Down in the Hudson Valley

I was on the road for work again this past weekend, and of course I felt an obligation to do some railfanning. This time I was in the Hudson Valley of eastern New York state, which presented the opportunity for a side trip to the Trolley Museum of New York in Kingston.




TMNY is a small museum in the flats along Rondout Creek near the Hudson; they've recently rebuilt much of their main line track and are working on putting up trolley wire. This was a "drive-by photo shooting" by myself, so I just took some photos over the fence. To the left is one of their three Boston PCC cars; to the right is an overview of their yard showing (L-R) a work truck in front of a Whitcomb center-cab, a NYC subway car, a work flat in front of a Hudson & Manhattan work car, and the other two Boston PCC's in the right background. Their barn contains, among other cars, the only aluminum PCC ever built and their operating car, a Johnston streetcar rebuilt by a former owner with a diesel engine.



Right across the street these examples of marine preservation caught my attention; on the left is a PT boat owned by a group called Fleet Obsolete, with another PT boat under restoration in the right foreground. On the right is the 1898 tug "Mathilda," on display next to the Hudson River Maritime Museum.
On my way out of town I had to take a short trip down Route 209 and check out the forlorn sight above, that of Lackawanna MU car 4322 sitting on the side of the road. This car may someday see refurbishment and use but for now it's more of an abandoned roadside attraction.

And then there were the sights to be seen in Middletown, NY, where I was working. Below left is the old Erie station, which has been restored and readapted as the town library. To the right is the old New York Ontario & Western depot, which from 1936 until 1957 doubled as that railroad's corporate headquarters; a fire in February 2004 gutted the far end of the building and, from the looks of it, it's pretty much been awaiting the wrecking ball ever since.


Hopefully you enjoyed this trip through the Hudson Valley... more (actually IRM-related) news to come soon!