A special blog for Tom and Sam

Milford,   NY

This blog is for our friends Tom Ayers and Sam Weibel.   They are both railroad buffs. 

Today we rode the

The Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railroad began operations on July 14, 1869.   It was purchased by the Leatherstocking RR Historical Society in 1997 after laying dormant for two decades.

Milford Depot built in 1869.

The engine is former Canadian National, Alco Montreal  Locomotive Works S4-#3051 built in 1956.

The passenger cars were built in 1920's by the Pullman Car Manufacturing Co and used as commuter cars for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western RR out of Hoboken,  NJ

The dining and souvenir car is a former Delaware and Hudson Passenger Coach built in 1916.

The Leatherstocking RR Historical Society owns 16 miles of RR but at the current time only 8 miles are in operation.   The train runs from Milford to Cooperstown with one stop at the Cooperstown Dreams Park Baseball Camp.

The park opened in 1996 for Little League Teams to compete in week long tournaments.  There are 26 playing fields.  Each week of the 12 week season, 1,800 players and coaches travel to this camp.

The railroad line runs parallel to, and twice crosses over, the Susquehanna River.

It surprised us to learn what we thought was a small stream running next to the RR, is actually the Susquehanna.   We are used to seeing this river in PA and MD where it is wide and actually looks like a river.   Susquehanna means winding river.  It starts at Lake Otsego in Cooperstown and continues, growing larger all the time, until it finally empties into the Chesapeake Bay 445 miles away.

The entire trip with stops once at the Cooperstown Dreams Park to pick up passengers and then to a Trolley parking lot near Cooperstown where the engine disengages and then reconnects at the opposite end, took a little over 2 1/2 hours.  It was well worth the fee of $14.00/$13.00 Seniors.

Another one for your list of places to see, Tom and Sam!!