So, why does the milepost at Barneveld reference Utica....
when the milepost at Remsen references Herkimer? Especially when Herkimer isn't served by the Adirondack Division and is 13 miles southeast of Utica?
Well, that has to do with the patchwork quilt nature of the New York Central Railroad. The New York Central as most people know it was formed by the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad purchasing or leasing a number of component railroads, which in turn were often leasing other segments. It was called New York Central Systems for that very reason. Just off the top of my head in New York State, the NYC had the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg, the Mohawk & Malone, the Adirondack & St. Lawrence, the Lake Erie & Western, the New York, West Shore & Buffalo, the Auburn & Syracuse, the Rochester & Auburn, the Ulster & Delaware and many, many others. New York went all-in on the post-Civil War railroad boom, and Commodore Vanderbilt had his New York & Hudson River Railroad mostly gobble up these various smaller railroads, both to expand the reach of his NYC&HR and to eliminate possible competition. This is going to get a little confusing, so I'll try to bold the important names.
The Black River & Utica (U&BR) was begun in 1853 and was to connect Utica to Carthage. It departed Utica, swinging north west to around the west side of Deerfield Hill and passing through Marcy, before coming back northeast near Holland Patent. It then continued through Trenton Falls, Barneveld to Remsen, where it again took a northwest tack, heading up through Boonville, Lyons Falls, Lowville and ending in Carthage. Some of those names are obviously locations that I just mentioned in my posts above, and it is this section, south of Remsen that has milepost markers that reference Utica. Not long after construction and the start of service, the U&BR collapsed and was reorganized as the Utica & Black River (U&BR) in 1861. On April 14, 1886, it was leased to the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg Railroad (RW&O), which ran from it's westernmost point at Niagara Falls to as far southeast as Rome and as far northwest as Massena Springs, mostly covering the northwestern portion of the state. On the map below, the eastern portion of the RW&O is shown in the red lines, while I have highlighted the U&BR in blue. You can also see Herkimer to the southeast of Utica on the New York Central. By 1891, RW&O became a subsidiary of NYC and on April 12, 1913, the RW&O was formally merged into the NYC, becoming known variously as the RW&O Division or the St. Lawrence Division
Now, the Herkimer connection. In 1880, a 3-foot narrow gauge railroad was constructed for the 16 miles between Herkimer and Poland. It was known as the Herkimer, Newport & Poland Railroad (HN&P) and it's southern terminus was at Herkimer, with a connection to the New York Central. It was routed north-northwest through the Kuyahoora Valley, crossing the West Canada Creek multiple times and stopping at locations like Newport and Middleville.
Enter Doctor William Seward Webb. Webb, who was president of the Wagner Palace Car Company and had married a Vanderbilt, was quite wealthy and spent time vacationing in the Adirondacks. Webb saw the value of a railroad that ran up through the middle of the Adirondacks, since the RW&O skirted the western edge on it's route along the St. Lawrence, while the D&H's line skirted the eastern edge along Vermont. It would allow people to access and experience the remote wilderness, provide service to the many private camps and small settlements, and could continue on to Montreal. Webb began acquiring large parcels of land, some along the route of his planned railroad, while others he traded to the state for parcels he needed. Webb was on a time crunch, since there were those lobbying to the state to cut off any large scale development within the park, such as a rail line straight up the middle, to preserve the unspoiled wilderness. The date for this "Forever Wild" status to go into effect was 1894, and Webb was planning his railroad in 1890.
Webb was to build two railroads: the Mohawk & Malone (M&M) and the St. Lawrence & Adirondack (StL&A). The M&M would extend from a southern connection with the NYC and go north to Malone, NY, while the StL&A would go from Malone north to Montreal. Since speed of construction was of the essence, because it had to be done before the state shut down development in the Adirondacks, he purchased the HN&P and placed it under the ownership of the M&M, converted it to standard gauge, and straightened the line to remove some of the crossings of West Canada Creek. The line was then extended northwest through Gravesville (named for ancestors of actor Peter Graves), Trenton Chasm, and Prospect, eventually reaching Remsen, where it met the U&BR/RW&O. A branch was also constructed at Prospect Junction, in Prospect, that headed west to Hinckley, becoming known as the Hinckley Branch.
From Remsen, the M&M continued through Forestport, Otter Lake, Thendara (at the time known as Chain-Of-Lakes and Fulton Chain), Old Forge, Big Moose, Sebattis, and Tupper Lake Junction. At Tupper Lake Junction, the New York & Ottawa (NY&O) came west from Ottawa and terminated at Tupper Lake. This would later become the NYC Ottawa Division but it was never even remotely busy and was abandoned in it's entirety in '37, which resulted in the Junction part of the name being dropped. The M&M then continued north to Lake Clear Junction, where the the Lake Placid Branch, which was owned by the D&H and originally a 3-foot gauge line known as the Chateaugay Railroad, went east to Lake Placid. The D&H came in from the east at Plattsburgh and ran west to Saranac Lake, while the NYC would use the line in reverse, getting on the D&H trackage at Saranac Lake and running east to Lake Placid. Eventually the D&H abandoned their line from Plattsburgh, terminated the line at Lake Placid and sold the whole thing to the NYC. The M&M continued on through a series of increasingly remote locations; Paul Smiths/Gabriels, Plumadore, Rainbow Lake, Loon Lake, Mountain View, Owl's Head, Whipplesville before hitting Malone. At Malone, the line crossed the Rutland and the StL&A took over and headed north over the border, again operating in very remote territory. The Canadian end of the line is little documented, even in Taibi's book. but passed through Huntingdon, St. Timothee's, and Valleyfield before ending at Adirondack Junction. From there it hopped on the Grand Trunk, and later the Canadian Pacific to access Montreal.
The whole line, both the Mohawk & Malone and the St. Lawrence & Adirondack, from Herkimer to Remsen to Malone to Adirondack Junction, was all complete in 1892 and operated under the StL&A banner but was sometimes erroneously called the Adirondack & St. Lawrence, even in official company paperwork(!) despite there being another, unrelated, unconnected railroad operating as the Adirondack & St. Lawrence. Because Herkimer was the southern terminus and Malone the northern terminus, all the mile markers referenced distance from Herkimer or Malone. In 1893, Webb leased the railroad to the New York Central (it was controlled by his in-laws after all), although he maintained considerable authority. And in 1913 it was merged into the New York Central, becoming the Adirondack Division.
After the New York Central took over, Utica was made the southern terminus, but all the mileage markers north of Remsen retained their Herkimer references. Presumably, the NYC didn't want to spend the time removing all the old mileage markers and making new ones referencing Utica, and they weren't inaccurate, since the line to Herkimer was still intact and seeing service. But in 1931, the New York Central yanked up the branch from Prospect Junction to Hinckley. In 1942, they then removed the line from Prospect Junction south to Poland. This left a 2.8 mile segment from Remsen south east to Prospect Junction, and a 17.3 mile segment from Herkimer northwest to Poland. In 1965, the Remsen-Prospect Junction was removed, the same time that NYC was ending service from Utica to Lake Placid. The old Herkimer-Poland line, the original HN&P, was actually active until 1972, seeing somewhat regular freight moves, but when Hurricane Agnes blew out a bridge, Penn Central couldn't afford to replace it, and the line was officially abandoned, although it wouldn't be ripped up until 4 years later.
As for the rest of the line, in 1961, the M&M was abandoned between Malone Junction and Gabriels. The line to Lake Clear Junction became a spur and the Saranac Branch became part of the division. The northern end of the line was basically shaped like a Y at Lake Clear Junction, with one line going to Gabriels and one going to Lake Placid. The NYC used Canadian National trackage rights to access the StL&A and reach Montreal. In 1964, the NYC also severed the old U&BR/RW&O line when they abandoned trackage between Lyons Falls and Lowville. In 1965, the couple miles from Lake Clear Junction to Gabriels was abandoned, leaving just the eastward hook to Lake Placid, but that year the railroad ceased operation to Lake Placid as well, and they abandoned the entire line in 1972, with the state taking ownership in 1975. Of course, then in 2020, the state would tear up the active Lake Placid Branch, from Saranac Lake to Lake Placid, as well as the line from Tupper Lake to Lake Clear Junction, where the Lake Placid Branch began.
But, yes, all that is to explain why the Adirondack Railroad uses Utica as a reference point south of Remsen, but uses Herkimer as a reference point north of Remsen, even though it doesn't connect to Herkimer anymore and hasn't since 1942.
