The end of the Troy Local?

Across the river from Albany, NY is the city of Troy. Whereas once it was a bustling town that hosted several railroads (NYC, B&M, and D&H) but now there isn't much rail served business left. Sometimes I would see the CSX trains head over the Hudson River bridge in the morning and I always wanted to railfan it, so one day in the summer of 2015 I got my chance. I took the whole day and parked in various spots in Troy along the tracks to figure out the best photo spots, and then waited. And waited. For hours, actually, but no train. I finally asked the employees at Interstate Commodities if a train was due that day and they said yes. Turns out, CSX had gotten held up at the bridge and had to wait for clearance to cross. When they finally showed up, it was late in the afternoon.

Until recently there were at least three industries located at the northern end of a long spur that crossed over the Hudson River on a swing bridge, then turned sharply north and ran along the river about six or seven miles until it reached the area shown in the picture below (north is directly left). I took a lot of pictures, talked with the owner, and had a great time. I always meant to get back and catch another train, but never did. And then recently I drove there and the tracks were completely rusted over and the place looked deserted. Upon getting home, I searched online and found out that Interstate Commodities had declared bankruptcy in the fall of 2020. Perhaps due to Covid? I don't know, but the property was purchased by an Architect and will be redesigned for something else (condos likely) so the days of the Troy Local here are probably done. It is sad.

In the center was Interstate Commodities, which at one time sold more than 30 commodities around the world, operated grain facilities and fertilizer plants, and managed 10,000 rail cars and five repair shops. For years as I was driving to work I would look across the river and see strings of covered hoppers. Along the lower left is a huge pile of salt, and covered hoppers of salt are/were brought up seemingly year round and dumped into a large pile 20-30 feet tall. Finally, in the upper left corner is a lone refridgerated, insulated boxcar and I heard that a Latino grocery would order supplies on occasion and unload them here. Behind the car is a long, old freight station.

I took a lot of pictures, talked with the owner, and had a great time. I always meant to get back and catch another train, but never did. And then recently I drove there and the tracks were completely rusted over and the place looked deserted. Upon getting home, I searched online and found out that Interstate Commodities had declared bankruptcy in the fall of 2020. Perhaps due to Covid? I don't know, but the property was purchased by an Architect and will be redesigned for something else (condos likely) so the days of the Troy Local here are probably done. It is sad.

I don't know if cars of salt will still arrive, or whether the occasional insulated boxcar of food will still make it up the line, but it won't be the same. 

Here are some pictures of my rail-fanning trip that day. 

When the train arrived, the engine cut off from the inbounds and worked on pulling the empties first. Discussions were had with the Interstate employees, who were using one of their trackmobiles to push a car into position.

There was a lot going on.

Here was their other car mover, but on its rubber tires.

One of the empties being pulled, with the inbound cars in the distance. The large castle-like structure was an old fortress and made for a neat background in some of my shots.

Then, the engine reversed and pulled cars from another track. 

The, the end-of-train device ("EOT") was put on the rear car, which made up the now-southbound train.

The local crew evidently had pride in their engine, an EMD GP40-2. Note its clean appearance and pair of U.S. flags.

Rolling through Troy, this shot reminded me of some of the modeling of Lance Mindheim.

The train also passed an old iron works. 

Right before it crossed the river, the tracks paralleled a large mill structure. At the time I visited it was an artist co-op, though I don't know what it was originally. It is in really rough shape.

Then the train swung round a curve and crossed the Hudson River. The sun was setting (the time between this picture and the previous one was about 5 minutes!) so this was the best I got. That is downtown Albany in the background.

It would make a great modeling subject for a shelf layout. There are three industries receiving different loads, and shuffling the various types of covered hoppers filled with different commodities would be challenging. The architecture of the various nearby buildings would require scratchbuilding, but that can be a lot of fun. And, several other areas that once were rail served could be added on-line if the layout were backdated. 

I stopped by recently to take some pictures and they were all covered with rust. But, an insulated boxcar had been spotted at the freight warehouse so evidently the tracks are still in use. But barely.