If you’ve ever traveled by canal through much of New York State, you know there are long stretches where the canal and the railroad run parallel to each other and in close proximity, as in the photo below that I saw years ago in the Richardson-Bates House Museum in Oswego years ago. Note the train, a mule team, and several barges. A Dispatches post here from May 2025 showed this proximity.

As of result, many canal enthusiasts I’ve met also have an interest in rail traffic. One such person, a renowned canal photographer named Albert Gayer, took an interest in both rail and canal. Thanks to that interest, the CSNY archives have photos documenting mishaps due to derailments. This first set is from the July 1962 derailment near Fonda. Among other cargoes, the eastbound freight was carrying those items just beyond that classic pickup. Recognize the spilled cargo?

I’d say Chevrolet engines from the GM plant in North Tonawanda heading for the North Tarrytown assembly plant. Just an informed guess, but I’m group sourcing this.

Earlier in 1962, there was another derailment in the same general area.

Some years earlier, a derailment on a curve in Little Falls had a high toll. A small plaque marks the spot, although I unsuccessfully looked for it once in winter; snow banks covered it, and I had to return to see it in summer.

File this post under “what I didn’t expect in the CSNY archives.” In that same category, are there century-plus old images of folks ice fishing on the canal?

Many thanks to Craig Williams for dating these images. Thanks to my brother John for suggesting the red engines were from the GM plant.