Batten Kill Book

05/29/2026

Fabulous frontage Friday:

The lush spring foliage of Batten Kill Country is alive with color as SNEX Alco RS - 36 5015  steps out onto the high trestle at Eagle Bridge, NY on May 18,2026.

Conductor Colin Bukowski is enjoying the view  as he rides the pilot toward the yard throat at Dahn Lane.

The light power is shoving south to pick up the days interchange freight for the northbound trip back to Greenwich Junction.

 This is the first time this unit has poked his nose out across the Hoosic, and the weather seems to be celebrating her arrival.

 The unit has been calling Washington County home for the past several years and is an original Delaware in Hudson unit built at Schenectady New York in 1963.

DEADLINE FOR Batten Kill BOOK PREORDERS HAVE BEEN EXTENDED!

Due to continued interest in Batten Kill Country, we’ve extended the reservation deadline for the second printing to September 1.

The first run sold out quickly, and reservations from this second run will help make the next printing possible.

If you’ve been thinking about ordering a copy, now’s the time — and please spread the word to your friends and fellow Batten Kill fans!

https://tinyurl.com/battenkillbook

05/28/2026

Backlit Beauties:

A pair of RS-36’s bracket a third RS – 36 and an RS – three as a 23 car BKF rolls north at Shushan, NY on Monday May 18,2026

Four Alco’s on the BK is a rare site but three of the Alcos in this consist had been positioned in Cambridge for a festival the prior weekend, adding some color and flavor to the days’s train 🎁

DEADLINE FOR BOOK PREORDERS EXTENDED!

Due to continued interest in Batten Kill Country, we’ve extended the reservation deadline for the second printing to September 1.

The first run sold out quickly, and reservations from this second run will help make the next printing possible.

If you’ve been thinking about ordering a copy, now’s the time — and please spread the word to your friends and fellow Batten Kill fans!

https://tinyurl.com/battenkillbook

05/27/2026

Batten Kill RR President Bill Taber has had enough of my drone documentaries and fires a stream of cold water at the drone on May 18,2026 down beside the Cambridge Depot

The bird escapes the water and Bill will resume filling the radiator as the Crew prepares Alco Hi Hood RS 36 for the shove south to Eagle Bridge, New York.

DEADLINE FOR PREORDERS EXTENDED!

Due to continued interest in Batten Kill Country, we’ve extended the reservation deadline for the second printing to September 1.

The first run sold out quickly, and reservations from this second run will help make the next printing possible.

If you’ve been thinking about ordering a copy, now’s the time — and please spread the word to your friends and fellow Batten Kill fans!

https://tinyurl.com/battenkillbook

05/26/2026

PLACE YOUR RESERVATION TODAY! Due to continued interest in Batten Kill Country, we’ve extended the reservation deadline for the second printing to September 1.The first run sold out quickly, and reservations from this second run will help make the next printing possible. If you’ve been thinking about ordering a copy, now’s the time — and please spread the word to your friends and fellow Batten Kill fans!

https://tinyurl.com/battenkillbook

RS-3 4116 leads a flanger freight south through Shushan in February of 2015. The picturesque Hamlet of Shushan offers a variety of photo props and angles among the best in the northeast.

DEADLINE FOR PREORDERS EXTENDED!

Due to continued interest in Batten Kill Country, we’ve extended the reservation deadline for the second printing to September 1.

The first run sold out quickly, and reservations from this second run will help make the next printing possible.

If you’ve been thinking about ordering a copy, now’s the time — and please spread the word to your friends and fellow Batten Kill fans!

https://tinyurl.com/battenkillbook

05/25/2026

PLACE YOUR RESERVATION TODAY! Due to continued interest in Batten Kill Country, we’ve extended the reservation deadline for the second printing to September 1.The first run sold out quickly, and reservations from this second run will help make the next printing possible. If you’ve been thinking about ordering a copy, now’s the time — and please spread the word to your friends and fellow Batten Kill fans!

https://tinyurl.com/battenkillbook

4 Alco northbound at Shushan, NY
May 18,2026

DEADLINE FOR PREORDERS EXTENDED!

Due to continued interest in Batten Kill Country, we’ve extended the reservation deadline for the second printing to September 1.

The first run sold out quickly, and reservations from this second run will help make the next printing possible.

If you’ve been thinking about ordering a copy, now’s the time — and please spread the word to your friends and fellow Batten Kill fans!

https://tinyurl.com/battenkillbook

05/25/2026

DEADLINE EXTENDED! Due to continued interest in Batten Kill Country, we’ve extended the reservation deadline for the second printing to September 1.

The first run sold out quickly, and reservations from this second run will help make the next printing possible.

If you’ve been thinking about ordering a copy, now’s the time — and please spread the word to your friends and fellow Batten Kill fans!

https://tinyurl.com/battenkillbook

Down at Cambridge Depot: The Owl Kill Festival was a a big hit over the weekend with a trio of Alco’s staged beside the depot. But it’s Monday May 18 and time for Bill Taber and crew to head south to pick up the days train from Eagle Bridge, New York.

They’ll make sure the 408 has plenty of water for the trip south as temperatures are expected to climb close to 90 today. There is much to do on the Batten Kill Railroad and the crew is up for the task!

DEADLINE EXTENDED! Due to continued interest in Batten Kill Country, we’ve extended the reservation deadline for the second printing to September 1.

The first run sold out quickly, and reservations from this second run will help make the next printing possible.

If you’ve been thinking about ordering a copy, now’s the time — and please spread the word to your friends and fellow Batten Kill fans!

https://tinyurl.com/battenkillbook

05/24/2026

DEADLINE EXTENDED! Due to continued interest in Batten Kill Country, we’ve extended the reservation deadline for the second printing to September 1.The first run sold out quickly, and reservations from this second run will help make the next printing possible.

If you’ve been thinking about ordering a copy, now’s the time — and please spread the word to your friends and fellow Batten Kill fans!

https://tinyurl.com/battenkillbook

All Alcos on Deck:

The Batten Kill Railroad is an Alco lovers paradise perhaps never more true then on May 18, 2026.

A colorful Alco quartet rolls north at Pook’s Farm in Shushan, NY with a mid day train of 23 loads.

The 3rd and 4th units are dead in tow after being featured at a weekend display in Cambridge.

05/23/2026

DEADLINE EXTENDED! Due to continued interest in Batten Kill Country, we’ve extended the reservation deadline for the second printing to September 1.The first run sold out quickly, and reservations from this second run will help make the next printing possible.

If you’ve been thinking about ordering a copy, now’s the time — and please spread the word to your friends and fellow Batten Kill fans!

https://tinyurl.com/battenkillbook

Back home on the Washington Branch:

On a crisp morning in May 2026, this flashy unit in her second experimental paint scheme, will head south out of the historic village of Cambridge, NY to grab her interchange freight at Eagle Bridge, NY before returning north for Greenwich Junction.

Alco RS-36 was built in Schenectady, New York, as Delaware and Hudson 5015 back in 1963 and is currently on loan to the Batten Kill Railroad, by owner Dave Coppola of the southern New England Railroad.

The 5015 and stable mates 4116 and 408  spent the previous weekend here in Cambridge as part of the Owl Kill Festival at the Cambridge Depot

05/22/2026

DEADLINE EXTENDED! Due to continued interest in Batten Kill Country, we’ve extended the reservation deadline for the second printing to September 1.The first run sold out quickly, and reservations from this second run will help make the next printing possible.

If you’ve been thinking about ordering a copy, now’s the time — and please spread the word to your friends and fellow Batten Kill fans!

https://tinyurl.com/battenkillbook

Conductor Brooks Dawson once told me, "The Batten Kill Railroad is more than just a train coming down the line. It’s about the men who keep the Railroad going or there would be no Batten Kill train to photograph."

I clicked this hand held drone image of Dawson on Monday, May 18, as he prepared the 5015 (an original D&H Alco RS-36) for her journey south to Eagle Bridge to grab the day’s inbound freight.

It is true, without these dedicated railroaders, this portion of the former Delaware & Hudson Washington branch would have surely been gone long ago.

DEADLINE EXTENDED!
Due to continued interest in Batten Kill Country (Hardcover Color Book), we’ve extended the reservation deadline for the second printing to September 1.The first run sold out quickly, and reservations from this second run will help make the next printing possible. If you’ve been thinking about ordering a copy, now’s the time — and please spread the word to your friends and fellow Batten Kill fans!

https://tinyurl.com/battenkillbook

05/21/2026

DEADLINE EXTENDED! Due to continued interest in Batten Kill Country, we’ve extended the reservation deadline for the second printing to September 1.The first run sold out quickly, and reservations from this second run will help make the next printing possible.

If you’ve been thinking about ordering a copy, now’s the time — and please spread the word to your friends and fellow Batten Kill fans!

THE BOOK IS SOLD OUT! We are now accepting PAID RESERVATIONS in anticipation of a SECOND RUN. Deadlline for reservations is MAY 20, 2026. If we don't get enough orders, we will cancel the project and your money will be refunded. Thank you for your support! In 1981, Ron Crowd transformed a dream into...

05/21/2026

DEADLINE EXTENDED! Due to continued interest in Batten Kill Country, we’ve extended the reservation deadline for the second printing to September 1.The first run sold out quickly, and reservations from this second run will help make the next printing possible. If you’ve been thinking about ordering a copy, now’s the time — and please spread the word to your friends and fellow Batten Kill fans!

https://tinyurl.com/battenkillbook

Monday morning in Cambridge, NY: A bicycle es**rt for a young Mom, finds a trio of Alcos beside the Cambridge Depot, leftovers for a hungry photographer from the 2nd annual Owlkill Festival ... fundraiser for the Owlkill brook and park

Bill and the crew have just arrived in the high rail truck and it will take some time to get the Alco 408 fired up for the shove south to Eagle Bridge.

The headlight on the 5015 will not be lit for the morning trip south,but I couldn’t pass up this shot looking north from Main Street.

I’ve been waiting for years to see this locomotive in fresh spring green and today was the day that she will travel south “leading“ the light power move toward Eagle Bridge, New York.

It was so very nice to be back at the place I love here in Batten Kill Country on May 18,2026

I love photographing people so forgive me that the headlight was not on on the train was not rolling through the crossing. It was one of my very first shots on a sunny Monday morning and scene you don’t often see here in Batten Kill Country.🙏😊🎁