Ulster & Delaware Railroad Train at Tannersville, New York in September, 1900.
Kaaterskill-Phoenica Train Crew.
Left to Right: Perry McDonald Conductor, Emery Craw Trainman, Andrew Gulnick Trainman, Raymond S. Baldwin Baggageman and Henry C. Sherman Engineer.
1 comment:
More than half a century ago my parents used to bring the family to Tannersville NY each summer for July and August.
As a small child I used to play around that long abandoned little train station one can observe in the photo. The doors had been locked for decades and it was always my boyish fantasy to find a way to get inside and explore that little train station filled with the ghosts of passengers from another era.
The station was only about one hundred yards from the nearby Tannersville lake and though the train tracks near the station had been pulled up and removed ages ago, on the side of the lake the tracks, ancient and overgrown still remained and ran on for what seemed to be miles before they too seemed to disappear into the nothingness of dense trees and vegetation.
I would often follow the tracks on hot, breezy summer afternoons till they vanished into time. And I was often sure I could hear big, hungry mountain bears following me at a close distance, keeping a watchful eye on me.
The thought of that danger made my escapades along the ancient abandoned railroad tracks seem that much more exciting as the element of fear was always with me.
The photo you have saved for posterity, is the very first I have ever seen depicting an actual train next to the old station and it conjured up in my mind a flood of memories that reached back fifty years.
You all deserve much thanks and deep appreciation for preserving the history of American railroading in general and these small town mountain train stations in particular.
I will always treasure this old photo as a reminder of a time in my life, and Tannersville's life, that is no more. But the vivid memories of that long ago time are vividly and indelibly etched in my mind forever.
Thank you again for publishing this old photo from Tannersville, NY.
David Pakter, NYC
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