Adirondack Scenic Railroad train at Saranac Lake's Union Depot Adirondack Scenic Railroad was a tourist railway located in Adirondack Park that during the Summer and early Fall runs from Utica to Thendara, and from Saranac Lake to Lake Placid starting August 28, 2000. During the winter, the entire line (including the Saranac Lake to Old Forge section) was used as a snowmobile trail.
The Adirondack Scenic Railroad operated over seventy miles of track, and historic stations were restored along its route in Holland Patent, Remsen, Tupper Lake, Saranac Lake and Lake Placid. The line was not used for any freight traffic.
The original line was built by William Seward Webb as the Mohawk and Malone Railway, which was subsequently bought by the New York Central. The railway was revived for use in the 1980 Winter Olympics, and then remained dormant until 1992, when restoration began under the name Adirondack Centennial Railroad with a four-mile section from Thendara to Minnehaha, New York. The section was approved and was demonstrated that year on Independence Day. In 1994, after gaining popularity, it was renamed the Adirondack Scenic Railroad, and has run under that name every year since.
The rails along this stretch of the rail corridor near Lake Clear were removed in the spring of 2021There were plans to extend operations through to Tupper Lake, though the line was controversial from the outset, with some calling for the removal of the tracks to improve use by snowmobiles, and to allow creation of a bicycle/hiking trail along the rail corridor.
In 2016, the state shut down the rail line north of Tupper Lake preparatory to turning that section into a rail-trail.
See also:
External links:
- Adirondack Scenic Railroad
- Howard Riley, "Off the rails again," Adirondack Daily Enterprise, September 12, 2020
