New York’s Capital District was ideally situated to become one of the nation’s earliest and most important transportation crossroads. The Mohawk River was the only water level gap in the Appalachian range to the west, which led to the construction of the Erie Canal. Soon after its completion, the state’s first railroad began operating between Albany and Schenectady in 1831. Other pioneer railroads followed, heading north to Canada, south to New York City, west to Chicago, and east to Boston. Over the next century, railroads like the New York Central, Boston & Albany, Boston & Maine, and Delaware & Hudson built extensive passenger stations, freight and classification yards, and repair shops in the tri-city region. Passenger operations continue today at the Schenectady and Albany-Rensselaer Amtrak stations, while the Selkirk Yard is still an important classification point for CSX Transportation.
Timothy Starr has been a fan of local history from an early age. Over the course of writing 15 history books, he has amassed a large collection of photographs, particularly from the late Chris Morley and Joseph Smith, both longtime collectors. The result is Railroads of New York’s Capital District, which contains a thorough pictorial documentation of the railroads and the industries they spawned from their beginnings to the late 1960s.