Another of the early railroads to impact the development of Cohoes was the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad. This railroad was the first to enter the boundaries of the present-day city, with rails being laid across Van Schaick Island in 1835. Upon further research, it was learned that this railroad bed is one of the oldest in New York State. It is predated only by the original Mohawk and Hudson railroad which began service between Albany and Schenectady roughly along present day Route 5 (Central Avenue) in 1831.

Troy was fast becoming a booming industrial city during the first three decades of the 19^th century. However, its prosperity was being overshadowed by the burgeoning business economies in both Albany and Schenectady and points northward such as Saratoga Springs and Glens Falls. Troy was not to be left out! A railroad that stretched northward from Troy to Saratoga was the obvious answer to the politicians and businessmen anxious to keep up with those two rival cities. Two of the men primarily responsible for the building of the railroad were Richard Hart and Stephen Warren. Hart had amassed his fortune by investing in various stagecoach lines north from Troy to the Lake Champlain region. Unfortunately, the coming of the Champlain Canal severely cut into his profits. Stephen Warren was one of the premier makers of stoves. His thriving business helped put Troy on the map as one of the top stove manufacturers in the Unites States. Together they formed a partnership that raised the capital necessary to build the railroad. One of the major problems they encountered was where to build a bridge to bring trains into Troy.

After much political bickering and squabbling, contracts were let to build a railroad bridge into Troy. The site of this bridge is the site of the present-day Troy-Green Island Bridge. Construction on the railroad quickly began north of Waterford to Mechanicville (then known as Borough) onward to Ballston Spa. However, additional money was necessary to build the railroad north from Green Island to Waterford. Bridges had to be built to span the three outlets of the Mohawk and these took much time and expense to complete.

This last section of the railroad was completed and opened for passengers on October 6, 1835. Unfortunately, there was no station built at Cohoes. A June 1871 D&H timetable reveals no scheduled stops at all between Green Island and Waterford. In fact, Cohoes isn’t listed at all! Rail passengers to and from Cohoes were forced to use the Troy and Schenectady Railroad instead.

That situation was to change in 1851. In that year the Albany Northern, one of the predecessors of the present day Delaware and Hudson, built the railroad that currently passes through downtown Cohoes. Only then did passengers have a direct route southward to Albany and northward to Saratoga and beyond. The Delaware and Hudson absorbed the Rensselaer and Saratoga into its corporate empire in 1871. After that date, the R&S ceased to exist and the line through Van Schaick Island was referred to as the Green Island branch of the D&H.

After the 1871 merger, virtually all of the major freight and passenger traffic was rerouted over the current Delaware and Hudson line. The branch through Van Schaick Island was relegated to secondary status. As a result, the line saw little of the improvements necessary to make it a truly first class branch line. The bridges were rebuilt prior to World War I, but the total weight the bridges could carry was small compared to others built around the same time. The actual rail used was light in weight compared to the heavier rail used on the main line. As a result, the only locomotives used on the branch were lightweight steam switchers and diesel switchers. No heavy steam locomotives or large multiple unit diesel locomotives were ever allowed on the branch. Some of this lightweight rail can still be seen today if you look through the weed covered right-of-way in front of the Van Schaick mansion or in the brush directly across from the entrance to the Van Schaick Marina.

Freight service was important on the Green Island branch. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, manufacturing facilities began to dot the area of Van Schaick Island. One of these early facilities that relied on the railroad for deliveries was the Matton Shipyard. A spur track was built into the yard to accept deliveries of raw materials needed for the building of boats and later, steel tugboats. Another industry that located on the railroad was the Rensselaer Manufacturing Company, one of the larger valve manufacturing facilities in the Capital District. Unfortunately, these manufacturing facilities closed during the 1970s and 1980s. The last Cohoes business to utilize the railroad was the former John L. English wholesale grocery warehouse on Delaware Avenue. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the warehouse received approximately 3 deliveries a week. However, even this warehouse closed in the middle 1980s, leaving no revenue-producing activity on the now mostly abandoned branch.

Until the rails were removed in the mid-1980s, there were approximately 3 freights per week using the line. Most of the activity was freight destined for the General Electric silicone plant in Waterford as well as the former Grand Union food warehouse located next door. Freight was also moved on the branch to the former Ford Motor Company plant as well as various other industries in Green Island such as the former Manning Paper Company (now Lydall).

Little is left of the Rensselaer and Saratoga in Cohoes. But the beautiful old bridges built by the American Bridge Company in the early 1900s still remain. The bridge from Green Island to the southern end of Van Schaick Island (the "black bridge") is still there as are the remaining two bridges. One now carries automobile traffic to Peebles Island and the other from Peebles Island to Waterford stands stripped of tracks and awaits possible reopening to limited automobile traffic to provide access to the Island from Waterford.

What does remain of the old tracks ends in weeds and rubbish halfway up Delaware Avenue. Past Ontario Street the tracks were removed and the railroad right-of-way was used to widen northern Delaware Avenue to provide better access to the Peebles Island facility of the New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (the former Cluett-Peabody bleachery).

It probably won’t be long before all of the remaining rail has been removed in Cohoes and the old line will dead-end at the northern tip of Green Island. When that day comes, it will mark the end of one of the oldest stretches of railroad in New York State and one that helped tremendously in the early development of our immediate Capital District area.

A Spring 1977 photo of a train traveling along Delaware Avenue past the Van Schaick Mansion heading south toward Green Island.