffic during the spring, summer, and fall seasons, and as a snowmobile trail during the winter months.
As of 2021, passenger trains operate between Utica and
Thendara, with a few trains continuing north to Big Moose. Historic stations have been restored in
Holland Patent, Remsen,
Saranac Lake and
Lake Placid. The section of track between Utica and Lyons Falls is used for
freight
Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including tran ...
traffic operated by the Mohawk, Adirondack and Northern Railroad (MA&N).
History
The line was built in 1892 by
Dr. William Seward Webb, a Vanderbilt in-law, as the
Mohawk & Malone Railway and was later purchased by the New York Central Railroad. The New York Central ran passenger trains on the route until April 24, 1965. It passed to the
Penn Central Transportation Company
The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and th ...
on February 1, 1968, which abandoned freight operations north of Remsen in 1972. New York State bought the entire Utica-Lake Placid line from the bankrupt Penn Central in 1974, primarily to serve the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. The
Adirondack Railway then operated passenger services between Utica and Lake Placid from 1979 to 1981.
Tracks were dormant from 1981 until 1992, when restoration began with a section from Thendara to Minnehaha, New York. The section was approved and demonstrated on July 4, 1992, and the line was given the name Adirondack Centennial Railroad. It was renamed Adirondack Scenic Railroad in 1994.
The railroad had formerly planned to restore passenger operations over the entire Utica–Lake Placid corridor ( in length), and did operate from 2000 to 2016 on the short, isolated segment between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid. While this vision was supported by several local communities (most notably Tupper Lake and the Next Stop Tupper Lake organization), opponents called for replacing the Tupper Lake–Lake Placid section with a
rail trail
A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetc ...
. Trackage was slated to be dismantled in late 2016, but was delayed pending resolution of a protracted legal battle. The
New York Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...
ultimately sided with the railroad on September 26 2017, annulling the rail trail plan in its entirety. However, the Adirondack Park Agency was successful in redefining the term "travel corridor" in the Adirondack Park Act in 2020. As a result, tracks are being lawfully removed since October 2020 to create a rail-trail along the segment from Tupper Lake to Lake Placid: now planned for completion by 2024. Simultaneously, New York State is renovating the tracks from Big Moose to Tupper Lake, with project completion scheduled for November 2021. The first train ran over the entire Utica–Tupper Lake corridor in September 2022.
The railroad changed names from the Adirondack Scenic Railroad to the Adirondack Railroad in 2020.
Gallery
Image:Adirondack Scenic RR engine 6076.jpg, ASR #6076
Image:New York Central Caboose, Adk Scenic RR.jpg, NYC caboose, Now in Utica, NY
Image:Adirondack Scenic RR engine 6076 at Lake Placid.JPG, ASR #6076, Lake Placid
Image:Adirondack Scenic Railroad - Saranac Lake Stn.jpg, Saranac Lake Union Depot
Saranac Lake Union Depot is a former New York Central Railroad station in Saranac Lake, New York. It was built in 1904 by the Delaware and Hudson Railway. In its heyday, the station served several daily trains going north to Malone, New York, on ...
File:Remsen Depot 2005.jpg, Remsen Depot. Rebuilt in 1999, on the same site and to the same plans as the original station.
See also
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List of heritage railways
This list of heritage railways includes heritage railways sorted by country, state, or region. A heritage railway is a preserved or tourist railroad which is run as a tourist attraction, is usually but not always run by volunteers, and often seeks ...
*
Notes
References
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External links
Adirondack Railroad websiteAdirondack Rail Trail websiteWikimapia - Saranac Lake to Lake PlacidWikimapia - Thendara to Utica
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adirondack Scenic Railroad
Heritage railroads in New York (state)
Tourist attractions in Essex County, New York
Tourist attractions in Franklin County, New York
Tourist attractions in Herkimer County, New York
Tourist attractions in Oneida County, New York
Transportation in Essex County, New York
Transportation in Franklin County, New York
Transportation in Herkimer County, New York
Transportation in Oneida County, New York
Adirondack Park
Companies operating former New York Central Railroad lines
Saranac Lake, New York