Overall History of the Adirondack Branch:

1848: The Sackets Harbor & Saratoga Railroad was organized with $2,000,000 capital. It was to connect the two towns in its name and tap the iron mines at Sanford Lake. They were required to pay New York State $5,000 to have the right to select any quantity of land up to 250,000 acres within the next three years. They had three years to commence work and ten years to complete the line of the company was liable to be dissolved and its franchise forfeited. The total length of the line was to be about 140 miles.

1851: The legislature extended the requirements of the 1848 deal for one year.

1853: The legislature confirmed the previous powers granted in 1848 and approved incorporation filed by the company. Surveys were made out of Saratoga, Ballston and Milton.

1854: Ground was broken in Hadley and approximately 20 miles of roadbed in disconnected sections was built before work was suspended due to lack of funds.

Go here for a detailed history of the Sackets Harbor and Saratoga Railroad Company.

1857: The company was reorganized as the Lake Ontario & Hudson River Railroad and approved by an act of legislature. Some progress continued for a few years then it was abandoned. A report of the State Engineer showed the total property of the railroad at 255,202 acres.

Go here for a detailed history of the Lake Ontario & Hudson River Railroad Company.

1860: The company was again reorganized as the Adirondac Estate & Railroad Company with a desire to connect Saratoga Springs with Lake Ontario and beyond to Watertown.  No construction was done.

Go here for a detailed history of the Adirondac Estate & Railroad Company.

1863: The Adirondack Company was incorporated under Dr. Thomas C. Durant, a principle force behind the Union Pacific Railroad.

1865: 44 miles of the line were finished and the first run on the line was held on December 1st. Locomotive #1, the Major General Hancock, pulled three yellow coaches from Saratoga Springs up to Hadley. The total cost of construction had come to $2,079,058. The company owned one locomotive, three passenger and six freight cars. The track was laid with 56 pound rails and early photos show the ties were made from logs with the top flattened off.

1869: The roadbed was completed as far as The Glen and they were currently employing between eight and nine hundred men for construction. It required about ninety tons of rail to complete one mile of track.

1871: Sixty miles of line had now been completed with the end past North Creek near North River.

1881: The mortgage was foreclosed on the property and the line was sold to Durant's son, William West Durant, for $350,000. It was renamed The Adirondack Railway Company. The entire acerage which had been owned or purchased by the company since its inception was about 800,000 acres.

1885: A special train was ordered by W. W. Durant and ran from Saratoga Springs to North Creek in record time, to the bedside of his dying father. They had averaged about 63 miles per hour. Thomas Durant passed away the next day.

1889: The line was sold to the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company for $690,000. They purchased a majority of the stock but did not take over its operation.

1896: The Upper Hudson Railroad was chartered to build a twenty mile line from Corinth to South Glens Falls but it was only completed to Palmer Falls, the site of the International Paper Company plant.

1902: The Board of Railroad Commissioners relieved the company from any obligation to extend the line beyond North Creek and on November 5th, the Adirondack Railway Company merged with the Delaware & Hudson Company.

1905: A branch line was built from Thurman to Warrensburg, servicing several industries there.

1942: An extension of the line between North Creek and Tahawus was started in order to haul out much needed Titanium for the war effort.

1944: The first train ran to Tahawus. The cost of the 30 mile extension was estimated at 2.5 million but ended up totalling 4.5 million due to extra costs in the mountains. The first diesel electric locomotives on the D&H were purchased for this branch.

1956: The last passenger car ran on the line to North Creek and the Public Service Commission granted permission to permanently suspend all passenger service the next year.

1989: The last ore train from Tahawus is run. The only remaining business utilizing the railroad at this time is the International Paper Company at Corinth.

1990: A committee was formed in North Creek to persue aquisition of the station there.

1993: The North Creek Railway Depot Preservation Association received title to the station and a new cedar shingle roof was put up.

1997: Warren County purchased the right of way from North Creek to the county line above Hadley.

1998: The first tourist train of the Upper Hudson River Railroad runs from North Creek to Riverside.

2003: The International Paper Mill in Corinth closes, ending all freight service on the line.

2006: The Town of Corinth purchased the 16 mile stretch of track in their town for $2.2 million.

For more more details click the history button below.

For an exhaustive and wordy history of the Branch from its beginnings up to the purchase by the D&H, use this button.

Reference Books of interest to the Adirondack Branch:
1. "Delaware & Hudson" by James Shaughnessy, Howell North Books, 1982.
2. "Mountain Railroads of New York State, Volume 3, Where Did The Tracks Go in the Eastern Adirondacks?" by Michael Kudish, Purple Mountain Press, 2009.
3. "Durant", by Craig Gilborn, Adirondack Museum, 1981.
4. "Dr. Durant and his Iron Horse" by Harold Hochschild, Adirondack Museum, 1961.
5. "The Macintyre Mine - From Failure to Fortune" by Harold Hochschild, Adirondack Museum, 1962.
6. "Passenger and Freight Stations" by the D&H, 1928, reprinted by the Bridge Line Historical Society, 1999.
7. "A Century of Progress" by the D&H, J. B. Lyon, 1925. I have found copies at Crandall Library, Glens Falls, NY and the Ellenville Public Library, Ellenville, NY.