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Ulster & Delaware
Railroad |
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Narrow Gauge Locomotives of the Ulster & Delaware Railroad Stony Clove & Catskill Mountain Railroad Later the Narrow Gauge Division of the Ulster & Delaware Railroad | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The three-foot narrow gauge lines of the Stony Clove & Catskill Mountain Railroad (SC&CM) and the Kaaterskill Railroad (KRR) were constructed in the early 1880's, to provide passenger and freight service to the Mountaintop towns of Greene County. The lines, extending from Phoenicia to Hunter (SC&CM) and from Kaaterskill Junction to Kaaterskill (KRR), were constructed through rough and mountainous territory. Both railroads were funded entirely by Ulster & Delware Railroad interests and to reduce costs an initial three foot (3' between rails) gauge was chosen for both lines. A succession of seven, diminutive but adequate, steam locomotives plodded along the light narrow gauge rails of the SC&CM and KRR. As a formality, the SC&CM and KRR were absorbed into the Ulster & Delaware Railroad in 1893. The two narrow gauge roads then became the Narrow Gauge Division of the Ulster & Delaware Railroad. The narrow gauge locomotives were then renumbered as U&D 1 through 5. By 1899 a larger amount of traffic to the mountaintop prompted management to standard gauge (4' 8-1/2" between rails) the old SC&CM and KRR lines. Being no longer usable, the little narrow gauge locomotives were sold off by the U&D.
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