New York Railroads
Unofficial website for

Adirondack Rail Volunteers

 Official railroad website:  www.adirondackrr.com
Utica office:  315-724-0700

This site was created to set up a web-based information base for volunteers that work for the Adirondack Scenic RR, as well as members of the Adirondack Railway Preservation Society.  

The Adirondack Railroad has existed for over 100 years, celebrating its first century in 1992 when the long-abandoned tracks were again revived by a small band of enthusiasts, mainly based in Utica, New York.  New York State, owner of the land allowed this enthusiastic group to operate on approximately five miles of track.  The railroad was back!!

The railroad would be named the Adirondack Centennial Railroad and the group responsible for re-establishing service in the Old Forge [NY] area was the Utica & Mohawk Valley Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.  The Adirondack Centennial Railroad ran for two seasons.  Since the group was local to the Utica area, many members worked to expand the scope of this project well beyond those first few miles and the Adirondack Railroad Preservation Society [ARPS] was created to represent a much larger area, attracting members from all over New York State as well as throughout the United States.  By 1994, under ARPS guidance, the operation began to push for more mileage, attracted many new members and volunteers and as the years have passed, more and more of the track work has been rebuilt, with a great deal of the credit going to New York State and NYS Department of Transportation for funding this rebirth.  

The railroad owes its life to those visionaries that loved the magic of this line through the Adirondacks.

On any given weekend in the summer, there are usually three trains running the Adirondack rails, the original Thendara [Old Forge] local excursion train, an all-day excursion that operates from Utica's restored Utica Union Station to Old Forge and the railroad's newest operation, an excursion train on the northern most 10 miles of track, between Saranac Lake & Lake Placid, NY.  One day, perhaps in the next few years, the trains will again be able to run the full 141 miles of line between Utica and Lake Placid.  But, before that can happen, there is a lot of work to be done.  This is the volunteer railroad.  You can be sure that there will be volunteers working to restore both track and equipment to get there.

This page was created for www.newyorkrailroads.com
Email corrections to Tom Trencansky, publicity@newyorkrailroads.com

New York Railroads  ©  Updated 11/27/04tt