NEB&W Layout Guide - Johnsonville & Saratoga

Last Update: 2009-02-19

More on Johnsonville in the Photo Gallery.

Johnsonville

Johnsonville, NY was located on the Boston & Maine, where the passenger line split off the main to run down to Troy. Since the Rutland had trackage rights over the B&M to get to the Troy station, there are numerous photos of Rutland trains passing the Johnsonville tower. So we decided to model the scene for our branch to supposedly goes to Glens Falls. The truss bridge that carries Rt. 67 over the track was a good way to disguise the track disappearing behind the hills.

Saratoga Springs

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Saratoga Springs, NY was THE place to vacation for the nouveau rich. The therapeutic value of its mineral waters were a draw even to the Indians, but horse racing and gambling made Saratoga a Victorian Las Vegas of gilt to excess rather than neon. "Saratoga Trunk" meant a large enough piece of luggage to pack enough for "the season," and was the despair of porters. During the summer, the D&H RR ran full trains of horse cars and other trains of luxurious private railroad cars. In 1922, Saratoga had a year-round population of 13,000, which probably doubled or more during August.

We will be modeling the 150 foot wide back wing of the United States Hotel, condensed down to just 116 feet. The main building of the hotel ran down two full blocks (500 feet) to Broadway and one block across (233 feet), with 917 rooms and enclosing 7 acres. The front porch was 30 feet wide, and there were over a thousand rocking chairs for the guests on the acres of porches both front and inside the courtyard. It was torn down in 1946 just after being used for the interior shots of the movie Saratoga Trunk, based on the Edna Ferber novel. A length of rope in each room, tied to a secure spot, served as a fire escape. The U. S. Hotel was one of the five hotels of such great magnitude in Saratoga. It was Second Empire in design with its mansard roof, paired brackets under the eaves and quoins at the corners.

Having little knowledge of what had existed in Saratoga in 1950, we originally planned this scene in a vacuum, designing what we thought should be there. Later we were surprised to find that a large coal facility and an Armour meat packing plant had been located opposite such an elegant station and within sight of the top hotels. Since then, we've redesigned our scene to closely match the prototype. The Queen Anne style of the coal dealer office with its diamond-paned windows, octagonal tower and candle-snuffer tower is an eye-catcher. Behind the station was a Colonial Beacon gas station, complete with its trademark lighthouse.

Despite Saratoga's reputation as the playground of the rich, a 1951 D&H RR Traffic Report indicates that it was molding sand that was the major freight traffic generator (not bottled Vichy water, or any commodities related to either the horses or the vacationers). The sand, known as "Albany Sand," was shipped to foundries all over the country for making sand molds. It had the unique property of clumping together when dry. For that reason, it had to be shipped in box cars, because it wouldn't flow out of a covered hopper.

By 1950, the sand had played out in the Albany area, and was being quarried north of the Mohawk. Of 9 facilities shipping sand from Saratoga, Whitehead Brothers had the only known on-line facility. The rest shipped via trucks brought to the team track. The Whitehead Brothers facility was and is a crude slap-together affair, a contrast to the elegance of Saratoga. Availability of foundry sand helped Troy's cast iron (stoves, valves, cannons, railroad parts, architectural ironwork) and cast bronze (bells) industries attain their national preeminence.

(For more on coal dealers, meat packers and sand loaders, see the Industry Table of Contents.)

Potato Chips

In the late 1800's, George Crum, a Native American, was working as chef at a fancy Saratoga hotel. He was an acclaimed cook, the favorite of such guests as Vanderbilt, but whenever a guest returned a dish that wasn't to his liking, Crum made it a point to cook up the worst concoction possible. One night, a guest continued to complain about the french fries, and sent them back to the kitchen to be cut finer. Crum sliced the potatoes as thin as he could, but to his surprise, the guest was delighted with the crispy chips. The next day they appeared on the menu as "Saratoga Chips" and within a few years were a national snack food. [Saratoga chip tin container.]