The Ghent station was a former

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

that served the residents of

Ghent, New York Ghent is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Columbia County, New York, United States, with a ZIP code of 12075. The population was 5,303 at the 2020 census, down from the 2010 census population of 5,402.US Census Bureau, 2020 Cen ...

History

The station catered to a local community that had a substantial industry during the era of the NYCRR, and, earlier, the

New York and Harlem Railroad The New York and Harlem Railroad (now the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line) was one of the first railroads in the United States, and was the world's first street railway. Designed by John Stephenson, it was opened in stages between 1832 and ...

. Prior to this, however, another railroad laid tracks through the community nearby: specifically, the

Hudson and Berkshire Railroad The Hudson and Boston Railroad was a railroad that spanned across Southern and Central Columbia County, New York. It was chartered in 1855 and acquired by the Boston and Albany Railroad in 1870, only to face its gradual demise beginning in 1959. ...

, which was completed in 1846 between Hudson and Chatham It went bankrupt and was reorganized as the Hudson and Boston Railroad in 1855: later acquired by the

Boston and Albany Railroad The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The mainline is currently used by CSX for freight a ...

in 1870, which eventually downgraded it to the B&A Hudson Branch. The New York and Harlem laid tracks through Ghent to Chatham in 1852. The line was eventually taken over by the

(NYCRR), and provided both passenger and freight train service. Ghent was the station that served both the Harlem Division and the former

Hudson Branch. The station had a tower that coordinated the two railroads from here to Chatham Union Station until 1936. It also included a hotel named The Bartlett House, which was built in 1870 and has been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

since May 8, 2012. However, with the demise of the NYCRR, and its 1968 merger with the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

to form the soon to be bankrupt

Penn Central Railroad The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals, the Pennsylvania Railroad, ...

, passenger services ceased on March 20, 1972. Ghent provided commercial freight-only service, and even became a terminus for freight when

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...

acquired the line in 1976 and eliminated it between here and Millerton station in

Dutchess County Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later org ...

. The station continued to do so until 1980, when the tracks between here and Chatham Union Station were dismantled. The Harlem Valley Rail Trail Association plans to extend the trail along the right-of-way in front of the site of the former station.Harlem Valley Rail Trail map
/ref>

References

Former New York Central Railroad stations Former railway stations in New York (state) Transportation in Columbia County, New York Railway stations in Columbia County, New York Railway stations in the United States opened in 1852 {{NewYork-railstation-stub