Greenwich & Johnsonville

Company History: The G&J opened in 1870 linking its namesake cities in eastern New York. In 1909, Delaware & Hudson bought a controlling interest in the line. D&H lost interest in the G&J when the largest customer on the line, a Georgia-Pacific mill, closed in 1980. They floated the idea of abandoning the G&J as well as the connecting D&H Washington Branch but in 1982, Ron Crowd of Mowhawk-Hudson Transportation stepped up and bought the lines from D&H, creating the Batten Kill Railroad. Batten Kill maintains one of their Alcos in Greenwich & Johnsonville “heritage” colors.

Successor/Parent History: Batten Kill was launched in 1982 to take over the Greenwich & Johnsonville, a subsidiary of Delaware & Hudson, and a short segment of the D&H itself. It runs from Eagle Bridge to Greenwich Junction and Salem, New York. Total length is about 30 miles. Batten Kill operates with a pair of Alco RS-3’s, one of which wears vintage Greenwich & Johnsonville colors. As is the case with most RS-3’s, the long hood is the front on both units. "Kill" is a middle-Dutch word for a body of water, in this case a river.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.