Railroads Episodes

A visit to the North Pole! In an hour and ten minutes? Where can one catch this train, you ask? Why, the Kingston Plaza parking lot, of course, where the Catskill Mountain Railroad embarks on a magical Christmas expedition every holiday season. And while Santa's schedule is booked solid this time of year, you can still ride with him through December 29th! On today's show, production assistant Mollie Zoldan and I scored two coveted golden tickets to the North Pole. Come along for the ride! Man...

In our last episode we took a ride on the old Ulster & Delaware rails with Rail Explorers, a pedal bike experience in Phoenicia, NY. This week, we're at the neighboring Empire State Railway Museum, at home in the historic 1899 Phoenicia train station since 1983, for a look back at Catskills railroad history. Curator Tom Comito tells us about the 1913 peak of travel on these tracks, restoration projects underway, and the museum's evolving relationship with rail tourists. Many thanks to our spo...

From the late 19th- to the early 20th-century, passengers could board an Ulster & Delaware train in Kingston and ride straight up through the Catskills, to Oneonta. These days, you can still experience a 4-mile stretch of that track, between Mt. Tremper and Phoenicia, with one small caveat. You have to pedal! Rail Explorers has repurposed a few such stretches of track nationwide, including in Rhode Island, Cooperstown, Las Vegas, and the Catskills. Join us as we pedal a "quad explorer" (the "Cad...

In this episode, hear from Jon Ham and Bob Gildersleeve about the grand hotels that attracted visitors at the turn of the century, and the trains that got them there. Also... "mutton?!" How one hotel's refusal to serve chicken led to the construction of a famous competitor. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support