Leatherstocking NRHS Chapter

The line began as the Cooperstown and Susquehanna Valley Railroad, chartered in 1865 to link Cooperstown with the Albany and Susquehanna at Colliersville; the first train ran on July 14, 1869 on six-foot broad gauge, converted to standard gauge in 1876. The Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railroad was incorporated in 1888 and leased the older road in 1891. In 1903 the line passed to the Delaware and Hudson, which built Cooperstown's ornate stone station and ran the route as its Cooperstown Branch; the last scheduled passenger train operated on June 24, 1934, and the C&CV was formally merged into the D&H in 1957. The Delaware Otsego Corporation bought the branch in 1971, revived the C&CV name, and ran tourist trains — initially behind an ex-U.S. Army 0-6-0 steam locomotive — until freight ended in December 1987. In 1996 the Leatherstocking Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society purchased the railroad, and after volunteers cleared vegetation and rehabilitated the trackbed, tourist excursions between Cooperstown and Milford resumed in 1999 under the historic C&CV name.