Driving downtown every day for work takes me past a building with tracks still in place outside of it but seemingly coming from and going to nowhere. I first spotted these tracks when I was visiting Albany with my father while looking for apartments, and they have stuck in my mind ever since. Thus, when I saw a slide on Ebay that showed them in service I had to buy it. It is dated May 26, 1990.
I haven't ever seen another picture of a train working the industry. I really like the billboard Burlington Northern and Santa Fe boxcars' artwork on the sides of those cars. And there is even a caboose on the end... I don't remember if this was still the era of required 5-person crews. It is less than a mile north of Kenwood Yard, and less than 6 miles south of Colonie Yard. Due to the location of the caboose, I would assume that they came from Colonie as there isn't a nearby runaround track. Based on the track that still remains today, it was a trailing point switch. The headshunt that extended left beyond the building only went about 500' beyond. Here is the same location, shot on rainy February 27, 2021.
Per a D&H Facebook group discussion, this industry was on the "Water Street Branch" that the D&H rebuilt around 1989. The company would receive loads of Gatorade and then distribute them. It was a short lived arrangement as Conrail offered them a better rate and the business was moved to a different location. I am not sure when they stopped receiving rail service.
The end of the branch came off of the Colonie Main line right around where the Bulk Handlers used to be. If you look at this blog post you can see the track at the very bottom breaking off the main line, and it passed behind what is now Huck Finn's Warehouse and extended to J. Treffilette and Sons, where presumably it ended. I believe until recently the building was owned by a State Agency. The satellite image above shows the remains of the switch, the loading dock, and the two tracks left to rot away.
I wish I could learn more about this place, but it has been too long. But every time I drive by on the expressway (seen at the very right of the above picture), I can imagine the D&H dropping off Gatorade.
CAn't offer anything about this exact location, but I worked for C&S Wholesale Grocers, the nation's largest independent food wholesaler, for a couple of years so maybe can give you some insight.
ReplyDeleteMost food wholesalers today receive only a few items by rail: fresh fruit and veggies from the west coast. Everything else usually comes by truck. At our S. Hadley, MA center, we'd get two refrigerated carloads a week.
Only a few centers will handle "fresh" fruit, as what is received is typically picked well before its ripe and then put into giant sealed closets where the atmosphere is rich in CO2 to ripen the product before it goes to the retailer. This is why you might see CO2 tanks outside a distribution center. That, and a fleet of truck trailers and reefer trailers.
And even though the profit margins for food wholesalers are less than 1%, the premises are usually kept clean and well maintained to inspire confidence in buyers and keep the USDA inspectors happy.
Hope this helps!
Thank you for your insight.
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