Alphabet Soup in History Form

The 0-6-0 Switcher locomotive on the front of this post card is the

No. 2 of the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad. It is leaving Cooperstown Junction and headed for Cooperstown. It is carrying the Saturday mixed train on the former Delaware & Hudson Railroad's branch line. When this picture was taken on May 15, 1971 the line was one of the newest shortlines in the United States. This website gives a complex history of the history and owners of this line. Thus, the title "Alphabet Soup in History Form" https://www.lrhs.com/history-of-the-cooperstown-and-charlotte-valley/ In 1865 the Articles of Association for the Cooperstown and Susquehanna Valley R.R. Company (C&SVRR) were filed. The stated purpose was to construct a railroad “from a point at or near the Village of Cooperstown to a point at or near Colliersville forming a junction with the Albany and Susquehanna Rail Road”. In February 1868 work was started on the line. However, the first train was not run until July 14, 1869. The road was broad gauge (6 feet) to be compatible with the Albany & Susquehanna. On May 28, 1876, in exactly one day, the entire 16 miles was “narrowed up” “the work being completed by 4 p.m.” Two extensions of the C&SVRR were authorized by the State. The first was in 1869 from Cooperstown to Richfield Springs. The second was in 1885 for an extension from its “southern terminus … to or near the ‘Hemlocks’ on the Charlotte creek in the town of Davenport”. In 1888 Articles of Association were filed for the Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley R.R. Co. (C&CVRR) The C&CVRR was likewise authorized to build from the “Hemlocks”, but only as far as the lands of Matthew Ward in the town of Davenport. In February 1891 the West Davenport R. R. was chartered. It was authorized to build from the West Davenport depot of the C&CVRR to the lands of “the McLaury sisters a short distance east of the Kort Right Brook”. On April 13, 1891, the C&CVRR and the West Davenport R.R. were consolidated. Two days later the C&CVRR leased the C&SVRR. Work on this railroad started after the blizzard of 1888. By 1889, “the track of the new Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad (C&CV) progressed eastward for only 6 miles to West Davenport, though graders built culverts, fills and rock cuttings up the valley of Charlotte Creek beyond Davenport, well into Harpersfield Township, before the winter of 1889-90 set in.” “Early in February 1890, the C&CV tracklayers reached Davenport Center, while the graders resuIn 1934, the New York State Public Service Commission permitted the discontinuance of passenger service on the C&CV. The last scheduled passenger train left Cooperstown on June 24.med work east of Harpersfield.” The C&CV was merged into the D&H effective March 1, 1957. The remaining segment of the C&CV line from Cooperstown Junction to Cooperstown was sold by the D&H in 1970 to Delaware Otsego Corporation The sale took place after Delaware Otsego was forced to sell an ex-New York Central Railroad line, following the construction of Interstate 88 between Binghampton and Albany. Delaware Otsego resurrected the C&CV name which was last used in 1930 when the company was merged into the Delaware & Hudson Railroad (D&H). Freight traffic on the CACV declined by the early 1980s to several cars per week, typically loads of lumber in Portlandville, animal feed at Agway in Milford, and several customers in Cooperstown. The CACV was used during the 1980s to store large numbers of idle St. Lawrence Railroad boxcars. The last CACV freight train operated in December 1987, followed by infrequent equipment moves until being purchased by the Leatherstocking Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in 1996. The Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society (Leatherstocking Chapter NRHS) purchased the line from Delaware Otsego Corporation in 1996. Volunteers performed vegetation removal and trackbed rehabilitation before the line was reopened for seasonal passenger excursion trains between Cooperstown and Milford in 1999, retaining the CACV name. The southern half of the line provides a connection to the Canadian Pacific Railway the current owner of the D&H.

The post card is one of 333 I have that were published by Audio Visual Designs.