Troy Union Station Clock and More

Troy Railroad Station Clock, an artifact from the Troy, NY station is coming up for auction. This might be the last time it will be on public display, it’s likely to disappear into a private collection, not to be seen again for decades.

 

The clock is described as a Reed & Stem station clock. It appears in this _completed auction_ eBay postcard:

Understand itis currently owned by an antique  & architectural salvage dealer called “Urban Archeology”. UA has hired Guernsey’s auction house to liquidate part of their accumulation..

This site shows a slideshow of lots. Note that the Troy Station clock is the GREEN clock with two mythological figures (There are other clocks in the same auction.)

Some questions posed and some anwsered by New York Central experts:

Did Reed & Stem design the whole Troy Station, or did they just design the interior decoration?  Yes, the whole thing.  And they were the first architects on Grand Central Terminal.  I never saw the clock, but I would believe that the “Reed and Stem” was on the clock to commemorate the architects, and not to represent the clock maker, whoever that was.

Do we agree that the style is “Beaux Arts”? Yes

How did this station fit into the operations of the NYC _System_? Trains left Troy for what points? Albany (Belt Line), Schenectady, New York (NYC), Montreal (D&H), Burlington and Montreal (Rutland), and Boston (Boston and Maine).  The Albany-Troy Belt Line was a joint NYC-D&H operation.  At one time, B&M and D&H operated a Boston-Chicago service via Binghamton-Erie.

What can we come up with about the clock itself? Weights? Spring-wound? Electric? Chimes?

Which department maintained clocks in stations? The Bridge and Building Department.

Does anyone remember actually seeing the clock?

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Why Was the “Fabled Rutland Milk” Called FABLED?

PenneyVanderbilt

I, Penney Vanderbilt, named it.

Not only have I written a blog about it, and mentioned it in other blogs, BUT my blog header shows a picture of it passing through the Troy Union Railroad.

So what does “fabled” mean? “famous, especially by reputation”.  Synonyms include: celebrated, renowned, famed, famous, well known

An alternate definition is MYTHICAL: People never believed it was still running.

Now for some facts:

Milk trains were disappearing. The attitude was USE TRUCKS.

The Rutland was disappearing. Well it did; but even their branch to Chatham got cut forcing the trip through Troy.

Any trip through was slow. Can you spell “street running”?

Rutland equipment was old and obsolete. Check out the “rider car”. Even the locomotive was “first generation” diesel.

Look at a map: It started out as far North as you can get in New York State; rolled through Vermont; and went all the…

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