Railroads Come To The North Country

Railroads Come To The North Country. .

"Canadian lumber, livestock, silk, raw silk, silk goods, American coal, Oriental and merchandise provided much of the material transferred." - Rails Across The River, By Ted Rafuse

, Near this spot, tracks of the New York Central Railroad met a rail ferry connection with Prescott, Ontario and the Canadian National Railway creating an international market. This allowed North Country farmers to specialize in cows and buy their vegetables at a market., North Country Travel: In 1850, Ogdensburg's first railroad line appeared just east of the St. Lawrence River where the tracks are still visible; the Northern Railroad connected Rouse's Point (on Lake Champlain) Malone, Norwood, and Ogdensburg allowing public access to Watertown, Rome, and New York City within a day's time. Eleven years later the RW&O (Rome, Watertown, Ogdensburg) line laid track from DeKalb Junction to its terminal in Ogdensburg., Passenger Service: Later, as part of the New York Central main line, up to four passenger trains ran daily to Rome and later Syracuse. Passenger and freight stations (now the Freight House Restaurant) were located here. Freight cars accessed Canada via ferry to and from, Prescott. A second NYC line from Philadelphia, Redwood, and Morristown was added later and ran until the 1950's. The single, diesel railcar, "Beeliner" ran until 1964., First Refrigerated Milk Train: The first refrigerated boxcar, or "reefer” entered service on the NRNY in June, 1851. An unnamed employee of this line was said to have invented the refrigerator car by double-walling a boxcar and insulating it with sawdust and ice. Later named the Rutland Railroad, this line ended service in 1963. The tracks remain, however and now operated as the New York and Ogdensburg; owned by the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority and is operated by Vermont Railways., Ogdensburg Agreement: On August 16, 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt came north to visit Pine Camp (Fort Drum) and to view the woefully small US Army during the time that Hitler's army was overrunning Europe. Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon MackKenzie arrived on the ferry to join Roosevelt aboard his official rail car at Heuvelton, NY; there the Ogdensburg Agreement, the plan for mutual defense between the United States and Canada was finalized.