Thursday, August 09, 2018

Perry's Pride, a mighty small caboose, home made. (thanks Andy!)


Caboose No. 71 of the Grasse River Railroad (owned by the Emporium Forestry Company) as it appeared at Conifer, N.Y., deep in the Adirondacks, in 1953. Eventually this odd-looking two-truck home-made "bobber" caboose made its way to Rail City Museum at Sandy Pond, N.Y. where it was put on display until the museum closed in the 1970s.


http://cnymod.blogspot.com/2018/03/perrys-pride-at-conifer.html

So I got to wondering about the Grasse River RR.

It was an interesting shortline in upstate New York and it ran from Childwold on the New York Central's Adirondack Division, from about 1914 until the early 1950s. It had an array of motive power and rolling stock purchased second hand from Class 1 railroads and other shortlines.

The Emporium Lumber Company was originally formed in 1892 in Pennsylvania. The success of the company led to expansion in New York State. The sawmill in Conifer, New York opened in 1911 and the Grasse River Railroad, a primary means of transportation for the logging business, followed soon after in 1913. The railroad was used to haul cut lumber and traveled between New York Central Station at Childwold, New York and the Emporium Forestry Company operation at Cranberry Lake, New York. The Emporium Forestry Company was dissolved in 1950.



thanks to Andy for the video!



https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll65/search/searchterm/Emporium%20Lumber%20Company%20Photograph%20Collection/field/relatig/mode/exact/conn/and/order/date

3 comments:

  1. A lot of railroad history in the Adirondacks and Leatherstocking region of N.Y. with the lumber and mining industries as well as the Alco plant In Schenectady.

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  2. As I understand it, most railroad companies, especially the smaller ones built their own caboose's out of whatever they had around to suit their needs.

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  3. My mother grew up in Conifer and I still have relatives there. I came across this site after finding an HO gauge model of "Perry's Pride" number 71 of GRR in my
    Dad's effects and was curious to know more about it. The video brought tears to my eyes, to see old buildings from Conifer that I remember as a child...Janice

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