by William J. Skeats/photos by the author
This month we make a visit to Hudson, New York, located on the eastern shore of the Hudson River, on Amtrak’s Hudson Main. Amtrak makes 26 stops daily at Hudson Station with its Empire Service, Maple Leaf, Adirondack, and Ethan Allen Express. The Lake Shore Limited to and from New York Penn Station passes through Hudson without stopping. CSX serves the ADM Flour Mill Monday through Friday, located to the east of Hudson in Greenport. The mill is located on the 2.5-mile-long Claverack Industrial Track (former Boston & Albany Hudson Branch).
ABOVE: Ethan Allen Express Train 290 heads over the short girder bridge that spans the inlet that feeds North Bay from the Hudson River, November 4, 2025. P32AC-DMs 700 and 707 lead five Amfleet and P42C 9700.
Some History
The City of Hudson has the distinction of being the first city to be incorporated after the creation of the thirteen colonies became the United States. Construction of the railroad along the Hudson River, from New York City northward to Albany in 1850, cut off North Bay from South Bay, making those harbors inaccessible to ships. Construction of the railroad causeway greatly affected the fishing and whaling industry in Hudson, and the city reinvented itself becoming a center of industry. Manufacturing included iron works, brickworks, foundries producing parlor stoves and ice harvesting tools, factories producing fire engines and rail wheels, and there were two large cement plants to the north in Greenport. These industries benefited from being rail-served. The New York Central and its predecessor railroads had connections to two other railroads in Hudson that served Columbia and Rensselaer counties. The first was the Boston & Albany’s Hudson Branch extending from Hudson northward to Chatham, New York; the second line was the Albany-to-Hudson Fast Line electric railway which was the first interurban railroad in upstate New York. This line connected Hudson with Kinderhook Lake and the cities of Rensselaer and Albany. Some interesting historical information is provided by the City of Hudson on its website, provided by the City Historian. Research involving the railroads of Hudson is presented in the book, From Grand Central to Albany by John Ham and railroad historians Roger A. Liller and Eugene C. Dauner. The publication features historical information on the New York Central Water Level Route.
ABOVE: CSX SD40-2 8846 is viewed pulling 15 empty grain hoppers back to Hudson Yard running down South 7th Street from Warren Street to Union Street in Hudson, November 4, 2025.
Let’s Get Trackside
Now for the photo locations. When entering Hudson, follow Front Street to the Amtrak station, built in 1874 by the New York Central Railroad. It’s the oldest operating station in New York State. The attractive station building itself warrants a visit and of photos inside and out. The station is situated with a two-track low-level platform that allows for great angles of southbound arriving trains headed to New York City. On weekdays one can also look for the CSX grain train to arrive from the north or if they have already arrived and are working in Hudson Yard just to the south. Check to see if the crew is ready for its trip up the Claverack Industrial Track to the ADM Flour Mill in Greenport. If there is time, wait for the combined northbound Maple Leaf and Adirondack to pass under the CP-114 signal gantry as the lengthy consist heads into the station. Park on the gravel along the south end of Front Street.
If workers are off-loading barges of stone just south of Ricks Point Park, be aware of large trucks on the road. Just give a wave so they’re aware of you, and stay off their private road to A. Colarusso & Son’s stone quarry to the east.
The CP-114 signal bridge south of the station is a great prop for afternoon trains heading to New York City’s Penn Station. For the combined morning Maple Leaf/Adirondack, the CP-114 signal bridge and overhead pipe truss bridge structure can be worked into photos. An employee of the stone quarry explained that the overhead truss bridge structure was used to offload cement from rail cars for a cement plant that was on the west side of the tracks along the shore of the Hudson River.
ABOVE: CSX L022, the Monday through Friday freight from Selkirk Yard to Hudson, New York, has arrived in Hudson to switch the ADM Mill in nearby Greenport. CSX AC4400CW 465 with 34 grain hoppers is stopped to allow the conductor to open the switch to the yard lead on May 9, 2022.
On The Branch to the ADM Mill
The CSX L022 Selkirk-Hudson turn is a daily M-F freight with varying morning arrival times to Hudson from Selkirk. It can be an early morning arrival or late morning, between 10 and noon. It can be photographed north of town on the causeway over North Bay, then entering the lead track to five-track Hudson Yard. The yard lead switch is located by the station under the Ferry Street overpass. When the crew is heading north out of the yard head to the NY State 9G overpass for the first photo location looking down on the beginning of the CSX Claverack Industrial track.
For the second photo location follow 9G north to Union Street, turn right (east) on Union to the inter-section of head to South 7th Street for the short two-block section of street running on South 7th from Union Street to Warren Street. The target is Governors Pub on S. 7th Street…
