Re: Two very early US narrow gauges - Cherokee and Central Valley

Thank you for sharing these great Jackson & Sharp photos. I've seen the photo of the Central Valley RR combine before, but the coach 'Creswell' is new to me. I believe both cars were later sold to the Bath & Hammondsport RR.

The Central Valley RR has long fascinated me because I attended college about 50 miles or so away from Smithville Flats in Ithaca, NY, and it has always seemed like such totally unlikely a setting for a narrow gauge railroad. (A railroad from Chenango Forks to Smithville Flats? Why???)

The Central Valley is one of the more poorly documented eastern narrow gauges, not only because of its very early construction (and early failure!), but because the owners neglected to file the required annual reports with the New York state railroad commissioners, so there is almost no official record of its existence. It's like a historical black hole, and what little information survives suggests that it was a rather shady and poorly organized operation.

The best history of the line is Richard Palmer's 1973 article in the R&LHS Bulletin/Railroad History, appropriately titled "Narrow Gauge to Oblivion" :

JSTOR: Narrow Gauge to Oblivion

-Philip Marshall