The purchase comes after an extended process of looking for the right location for the railroad’s needs, says Bill Branson, president of the Adirondack Railway Preservation Society, which oversees the ASR. After looking at numerous sites, ASR landed on a parcel “where the geometry would work, and it was close enough to where it needed to be.”
The facility will be built on land located about half a mile from the current yard, which is across the platform from Amtrak’s Utica station. ASR has had to perform maintenance outside, using a nearby bridge for cover in bad weather.
The first work will be to clear the land, and then get bids on construction, Branson says. The engineering and architectural work has already been done. Unless problems come up in the building process, ASR expects to occupy the new facility before winter weather sets in.
