2011 Road Trip – Railroad Depots (#8) NY

Continuing our late summer adventures…

After leaving the Adirondacks and nearing the shores of Lake Champlain, our route took us to Westport New York and then south on NY Rte. 9N and NY Rte. 22 toward the Albany area.  First, we had to stop to check out a very old and classy railroad depot at Westport.

This Depot was built in 1876 by the Delaware & Hudson Railroad.  It was expanded in 1891 and then again in 1908.  Note all of the authentic hand carts… The best news is that this is still an active railroad station and, with the allowance for a 3-year break in service before Amtrak took over the route, this station has been in business for 132 years!

The Amtrak ‘Adirondack Line’ serves Westport twice daily…with one train south at 1:40 PM to New York City, and again at 2:08 PM with a train to Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  In Fiscal 2011, a total of 4,520 passengers used Amtrak from this depot.

For a great photo of the Westport Depot and the Canadian National Holiday Train, just go to http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=262095.

This is an old stove that was once used to heat the depot… The depot was restored by the Westport Historical Society in conjunction with the Depot Theatre.  The Depot Theatre is a professional Actor’s Equity theatre with a number of plays, performances and events being staged in the depot each year.  For more information on the Theatre, go to http://depottheatre.org/.

This stone Romanesque revival railway depot is just a bit south of Westport in Port Henry New York.  The depot was built in 1898 by the Delaware & Hudson Railroad and, as with the Westport depot, it’s still an active Amtrak passenger terminal.  The southbound Adirondack train to New York City stops here, (if needed), at 2:09 PM and the northbound train to Montreal stops here at 1:39 PM.  A total of 2,160 passengers utilized Amtrak via this depot in fiscal 2011.  The building is also used as the Port Henry Senior Citizen’s Center…

This is a Montreal Locomotive Works RS-18 Diesel Engine that was built in 1958 for the Canadian Pacific Railroad.  A total of 381 of these 1,800 HP locomotives were built.  This locomotive as well as the coal car and the caboose were donated to the town of Port Henry by CP for display adjacent to the depot. 

The rolling stock has all been painted to commemorate the Lake Champlain & Moriah Railroad, an old 7 mile short line built in 1869 that eventually connected with the D&H line in Port Clinton from an early iron mine owned first by the Witherbee-Sherman Company…later by Republic Steel.

For some really terrific scenic photos of the Port Henry Depot in the winter with diesel trains passing by, just click on http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?location=Port%20Henry%20Station

Just click on any photo to enlarge it…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave