Grand Gorge station, MP 65.5 on the

Ulster and Delaware Railroad The Ulster and Delaware Railroad (U&D) was a railroad located in the state of New York. It was often advertised as "The Only All-Rail Route to the Catskill Mountains." At its greatest extent, the U&D extended from Kingston Point on the Hudson R ...

(U&D), originally known as Moresville, is a

train station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing suc ...

that had more

freight In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in ...

service than passenger service. Its main business was the freight coming from the local

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

s and

dairy A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

products from the Decker–Slawson Creamery, which later became the Sheffield Farms Creamery. It also served the nearby community of Prattsville. For a time Grand Gorge was the site of great activity when the construction of the

Schenectady Schenectady ( ) is a City (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...

and Margaretville Railroad was attempted. Special sidings were built for contractors and a large volume of equipment and supplies were delivered to commence construction. Hundreds of Italian laborers recruited from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

were set to work grading the new line. Unfortunately, the money soon ran out, the workers were not paid and the whole project collapsed. Many of the laborers walked back to New York City following the tracks on which they had arrived. Evidence of the grading can still be seen today along the valley from Grand Gorge down to Prattsville. The original station at Grand Gorge was one of the old board-and-batten Rondout and Oswego stations. However, this station was razed by

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

in the 1890s, and was replaced with a more-traditional station. However, this station was abandoned on March 31, 1954, with the end of passenger service on the U&D. It was eventually so deteriorated that the

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 ...

tore it down in the late 1950s, in fear that someone could get hurt. The station was located at the intersection of New York Route 30 and Ferris Hill Road.

References

External links

Ulster and Delaware Railroad Historical Society map
Railway stations in the Catskill Mountains Former Ulster and Delaware Railroad stations Railway stations in Delaware County, New York Former railway stations in New York (state) Railway stations in the United States closed in 1954 1954 disestablishments in New York (state) {{NewYork-railstation-stub