Stamford Train program in January!

Karen Cuccinello, our archives clerk, will be presenting the program “Stamford Train – Beginning to End” on January 18th at 1pm. (Snow date Jan. 19th.) She’ll be doing a slide show and talk related to the following article. Hope to see you at the library!

Stamford Train
In February of 1954 the discontinuance of the passenger, mail and railway express train service on the Catskill Mountain branch of the NY Central Railroad was authorized by the State Public Service Commission. New York Central had been trying to shut down the passenger service for about a year prior against heavy opposition from the people in the Stamford area. The last train, often billed as “The Only All-Rail Route to the Catskill Mountains”, ran on March 31, 1954 with a large fanfare, after 82 years of service.
The first passenger train of the New York, Kingston and Syracuse Railroad to reach Stamford left Kingston on December 12, 1872. It was about a 75 mile journey. The train tracks eventually made their way to Oneonta by the year 1900 to complete the run of 104 miles.
The Rondout and Oswego Railroad, chartered in 1866, went bankrupt after the tracks reached Roxbury in the summer of 1872 and was reorganized as the New York, Kingston and Syracuse Railroad. This R.R. went bankrupt in 1875 and became the Ulster & Delaware R.R. (U&D). In 1932 the U&D was merged into the New York Central and became known as the Catskill Mountain Branch, and in 1968 Penn Central took over. At its peak, in 1913, it carried 676,000 passengers.
September 1877 Stamford Mirror (SM)- New time-table went into effect on the U & D Railroad. The morning train leaves Stamford at 6:15, and reaches Rondout at 11:30. The mail train leaves Rondout at 7:30, arrives at Stamford at 1P.M.; leaves Stamford at 2, and arrives at Rondout at 5:30 PM.
May 1879 (SM)- Our people cannot complain of our facilities of travel to and from New York (City), take the 1:30 train at Stamford to Rondout, then step on board either the Baldwin or Thomas Cornell, as good and elegant floating palaces as a person can ask, spend an evening viewing the prettiest river scenery in the world, spend a night of refreshing balmy sleep, and wake up in the morning in New York, fresh for business or pleasure- all for $3.22.
September 1879 (SM)- The largest regular passenger train that ever ran over the U&D railroad was the 8:20 from Stamford on August 30th, Thomas Kennedy the conductor, upon arrival at Rondout there were 222 passengers and 174 pieces of baggage.
July 1908 Gilboa Monitor- F.A. Peck, U&D mail clerk was held up and robbed on the train near Stamford by two tramps who boarded the train at Grand Gorge. They took $17 from him, but were frightened from further depredation when the train approached Stamford and jumping off, disappeared.
August 1925 (SM)- Another new industry is rapidly developing in the Stamford section- that of growing cauliflower. Within the past few days the U&D railroad has added an extra fast freight exclusively for the shipment of cauliflower, and vicinity shippers are finding this daily service a great convenience. This train leaves Stamford daily following the 1:15PM passenger train and arrives in New York City the same night in ample time for the opening of the morning markets.
Three additional coaches were added for the last train ride from Kingston to Oneonta. Hundreds of people enjoyed the last ride including a full car of 60 Kingston Rotarians and a group of 60 Grand Gorge Central School students. The train was greeted by the Stamford Central School band under the direction of Daniel Mincarelli.
Freight runs continued after the passenger and mail service ended but they were lessened. Trucks were to be used to carry mail between Kingston and Oneonta starting on April 1st, 1954.
Following the blizzard of February 1958 a freight train and railroad snowplow went off the tracks one mile East of Stamford and held up rail traffic for three days.
In 1965, when the freight stopped rolling, the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce and interested parties met at the Delaware Inn to discuss a proposed “short line” railroad to operate between Oneonta and Bloomville as a tourist attraction. More than $14,000 had been pledged towards this $205,000 project. Sadly it did not happen.
This story came to light because of a bunch of glass slides that Pat Parks, of the Stamford Village Library, found in a corner of the Libraries history room. The slides of Stamford events, mostly from the 1950’s through the 1970’s will all eventually be digitized over the next month.