KINGSTON, N.Y. — The cause is under investigation after an out-of-service locomotive of the Catskill Mountain Railroad caught fire early New Year’s Day.
A fire involving Alco RS1 No. 400 was reported about 3 a.m.; the Kingston Fire Department said it took about two hours to bring the incident under control. No injuries resulted. The railroad says in a Facebook post that the fire was set, with footprints in fresh snowfall leading to the scene from nearby Interstate 587. The fire department says its Fire Investigation Division is investigating the cause.
The Catskill Mountain Railroad operates about 4.6 miles of a former New York Central branch between Kingston and Stony Hollow, N.Y., owned by Ulster County, and leased by the railroad since 1983. It has proposed a 1.8-mile extension to connect to an existing rail trail, and received state funding for that project and other upgrades in 2024 [see “Catskill Mountain to use New York grants …,” Trains.com, March 29, 2024]. The extension faces opposition from trail advocates who say that would prevent further trail development.
The railroad was also the target of vandalism to two pieces of maintenance-of-way equipment last June [see “Catskill Mountain Railroad equipment damaged …,” Trains.com, June 27, 2025].
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