Eastern Railroad Discussion > Repurposing Kenwood Yard

Its not every day that you think of an intermodal lift facility as a "bygone nostalgia" item, but such a situation is developing at CPs Kenwood Yard in Albany, NY.

The intermodal facility here started up in the early 1990s following CPs takeover of the D&H, and was then expanded when NS started running the show following the breakup of Conrail. For better than a decade, it has been originating/terminating a daily pair of trains--out in the morning, in in the late afternoon.

Well, the intermodal business has now outgrown the facility, and NS recently opened a new lift in Mechanicville, a few miles to the north. In its place, a tank car unloading facility is developing, unloading ethanol and crude oil from the midwest for ships and barges headed to refineries down the east coast.

1) A few years ago, we see a typical morning scene with fog lifting off the Hudson River and NS 939 getting ready to depart.

More to come below.

---

2) Yesterday, the boxes are gone, replaced by construction of what will be an expanded tank car unloading facility.

3) Framed by a now-inactive straddle crane, we can see the wave of the future--more oil, more ethanol, and more places to unload them.

I've used lots of abandoned RR structures in my railfan photos over the years, but this is the first time I've had occasion to use intermodal equipment as a symbol of railroading's past. It reminds me of the first time I saw a wide-cab GE getting scrapped.

---

---

Neat interpretation!

Nicely done. Good to see something on the Eastern board other than more mind-numbing heritage program shots.

Very interesting, thanks for posting.

Excellent update on Kenwood yard. In addition to adding capacity to the Global Terminal, CP is adding or rehabilitatiing sidings on the line between Albany and Mechanicville to permit staging of several oil and ethanol trains each week into/out of Kenwood. Plus there's the daily turn local which can run fairly long with Albany / CSX cars and the occasional sludge train full of contaminated Hudson River sediment from Ft Edward area, IIRC.

BTW, it looks like Hunter has been confirmed as the new boss at CP.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=albany+ny&hl=en&ll=42.635646,-73.757824&spn=0.002774,0.004082&hnear=Albany,+New+York&t=h&z=18

I surely wouldn't say that intermodal is part of the past, but I know what you intended. It would certainly be appropriate to include a few shots from Mechanicville if you were to do something bigger with this concept.

Interesting pics!!!!! Thanks for sharing.

The Port of Albany has struggled for a while to get solid and continuing business. I'm glad things are looking up.

They had a very active molasses trade there for years, with several large tanks of the stuff. Cargill ran an export grain facility, too. VW and Audi (and Jaguar?) operated a major auto import facility there in the 1980s and 1990s, but I think that's long gone.

The molasses business was largely based on its use in cattle feed, and it declined sharply as the dairy industry declined in eastern NY. Some of the tanks are still there, and I assume they're still in use but I can't vouch for that.

Current business at the port also includes a smattering of over-dimensional loads (Generators, turbines, etc) from GE at Schenectady, but that business has been uneven as well. Cool looking specialty equipment for those moves, though.

Anyone have any idea what's going on with the work by where the old D&H yard was in Colonie, behind the Arsenal? There,s lots of work going on by CPO-4. Looks like a few more tracks going in. Storage for unit trains for the port? Also lots of track work in an area near the I-787 & I-90 interchnge area, near National Grid.

Good comment about Mechanicville. Any word on what is going on with that old yard site? I heard it was being reactivated but haven't read much discussion anywhere.

march_hare Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The molasses business was largely based on its use
> in cattle feed, and it declined sharply as the
> dairy industry declined in eastern NY. Some of
> the tanks are still there, and I assume they're
> still in use but I can't vouch for that.
>
> Current business at the port also includes a
> smattering of over-dimensional loads (Generators,
> turbines, etc) from GE at Schenectady, but that
> business has been uneven as well. Cool looking
> specialty equipment for those moves, though.

thanks for that update and for the pictures

Yes, they are building a unit train staging area in Watervliet to hold trains for unloading at Kenwood.

The construction at the junction of I-90 and I-787 is for some sort of gas unloading facility, LPG I think.

Regarding other business at the port, the molasses facility is still active and gets tankcars on a regular basis. The Cargill facility is still very active with rail traffic as is a scrap metal dealer and a CSX ethanol terminal at the south end. The dock gets some "heavy lift" imports that go by rail too but also a lot that goes by truck. Wind turbines are being unloaded now but they are probably going by truck.

John Sesonske

CP4743 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, they are building a unit train staging area
> in Watervliet to hold trains for unloading at
> Kenwood.
>
> The construction at the junction of I-90 and I-787
> is for some sort of gas unloading facility, LPG I
> think.
>
> Regarding other business at the port, the molasses
> facility is still active and gets tankcars on a
> regular basis. The Cargill facility is still very
> active with rail traffic as is a scrap metal
> dealer and a CSX ethanol terminal at the south
> end. The dock gets some "heavy lift" imports that
> go by rail too but also a lot that goes by truck.
> Wind turbines are being unloaded now but they are
> probably going by truck.
>
> John Sesonske

Thanks for that info.

Cargill used to have its own plant switcher, as did the Port of Albany. Are either still in use?

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
> Cargill used to have its own plant switcher, as
> did the Port of Albany. Are either still in use?

Both are still in use. The Cargill switcher is now remote controlled, active maybe 1/3 of the time when I drive by. The Port's unit typically goes to work early in the morning, done often by 8:30 or 9 AM.