Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railroad

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Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad
Overview

Former station in Cooperstown
Headquarters	Cooperstown, New York
Reporting mark	CACV
Locale	Otsego County, Upstate New York
Dates of operation	1869–
Predecessor	Cooperstown and Susquehanna R. R., Co.
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Previous gauge	6 ft (1,829 mm)
Length	16 miles (26 km)
Other
Website	www.lrhs.com

The Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railroad Company (reporting mark CACV) is a heritage railroad in New York, operated by the Leatherstocking Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) since 1996.

History

Original company

In 1865, the Cooperstown and Susquehanna Valley Railroad Company (C&SV) was chartered. The stated purpose was to construct a railroad from Village of Cooperstown to a new junction with the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad at Colliersville. In February 1868, construction on the line began, and after it was completed, the first train operated on July 14, 1869. The trackage was originally broad-gauge (6 feet (1,800 mm), for compatibility with the Albany and Susquehanna. In May 1876, all 16 miles (26 km) of the trackage was converted to standard-gauge (4 feet (48 in).

Two extensions of the C&SV were authorized by the state of New York. The first extension, completed in 1869, ran from Cooperstown to Richfield Springs, but it was abandoned in 1941. The second extension, completed in 1885, ran from its southern terminus to the 'Hemlocks' on the Charlotte creek in the town of Davenport. It was later abandoned in the early 1900s.

On June 6, 1880, the enginehouse of the C&SV burned down, damaging the railroad's two locomotives and incinerated a baggage car. In 1888, Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railroad (C&CV) was incorporated, and they were authorized to extend their trackage to the lands of Matthew Ward in Davenport.

The C&CV was formed by a group of brothers and businessmen, since Thomas Cornell of Kingston, had "procrastinated" since 1872 in extending his Ulster and Delaware Railroad (U&D) westward from Stamford to Oneonta. The plan was to extend the existing line eastward from Cooperstown to Cooperstown Junction. The planned route was to lie along the Charlotte Valley through Davenport Center, Harpersfield; thence to Cooksburg, onetime terminal of the Canajoharie and Catskill, and down Catskill Creek to a connection with the West Shore Railroad.

Construction on the trackage began, following an 1888 blizzard, and by 1889, 6 miles (9.7 km) of trackage to West Davenport were completed. In early February 1890, the C&CV tracklayers reached Davenport Center, while the graders resumed work east of Harpersfield. Cornell died on March 30, 1890, and all further work on the C&CV was subsequently halted. The trackage ended at West Davenport, and then there was a hiatus of construction for one year.

In February 1891, the West Davenport Railroad was chartered, and they were authorized to construct a line from the West Davenport depot of the C&CV to the lands of the McLaury sisters, east of the Kort Right Brook. On April 13, 1891, the C&CV and the West Davenport Railroad were consolidated. Two days later, the C&CV leased the C&SV.

For the next several years, stagecoach service was provided between Kingston to Cooperstown, and it connected the railroad gap between the C&CV and the U&D. In March, 1899, the U&D began work west of Bloomville. In 1900, construction was completed of the U&D trackage to Davenport Center, West Davenport and Oneonta. Upon reaching Davenport Center, another line was installed to traverse the Charlotte Creek on a steel bridge, then followed the north bank of the creek to West Davenport, where a connection was made with the C&CV, and the two railroads using a joint station.

Delaware and Hudson ownership

In 1903, the C&CV fell under the ownership of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad, and became designated as the "Cooperstown Branch". The D&H built an ornate stone station in Cooperstown shortly thereafter. Along with a branch to Cherry Valley, the former C&CV line became a rural feeder into the D&H mainline. On August 10, 1905, passenger service between Cooperstown Junction and the U&D connection ceased.

In 1934, the New York State Public Service Commission permitted the discontinuance of all passenger service on the C&CV. The last scheduled passenger train operated from Cooperstown to Cooperstown Junction on June 24, 1934. Concurrently, the D&H constructed a turntable and a small locomotive maintenance facility in Cooperstown, but they were later removed in the 1950s.

On September 10 and 11, 1949, the post-World War II Freedom Train visited Cooperstown, attracting over 4,000 visitors. On March 1, 1957, the C&CV was formally merged into the D&H. By the 1960s, the Cooperstown Branch continued to operate, using ALCO S-type switchers and an ALCO RS-11. During that time, the former branch experienced declining traffic.

Delaware Otsego ownership

The remaining segment of the C&CV line from Cooperstown Junction to Cooperstown was sold by the D&H in 1971 to the Delaware Otsego Corporation. The sale took place after Delaware Otsego was forced to sell a 2.6-mile ex-New York Central Railroad line (the farthest-western end of its former Catskill Mountain Branch) at Oneonta, during the construction of Interstate 88 between Binghamton and Albany. Condemnation of this short U&D sector by NYSDOT saved the far-greater cost of building a large, concrete I-88 highway bridge over one deteriorated remnant of a branch line that had already been abandoned between Bloomville and Mickle Bridge, near West Davenport, in July, 1965. Delaware Otsego resurrected the C&CV name, which was last used in 1903 when the company was purchased by the D&H.

The C&CV built new locomotive maintenance facilities at Milford, and the headquarters for Delaware Otsego Corporation were located in the former Cooperstown station: the stone passenger station that the D&H built shortly after the 1903 takeover of the C&CV.

From 1971 to 1975, the C&CV operated a tourist railroad, using ex-United States Army 0-6-0 steam locomotive No. 2, which was subsequently left in storage in Milford. Excursion trains continued to operate exclusively behind diesels, until the mid-1980s.

Freight traffic on the C&CV declined by the early 1980s to several cars per week: typically, loads of lumber to Portlandville; animal feed to Agway in Milford and freight for several customers in Cooperstown.

The C&CV was used during the 1980s to store large numbers of idle St. Lawrence Railroad boxcars. Several of these cars were stored on Clintonville Hill in the vicinity of milepost 7, secured only with handbrakes despite the steepness of the grade. On one occasion, vandals released the brakes on several cars, which rolled southward and derailed at the foot of the grade. Metal pieces from the wreck can be found between the railroad right-of-way and the west bank of the Susquehanna River.

The last C&CV freight train operated in December 1987, and occasional equipment moves subsequently occurred on the line.

Leatherstocking chapter, NRHS ownership

In 1996, the Leatherstocking Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) purchased the line from DO. NRHS chapter volunteers performed vegetation removal and trackbed rehabilitation before the line was reopened for seasonal passenger excursion service between Cooperstown and Milford. In 1999, passenger excursions on the railroad commenced, retaining the C&CV name. Following a 2021 announcement, the railroad had planned to reopen the entire 16-mile line between Cooperstown and Cooperstown Junction, connection with the Norfolk Southern Railway (former Delaware and Hudson mainline), in 2023, but there has been little or no progress as of late July 2023.

Initially, the C&CV leased a former New York, Ontario and Western Railway locomotive, as well as two locomotives from the Green Mountain Railroad. It currently owns and operates a pair of ex-Canadian National Railway MLW switchers (ALCO S-4 and ALCO S-7 designs), which were acquired from Atlas Steel in Welland, Ontario. These locomotives continue the numbering scheme used by the D&H for its S series switchers (C&CV Nos. 3051 and 3052). In late 2012, No. 3051 was painted into a D&H livery, with C&CV lettering. No. 3052 is being painted as time permits, in service with half black paint and half blue from its previous owner. In August 2015, No. 3052 was restored to its original livery as Canadian National No. 8223.

Notably, the Leatherstocking Railroad Museum has a pair of former Amtrak GG1 electric locomotives (built by the Pennsylvania Railroad's own Altoona Shops as No. 4909 in December, 1941 and No. 4917 in June, 1942), both owned by the NRHS Leatherstocking Chapter itself as of January 17, 2022. On this date, No. 4909 was deeded to the Chapter as a gift by The Henry Ford Museum of Dearborn, Michigan. This locomotive had been purchased for $15,000 by the Museum from its owner, Chapter President Bruce E. Hodges, a number of years ago. However, both Canadian Pacific and its successor as the only connecting railroad—Norfolk Southern—finally refused to ever move it from Cooperstown Junction to Dearborn, due to alleged "clearance issues" and its 475,000-pound weight.

The Leatherstocking Museum is one of only three museums to possess more than one GG1; both the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania (Strasburg, PA) and the United Railroad Historical Society (Boonton, NJ) also have two each. Ten other U.S. museums have one each, with totals of 16 GG1's preserved and 123 scrapped (most following Conrail retirement in 1979 and total retirement by all operators in 1983). On the PRR, Penn Central and Amtrak, they ran between Washington, DC and New Haven, CT; between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, PA; and on several electrified freight branches such as the Trenton Cutoff (Morrisville-Glenloch, PA). CACV also owns or has constructed Maintenance of Way equipment.

External links

KML file (edit • help) Template:Attached KML/Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley RailroadKML is from Wikidata

Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad at Abandoned
Delaware Otsego System Tribute

References

Corporate History of the Delaware and Hudson Company and Subsidiary Companies, Vol. II. The Delaware and Hudson Company. 1906. p. 159.
"Final Payment on Cooperstown Railroad Made". The Otsego Farmer. Cooperstown, NY. August 20, 1938. p. 5.
"Railroads Come High When Built". The Otsego Farmer. Cooperstown, NY. December 11, 1931. p. 4.
Albany Evening Journal. Albany, NY. July 14, 1869. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
The Daily Observer. Utica, NY. October 25, 1875. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
Morning Herald. Utica, NY. May 31, 1876. p. 2. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
^ Corporate History of the Delaware and Hudson Company and Subsidiary Companies, Vol. II. The Delaware and Hudson Company. 1906.
Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle. Poughkeepsie, NY. June 9, 1880. p. 1. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
Morning Herald. Utica, NY. July 16, 1880. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
The Otsego Farmer. Cooperstown, NY. June 15, 1934. p. 2. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
"Freedom Train Is Visited by 4,000 Here". The Otsego Farmer. Cooperstown, NY. September 16, 1949. p. 1.
"Home". american-rails.com.
Emails and telephone calls from Bruce E. Hodges to this editor.

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