Hike #440 9/6/9
9/6/9 Middletown and Unionville Railroad (Hanford-Middletown) with "Connecticut Joe" Bukowski
Joe crossing a crazy abandoned trestle north of Unionville NY. It had almost no decking!
I was surprised when only Connecticut Joe showed up for this hike, one that I was sure wouldn't be too tough, but that I knew would be interesting. I had already felt the signs that this crazy Summer was almost over, and I was actually glad.
On a long abandoned train south of Middletown NY
Appalachian Trail near Unionville NY
View from Appalachian Trail near Unionville NY
Old mile post along the Hanford Branch of the New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railroad, now the Appalachian Trail route near Unionville
NYS&W railroad bed south of Unionville at the trestle site
Old trestle in Unionville
Waterfall in Unionville NY
Waterfall in Unionville NY
Waterfall in Unionville NY
Rail bed in Unionville NY
Middletown and Unionville Railroad bed north of Unionville
Abandoned trailer along the rail bed
Abandoned trailer home along the rail bed
Abandoned trailer home
Abandoned trailer home
Old farm bridge near the railroad bed that had been sort of decked over in a way...
Former rail bridge north of Unionville NY
Old building along the rail bed in Westtown NY
Middletown and Unionville Railroad trestle north of Westtown NY
Middletown and Unionville Railroad trestle north of Westtown NY
A bug in a collapsed garage, Johnson NY
Building ruins, Johnson NY
Johnson NY
Old trestle with ties in poor condition
Lovely pond view from the railroad bed
Middletown and Unionville Railroad bed, barely recognizable along the field
Walking the top of an abandoned train in Slate Hill NY
We had to walk over a mile on top of this abandoned trail near Slate Hill NY
Walking the top of a train in Slate Hill NY
We had to walk over a mile on top of this abandoned trail near Slate Hill NY
Middletown and Unionville Railroad just south of Middletown
Middletown NY
Middletown NY
Middletown NY
Old radio station in Middletown NY
I'm being one...Unionville NY
My next hike would cover a section of old railroad between the Appalachian Trail in NJ to Unionville NY. Much of it was apparently the Middletown and Unionville Railroad, and I'd never hiked it! I made the meeting place Unionville NY, and the only one to come on this one was "Connecticut Joe" Bukowski! We shuttled my car down to the Appalachian Trail parking lot in Hanford just below the NJ line and began hiking the AT southbound (1-3). The scenery was quite nice as we walked through fields and into the woods. Soon, we reached the former Hanford Branch of the New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railroad which ended just barely north of there, and the Middletown and Unionville Railroad began. We immediately saw an old NYS&W mileage post denoting the mileage to Jersey City (4). The AT followed the right of way for a short distance, then turned off, but we continued north (5,6). As we continued north, the right of way got a bit more overgrown, but still easily passable till we reached an abandoned trestle over a small creek. It was quite pretty, but in bad shape (7-10). There appeared to be abutments to a second trestle along side of it for possibly some sort of siding. Joe and I noticed a waterfall below the trestle, so we made our way down to see it. My girlfriend Jillane had sent me a new camera, waterproof and drop proof from Nevada, and this was one of my earliest hikes with it. Unfortunitely, I dropped it and it tumbled down the waterfall into the pool below. Of course it still worked and everything was fine! It was the perfect gift (11-13). Above the trestle site appeared to be yet another waterfall, so of course he had to go and see that one as well. It was actually the outlet of a pond close to the AT I'd seen from above before, and it was quite pretty (14-16). The rail bed ahead was rather overgrown, so we had to stay on the road past a cemetary (17) to get back to it. It became clearer and we were able to walk, now the Middletown and Unionville Railroad, into the town of Unionville (18-19) which had all sorts of neat old buildings with metal fences (20) and even what appeared to be an old style service station (21). On the way to the center of town we met a guy in his adjacent yard who told us about the railroad and how in the past few years the town of Middletown who he said owned the railroad wanted the tracks ripped up. The highest bidder got to scrap the tracks and make a fortune on them. He told us he had tried but was too late to get in on it. He also told us he had ridden those tracks on a class trip as a boy. There was a yard sale going on that we stopped by, as well as a small town general store where we got some snacks before heading back to the railroad bed. A road paralleled it at first, then we cut into the woods. It was rather overgrown for a ways (22) and sometimes ties were in place, but it got gradually clearer (23-24). We crossed a couple of roads, and the amount of weeds growing on the right of way varied. We were at some points alongside a stream, and at one point we found a long abandoned trailer on a high hillside above the creek (25-29). The right of way continued quite clearly beyond this point (30), and there were a couple of side paths from it leading to old road bridge sites (31). There were also old rail trestle sites, some with ties or planking on them, some with nothing but the steel structure (32-34). Around the village of Westtown, we met a guy who's property bordered the right of way. The property was at one time part of a creamery I think he told us, and a pond behind his house (34) was once part of the works. He let us refill our water bottles with his hose and chatted with us for a bit before we were on our way, walking by a few abandoned buildings (36) and continueing north (37). The right of way got worse as we continued north toward Slate Hill. It was good at first (38-40) but got gradually worse after we crossed County Road 22 as it was shown on maps (41). From there, ATV users were accessing the right of way from an area full of abandoned cars and a collapsed building (42-48). We continued to the north, and we came to another bridge crossing (49-51) before a long section of heavy bushwhacking nearing Slate Hill. It got nice, then bad again, then nice it seemed (52,53). At one point a field was encroaching on the right of way near a wetland and pond so badly it could not even be recognized as a former rail bed (54-55). Just before reaching that area a more dense canopy appeared barring some of the undergrowth (56), and soon after we began to see rails again (57). It was not long after this we saw the back of our first rail car of the day (58-60). I immediately had to climb on them of course and walk across the tops, jumping between cars, and at one point to the left onto another car on another track (61)! I climbed down from the cars, in part because we were visible from roads and houses and I did'nt want to get in trouble, but opted to go back on top again because the weeds were growing in so tightly along the cars that I could barely walk. Walking on top was what seemed to be the only viable option (62-63). We walked on top of the rail cars for a while until we came to the grade crossing of Rt 6 in Slate Hill where we decided to walk a side trip to the east to see if we could find some sort of food. We did not find any places of business on Rt 6 nearby, or on Rt 284 to the south. What we did find was an old 1792 church and cemetary (64,65) so it was worth the trip. We wandered on back to the railroad tracks and began walking north parallel with some abandoned buildings (66). Soon, we had to climb back on top of more rail cars because it was just too difficult to walk alongside them with the vegetation growing in and heavy ballast rock. One of the cars was open so we got to see the weird blue interior of one (67-70). When we got to McBride Road close to Rt 6 we came to a gas station (Janies Gas Station as per google earth) and stopped to buy some drinks. I got myself a Molson Ice as I used to do way back, which was good (71) and we continued north. We soon passed by another old rail car and some sort of a quarry access area with a grade crossing (72). The railroad must have been very seldom used because the sand on the grade crossing was quite over the tracks at that point. We continued to pass beneath Rt 84 (73) and then closely paralleled county route 49 before breaking away from it (74) and passing some wetlands (75). We then crossed a bridge I think over Genung Ave which had some thin ties (76-78). We were thinking this track was taking us in the wrong direction, and we passed what appeared to be a former junction site before as well as an overpass over another right of way, so we opted to descend to Genung Street and have a look at the other line. The other line had an overpass as well, though long abandoned, but the right of way was too overgrown for us to try at this time of day, so we instead paralleled it on the aptly named South Railraod Ave. We turned back up to the right of way when we reached Washington Street, but at this point the active line we'd followed before was now right alongside the abandomenet we also went to look for, so we got right back on the active line and followed it into a rail yard where we saw some interesting stuff, most of all a weirdly spray painted old rail car (79-83). We talked to a young kid there who told us a little on where we wanted to go. As we walked the tracks from the rail yard heading to the northwest, we met another kid trying to sell us drugs. We of course declined and asked him how to get to the marked we'd parked Ct Joe's car at. He directed us, and it turned out we kept following the tracks to the next crossing over a bridge (84) and then turn left on Railroad Ave. Part of the road and a parking area were built on the former railroad right of way pretty obviously (85,86), so we walked along this to the old Middletown Railroad Station. It appeared as though some of the station was new, but was built to mimick the old style architecture of the original old structure. This new part was an addition to the historic station (87-89). Joe and I walked on looking for mexican food stores for dinner before heading home. I saw a sign in a window I could'nt refuse posing with.
Joe crossing a crazy abandoned trestle north of Unionville NY. It had almost no decking!
On a long abandoned train south of Middletown NY
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