A Railroad Museum?

The progressive degradation of the South Bay began with the railroad transecting the mouth of the bay in the mid-nineteenth century. For more than half Hudson's history, the railroad has been a part of the waterfront, and in his comments at the LWRP public hearing, Patrick Doyle suggested a way that this part of Hudson's heritage might be commemorated.

There is a railroad trestle across one of the embayments at the waterfront--the only surviving bit of a spur that once went down closer to the river, possibly to the old gasification works. Doyle's suggestion is to restore the trestle, which is in remarkably good condition, move an antique railroad car onto the trestle, relocate the antique railroad crane that now sits across the street from the train station to the site, and create an outdoor railroad museum. Rather a nice idea.

At one time, there was talk about turning the current site of the crane into a sculpture park. A few years ago, Tom Swope nominated the crane for local historic designation, but that effort was sidetracked by city attorney Cheryl Roberts, who maintained that an object could not be designated separate from the land on which it stands, and the idea of designating the site or any part of it seemed to present insurmountable problems. Doyle's idea would be a good way to consolidate and protect these two vestiges of the past on our waterfront.