Images of America

Buffalo has witnessed the evolution of mass transportation through the decades, from the International Railway Company's streetcars in 1902 to the formation of the Niagara Frontier Transit System (NFT) Metro in 1974. The Great Gorge Route, the world's most famous scenic electric railway, offered passengers unparalleled views of Niagara Falls. By 1950, the NFT became known as one of the most progressive and profitable bus transportation networks in America. In 1985, following mergers between transport companies, streetcars were reinstated, bringing public transportation full circle. After over a century of innovation, Buffalo's mass transportation has proven to be a lasting and venerated testament to the history of the region. Buffalo's Historic Streetcars and Buses is a tribute to the people and equipment that serviced this great city for generations.

The Delaware & Hudson Canal and the Gravity Railroad tells the story of an American industrial masterpiece.

From the anthracite mines of Pennsylvania at Carbondale to the Hudson River in New York near Kingston, the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company and the Gravity Railroad transformed long tracks of wilderness into thriving economic areas. Conceived as an inexpensive way to transport anthracite coal, the canal began hauling loads in 1828 to the Hudson River, where barges to New York City took over. A leader in the technologies of the time, the canal company used the first telegraph system in America, and when Delaware & Hudson engineer Horatio Allen ran the locomotive Stourbridge Lion in Honesdale, he became the first to run a commercial steam locomotive on tracks in the Western Hemisphere. The Delaware & Hudson Canal was privately funded, and when stock was offered for sale in 1825, it soon became the first American company capitalized at $1 million. The Delaware & Hudson Canal and the Gravity Railroad uses fascinating vintage photographs to tell an amazing piece of American history. It shows the mules, the canal boats, the locomotives, and the men who ran this technological wonder, boasting one hundred eight locks over one hundred eight miles, plus four suspension aqueducts built by John A. Roebling of Brooklyn Bridge fame. The Gravity Railroad is shown as well, hauling coal from Carbondale to Honesdale over the Moosic Mountains, a rise of more than one thousand feet.

Return to the fondly remembered glory days of an upstate New York railroad in The Fonda, Johnstown, & Gloversville Railroad: Sacandaga Route to the Adirondacks.

The innovative Fonda, Johnstown, & Gloversville Railroad, a source of great interest for railroad enthusiasts, served its communities for over 100 years, using the finest and newest equipment available. Here is the chance to view it like never before, through the eyes of early photographers in many previously unpublished images.

Included in this collection are the communities through which the railroad traveled along its 130 miles of operation, captured in images from the 1870s to the 1980s. Thanks to early historians with the foresight to preserve such records, we are able to return to the heyday of the railroad, when the FJ&G stopped at splendid Victorian stations and boasted some of the most advanced equipment in the country. The railroad used an extensive steam division as well as an electric division and frequently traveled to the beautiful Sacandaga Park near Northville, New York. A popular destination for thousands of tourists to the southern Adirondacks in the late 1800s, the park is one of the many FJ&G stops included in this impressive collection of images.

Author Randy L. Decker brings his lifelong love of railroads to this unique historical work, as well as his memories of growing up in Gloversville during the 1960s. He has spent many years traveling throughout the communities along the route, collecting vintage images and countless stories from the people who worked on the railroad and the passengers who relied on it for transportation. Discover a true historical gem, a reminder of our nation's past, and a source of pride for the people of upstate New York in this valuable addition to the Images of America series.

From a small rural retreat to a center of industry and finally into protected wildlands, this is the story of the Adirondacks' Cranberry Lake.

Initially, the remote Cranberry Lake region attracted hunters and fishermen such as Reuben Wood, world-champion fly caster, as well as artists like Frederic Remington, writer Irving Bacheller, and Arts and Crafts movement philosopher Elbert Hubbard. Between 1886 and 1896, when railroads began to approach the lake, both industry and tourism flourished. Extractive industries like mining and lumbering coexisted with a lively trade catering to leisure travelers and recreationists, though the same industries depleted much of the lake's resources. Several generations later, the natural beauty and wilderness characteristic of the Cranberry Lake region has been restored, and outdoor recreation is still an enticing draw to the area, though the stumps of old trees still litter the land like pockmarks of history, never to fully heal.