These photographs capture a two-mile stretch of abandoned railroad track, operated by the Delaware & Hudson Railroad Company, between Albany and Delmar, New York. The Port of Albany, on the Hudson River, is the eastern terminus of this spur that traveled west to the Delaware & Hudson’s main rail line in Duanesburg, New York.
From 1884 to 1998 the spur ferried goods from the Hudson River to the main line, which could move freight to Binghamton, New York and central Pennsylvania. In the early twentieth century the rails were also used by the interurban rail system to bring people to the Capital from surrounding areas.
By the end of the twentieth century, most rail freight travelled in shipping containers stacked two-high on special rail cars. Because one bridge was not tall enough to permit the double-decker cars, the spur was deemed economically impracticable. Since the tracks were decommissioned and the ties removed, nature has begun to reclaim the space. My intent is to not project nostalgia for the past, but to explore, revel and find nuance in the present, without conforming to the traditional notions of a beautiful landscape.
My images comment on the dichotomous relationship that exists between industry and wilderness, where man-made geometric lines and angles compete with the organic chaos of nature. Yet the industrial scar, like a draftsman’s line across the topography, is still intact, reminding us to contemplate our mark upon the landscape.
