Скачать или смотреть #Found

Found! Ruins of the Abandoned New York Central’s West Albany Railyard
West Albany, Albany, NY

My great love of history and my fascination of trains and the railroad has brought me to some different places over time: from active rail lines, abandoned rail lines, rail stations and rail terminals. One spot I’ve aways noticed as I drive I-90 through Albany is a railyard tucked down in a non-distinctive industrial area. As I investigated the area more I found that this was the West Albany CSX yard that had a lot of history.

In 1853 ten railroads merged into the New York Central Railroad and a large railyard was needed in the capital area of New York. By 1854 work began on a 250 acre site in West Albany that later expanded to another 100 acres. [1] The car shops at the West Albany Yard had over 6,000 employees at its height and in 1893 these car shops built Engine 999. [2] The 999 Steam Locomotive was a new idea in speed and was assigned to haul the New York Central Railroad's glorious new passenger train, the Empire State Express. [3] On May 10, 1893, Engine 999 became the fastest land vehicle when it reached a record speed of 112.5 mph. It was designed by William Buchanan and manufactured in the car shops in West Albany, New York.[4]

Around this time when Engine 999 was being built, locomotive building was beginning to contract out to the ALCO in Schenectady. The last steam engine to be repaired at the West Albany Shops would be in 1952, and shops closing in 1954. The site was sold in 1955, equipment sold in 1956, and the buildings were destroyed in 1964. The West Albany Industrial Park in the city of Albany uses most of the site today. What remains in use now is a small freight car operation with the main track used by freight and Amtrak passenger trains. [5]

These were fantastic finds: I figured I might find some old ties, maybe some rails but I found multiple aspects of ruins. I did find old ties, but I also found buildings, basements, concrete walls, a broken off direction sign, and the hump yard portion of the NYCRR West Albany Rail Yard. I hope you like the video as much as I did making it. Thanks for watching, and please leave a comment. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe, hit the like button and ring the bell. Of course, leave a comment and tell me what you think or add more historical information.

[1] Arthur James Weise. The History of the City of Albany, [New York. E.H. Bender], 1884, p. 479.
[2] Paul Grondahl. "Railroad's drive drove era of prosperity,” Albany Times Union, October 16, 2006.
[3] Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. 999 Steam Locomotive, https://www.msichicago.org/explore/wh..., 2024.
[4] Tim O'Brien "Albany's Engine 999 Flew into History,” Albany Times Union, September 7, 2003.
[5] Joann Crupi. "Diesels derail West Albany locomotive shops as the old engines disappear, so does an area industry,” Albany Times Union. July 4, 1999.

Dr. RGST INFORMATION: https://rich3224.wixsite.com/rugenstein

Dr. RGST’s BOOKS: https://fiction4all.com/ebooks/a2362.htm

CHANNEL MERCHANDISE: http://tee.pub/lic/CulturalHistorian

GYPSY-GUY MERCHANDISE, a great place to buy Camping, Hiking, travel clothing and equipment here and use the Coupon Code DrRGST to get 15% off: https://gypsy-guy.com/?ref=fdwRnSax

Please check out my other videos. . . I have different playlists that include:
Interesting Places of Cultural & History
Cities-History/Culture
Trains/Railroads & Canals
Historic Cemeteries
Troy, NY History/Culture
The Baker Sheep Farm Archaeological Site
and of course, “shorts.”