(rshsdepot) Fwd: [dandh] Corinth considers train depot future

["Darren E. Hadley" <stourbridge_lion_@_yahoo.com>]

> 
>       Corinth considers train depot future 
>       Open house scheduled to hear residents' ideas
> for crumbling building  
>         
>       By LEIGH HORNBECK, Staff writer 
>       Click byline for more stories by writer. 
>       First published: Wednesday, April 26, 2006 
>      
>       CORINTH -- Broken down and draped in tarps,
> the Corinth depot doesn't look like much now. But
> after a decade of wishing and hoping, a group of
> locals is seeing plans finally take shape to create
> a welcoming sight along the train tracks. 
>       The Scenic Rail Implementation Committee will
> hold an open house Monday at the Corinth Fire House
> to gauge public interest in the 100-year-old depot
> and find out if people want to see it renovated or
> knocked down and replaced with a new building --
> perhaps a replica of the 20-by-50-foot depot. 
> 
>       "This is a vital, historic building in our
> community," said village Trustee Pauline Densmore
> during a recent visit to the depot. "It should be
> used for something -- a depot, a restaurant or a
> gift shop." 
> 
>       The depot had its heyday decades ago when the
> Hudson River Pulp and Paper Company -- later
> International Paper -- a tool factory, a woolen mill
> and a chair factory all depended on the train. By
> 1960, the tracks were silent. 
> 
>       Densmore, a native of Corinth, has been
> working for more than a decade to refurbish the
> depot, but said there wasn't much point in the work
> until the town acquired the tracks from CP Rail in
> December of last year. 
> 
>       The town bought 16.8 miles of track between
> Saratoga Springs and the Saratoga-Warren County line
> for $2.2 million using federal money first earmarked
> by the late U.S. Congressman Gerald Solomon,
> R-Queensbury, in 1998 as well as money from the
> Corinth Industrial Development Agency, said
> Supervisor Richard Lucia. The federal grants covered
> the cost of renovating the Saratoga Springs train
> station eight years ago. The grants have since been
> sponsored by Rep. John Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, and
> used to buy and improve rail line and accompanying
> stations in Warren County. 
> 
>       A $95,000 grant will pay Creighton Manning
> Engineering of Albany to do a design report on the
> Corinth depot. Final results, including cost
> estimates for renovating or demolishing the
> structure, will be released in the fall. 
> 
>       Warren County owns another 40 miles of the
> line and this summer the Upper Hudson River Railroad
> will extend its scenic train trips 14 miles to the
> Thousand Acres Dude Ranch in Stony Creek, for a
> total of 28 miles from the North Creek train
> station, where President Theodore Roosevelt first
> heard the news President William McKinley was dead
> in 1901. 
> 
>       In addition to the historic status of the
> tracks and the depot, scenic train rides will help
> bring tourists into Corinth, Densmore said. A
> trolley to carry passengers from the depot on the
> mile-long trip into Corinth's downtown will be part
> of the final project. 
> 
>       Upper Hudson River Railroad began running
> trips on the rails in 1999 after a lengthy
> fundraising process to pay for the restoration of
> the North Creek station. Company President John
> Riegel said he has applied to run a scenic train
> operation in Saratoga County.
> 
> 
>      
> 
> The Delaware and Hudson Railroad built the rail line
> to haul iron ore out of the wilderness. The
> Adirondack railroad began in Saratoga Springs in
> 1865 and reached North Creek in 1871. By the 1930s,
> skiers from Schenectady and points south were riding
> the rails to the Ski Bowl in North Creek. Rex Moon,
> a retired school superintendent now serving on the
> scenic rail committee, was among them, he said. 
> North Country leaders want to see a return of the
> ski trains and Densmore emphasized the importance of
> winter sports in the future of the depot. She wants
> to see trails for snowmobilers incorporated into the
> site. 
> 
> The small depot has a wide overhang that makes it
> look like a chalet and graceful, curled supports
> beneath the overhang. Inside, dark hardwood, now
> water-damaged and dirty, gives a glimpse of what it
> must have once looked like. Moon, poking around the
> ruins, found a lever and concluded it operated a
> light that let the train conductor know whether or
> not passengers were waiting. 
> 
> "I'd call the architectural style early D&H," Moon
> joked. 
> 
> Hornbeck can be reached at 581-8438 or by e-mail at
> lhornbeck_@_timesunion.com. 
> 
> What to do 
> 
> 
> a.. What: Public information meeting hosted by the
> Corinth rail station restoration committee and
> consultants. 
> a.. When: 5:30-8 p.m. Monday 
> a.. Where: Corinth Fire House, Route 9N 
> a.. Info: Pauline Densmore, 654-9198, weekdays
> between 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. 

Darren E. Hadley (BLHS & DHCHS Member)
  Delaware and Hudson Virtual Museum (DHVM)
Railroad Adventures (RRAdventures)
  
 

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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