Untitled Document
Leatherstocking Rails
A History of Railroading Along the Upper Susquehanna
By Jim Loudon.
Softcover, 8.5x11", 264 pages, 600+ b/w photos, maps, drawings, ephemera. 2005.
"Leatherstocking Rails is a detailed book about every railroad and trolley line that was ever built - or planned to be built - in Otsego County.
"Jim Loudon devotes one or more chapters to the following actual railroads: the Albany and Susquehanna; the Delaware and Hudson; the Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley; the Oneonta, Cooperstown and Richfield Springs trolley line; the Cherry Valley, Sharon and Albany; the Ulster and Delaware; and the Utica, Chenango and Susquehanna Valley, which became part of the Erie-Lackawanna.
"For each railroad there's a chapter with a historical outline, followed by maps and photographs of each station stop and photographs of locomotives an rolling stock. You'll note those station buildings still standing and those that are gone. In addition to pioneer and horse-powered railroads,there are a chapter each to the Catskill, Middleburgh and Cooperstown and the Catskill Mountain and Mohawk Valley railroads that were planned but never built."
"Jim Loudon is a native of Otsego County and currently resides in the West End of Oneonta, New York. He graduated from the State University of New York College at Oneonta in 1972 with a BS in Liberal Arts, majoring in art and history. In 1982 Jim organized the Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society, which currently operates the Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railroad tourist train ride, and for which he has served as Conductor, Engineer, and Brakeman. For over two decades Jim has devoted his time to researching the local area's railroad history, authoring several articles on the subject, as well as another book, The Oneonta Roundhouse. A practitioner of the visual arts, the subjects of Jim's paintings, drawings and photographs include wildlife, landscapes, locomotives and antique tractors."
