AFRR18

            That being said 1963 was also a good year for the excursions. Boonton Combine #309 and Boonton Coach #310 arrived as did the second steamer, #14. Number 14 was a 4-6-0 built in 1917 and was of course the locomotive that Corky Trinder had optioned from the E&LS. She had last run in 1953 but was retained to thaw turnouts in the winter. The E&LS however decided they didn’t need a steam locomotive for that and she was sold to us. She arrived in April but didn’t enter service until May of 1964.               In 1964 freight traffic rebounded. Traffic at the Borden’s and Junctionport Chemical plants were taki

            On Monday, May 11th, 1891; the AFRR became an affiliate of the NYC. While the AFRR remained an independent corporation with Curtis Spafford still as president, operations of the two were integrated. Through-ticketing was available and the AFRR had NYC equipment at its disposal. But the NYC had plans for the AFRR too.            Initially the towns of Shemp Harbour, Muddy Forks and Moose Bay were not upset about the lack of a railroad. The steamships of the AFRR and the Shemp Island Steamship Co. piled the lake and served these communities along with those of Shemp Island and on the far end of the lake. While Moose Lake and Phoeb

            The Attica Falls have always impaired transportation in the Mud River Valley. The Mud River, which connects Moose Lake with the St. Lawrence River in Northern New York is not suitable to navigation between the waterfall and the shallow depth of the river below the falls. It is only navigable as far as Medina, 15 miles upstream. It became quite obvious that another form of transportation would be necessary between Attica Falls and Junctionport.            Junctionport is near the end of the navigable water on the St. Lawrence coming from Lake Ontario. From there rapids make navigation difficult until the Lachine Rapids in Montreal