Cortland station is a defunct Lehigh Valley Railroad station in Cortland, New York. It was located on the Lehigh Valley's Elmira and Cortland Branch. The station building still stands; the tracks are owned by the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway. Cortland was one of two depots; the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (Lackawanna) depot was located on Railroad Street in the center of the city.
Cortland | |||||||||||
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 Cortland in 1966 | |||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||
| Location | 7 South Avenue Cortland, New York | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 42°35′31″N 76°10′50″W / 42.592022°N 76.180599°W | ||||||||||
| Line(s) | New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| Opened | April 4, 1911 | ||||||||||
| Closed | April 25, 1948 | ||||||||||
| Former lines | |||||||||||
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History
editThe first railroad to reach Cortland was the Syracuse and Binghamton Railroad, a forerunner of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, which opened a line between Syracuse, New York, and Binghamton, New York, on October 18, 1854.[1] It was joined in 1872 by the New York and Oswego Midland Railroad, which extended west from its existing line at Norwich, New York, to Freeville, New York.[2] This line was later leased by the Elmira, Cortland and Northern Railroad,[3] which in turn became part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad in 1896.[4]
The present building was constructed in 1910–1911, with a formal opening on April 4, 1911. The brick building measured 155 by 50 feet (47 by 15 m) and stood two stories tall. The space was sufficient to contain a waiting room, baggage room, a "women's retiring room", a smoking room, and a ticket office. The second floor was given over to company offices.[5] It replaced the original station, which had served both freight and passengers. A new freight house was also built.[6]
Traffic declined on the Elmira and Cortland Branch after World War I, and the Lehigh Valley gradually reduced service throughout the 1930s and 1940s.[7] The last scheduled passenger service, between Cortland and DeRuyter, New York, ended on April 25, 1948.[8] Limited service remained in the form of mixed trains. Even these ended south of Cortland on April 30, 1950, leaving a roundtrip between Cortland and Canastota, New York.[9] This was effectively withdrawn after 1954.[10] Lackawanna passenger service ended on September 15, 1958.[11]
The Lehigh Valley abandoned the branch north of Cortland in 1967.[12] Most of the branch south of Cortland was out of service by the mid-1970s. Conrail, successor to the Lehigh Valley, abandoned all but 3 miles (4.8 km) within the vicinity of Cortland. This line is owned by the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway.[13]
Notes
edit- ^ Taber 1977, p. 218
- ^ Marcham 2009, p. 13
- ^ Marcham 2009, p. 19
- ^ Marcham 2009, p. 44
- ^ Graves, Dorothy E. (April 1965). "Lehigh Valley Railroad Station, 7 South Avenue, Cortland, Cortland County, NY" (PDF). Historic American Buildings Survey. pp. 2–3.
- ^ Marcham 2009, p. 84
- ^ Marcham 2009, pp. 101–103
- ^ Marcham 2009, p. 109
- ^ Marcham 2009, p. 117
- ^ Marcham 2009, p. 121
- ^ Taber & Taber 1980, p. 302
- ^ Trice 2004, p. 139
- ^ Trice 2004, p. 141
References
edit- Marcham, David (2009). The Ups & Downs of a Rural Line: Elmira, Cortland & Northern RR, 1867 to 1967 and on. Ithaca, New York: DeWitt Historical Society.
- Taber, Thomas Townsend (1977). The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in the Nineteenth Century. Muncy, Pennsylvania: Privately printed. OCLC 9846964.
- Taber, Thomas Townsend; Taber, Thomas Townsend III (1980). The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in the Twentieth Century. Vol. 1. Muncy, PA: Privately printed. ISBN 0-9603398-2-5.
- Trice, Herbert V. (2004). The Gangly Country Cousin: the Lehigh Valley's Auburn Division. Ithaca, New York: DeWitt Historical Society.
External links
edit
Media related to Cortland station at Wikimedia Commons
