On a recent Saturday, retired Amtrak engineer Paul Larner and Fulton County historian Peter Betz held forth at a gathering at Fulton-Montgomery Community College on the history of what Larner likes to call “our railroad.”

"That's how Gloversville and Johnstown backers referred to the railroad at the beginning," Larner once told me. A native of Gloversville, the current Vermont resident has been working on a book detailing the history of the line for some years.

The Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad had two parts-a steam and ultimately diesel railroad augmented by trucks and an electric division that ended as a bus line.

The steam railroad began in the late 1800s and connected the New York Central in Fonda with Johnstown and Gloversville, with branches to Northville and Broadalbin. The steam line operated an amusement park, Sacandaga Park, that was flooded in 1930 when the Great Sacandaga Lake was created. The last train on the F.J.&G. ran in 1984.

The first electric trolley car to operate in Fulton County ran in 1893 between Gloversville and Johnstown. Initially, the Cayadutta Electric Railroad provided trolley service. In 1894, the FJ&G leased the Cayadutta and the F.J.&G., Cayadutta and Amsterdam Street Railroad consolidated as the F.J.&G. Railroad Company in 1902.

The electric line provided local trolley service in Gloversville, Johnstown and Amsterdam plus connected these cities and Fonda with interurban service. From its peak in 1903 to 1938, the F.J.&G. ran electric cars from Gloversville to Schenectady. The company provided bus service until 1956.

The F.J.&G. story involves political intrigue, regional differences and boardroom machinations. The railroad's history parallels the rise and fall of the region's major industries, especially in Fulton County.

Larner has loved trains since his youth and began his railroad career with the F.J.&G. in 1964. Local history buffs and railfans eagerly await completion of his book.

ANOTHER POWER PLANT

Amsterdam native Shawn Duffy emailed a question about a former electric power plant on the south side of the Mohawk River that is still a striking sight from the opposite bank of the river in Cranesville.
According to Hugh Donlon’s “Annals of a Mill Town,” the New York Power & Light Corporation Cranesville Steam Station was built in 1921. The revamped Barge Canal had opened three years earlier and coal could be shipped to the plant on the canal or by rail over the adjacent West Shore Railroad.

My grandmother ran a boarding house on Forbes Street in Amsterdam and one of our family stories is that she used to feed and make lunches for some of the workers building the steam station.

Donlon said the plant produced 60,000 kilowatts and 80,000 horsepower. The brightly lighted white structure was recognized as a landmark by passengers on New York Central trains who sped by on the other side of the river. Power generation ceased in 1954 and today Cranesville Block uses the facility.

Duffy, a turbine generator engineer, said he wonders if any of the old generators were preserved from the local plant.

AXMINSTER

The recent column about Mohawk Industries’ efforts to preserve old carpet patterns from Amsterdam and elsewhere brought a response from Amsterdam resident Emil Suda.

“I happen to have a piece of woven Axminster plus carpet in its original width of 27 inches, the way real carpet used to come,” Suda said. “It is an Art Deco pattern of gold, maroon and dark green which I have been told was used in the Mohawk Theater in Amsterdam.”

Axminster carpet is named for the town in Devonshire, England, where the carpet was first woven. Axminster is one of the types of wool carpet formerly made in Amsterdam.

Another popular and long-wearing weave is Wilton, also named for an English town. Wilton weaving was done in Kidderminster, England, where many skilled carpet makers were recruited for Amsterdam’s mills a century ago.