TrailsBlog: FJ&G Rail Trail, "Gateway to the Adirondacks"
Stretching between two of its namesake cities in the foothills of the southern Adirondacks, the FJ & G (Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville) Rail Trail runs for a total of 10 miles through Fulton County. It alternates between rural and urban settings , and is a great example of a trail that offers residents both a place to exercise and a safe, off-road transportation connection to access local parks, businesses and other community amenities. Plus, it's a draw for tourists and visitors, especially during foliage season.
The FJ & G Rail Trail today consists of two separate sections. The main trail runs for eight miles through the cities of Johnstown and Gloversville, while the Vail Mills section runs two miles, ending in the village of Broadalbin.
The southern terminus of the main section of the trail is on Union Avenue in Johnstown. However, there is no parking at this location, and it is only a place to start a ride on the trail if riding from elsewhere in the vicinity. Heading north from Union Avenue, the first stretch of trail runs through a wooded area alongside the Cayadutta Creek. After about a mile, you start to get into the middle of the city of Johnstown, where you’ll see the first of many industrial buildings that line the trail-- the reason for the existence of the railroad and subsequently the trail.
INTERACTIVE MAP OF THE FJ & G RAIL TRAIL
Gloversville and Johnstown are known as the “Glove Cities” because of the many glove factories which were located there because of the plentiful supply of wood bark, Hemlock in particular, needed to tan leather. The area quickly became known as the glove-making capital of the world, as the glove factories spawned a range of ancillary services required to support the glove industry.
The factories used the Cayadutta Creek as their energy source and the factory buildings can still be seen dotting the banks of the narrow, winding waterway. However, similar to other manufacturing industries in the state, the 20th century saw the decline of glove-making in the area, leaving the factories empty and the city’s economy uncertain.
While in Johnstown, the trail winds through city streets, cutting across many streets at a diagonal angle and requiring more street crossings than your typical rail trail. Johnstown handles these street crossings well - through the use of distinctive decorative crosswalks that spell out the name of the FJ & G Trail. Cross the streets with caution, however, as several of the crosswalks traverse heavily used state highways.
Trail users can easily visit Johnson Hall State Historic Site, which can be found a short ride west from the trail off of West State Street.
As the trail leaves Johnstown and heads north into Gloversville, it enters an area with a more rural feel, but you can always see a building in one direction or another. At Harrison Street, the trail passes through Parkhurst Field, home of the local little league, one of many community assets the trail connects. Before long, you’re back in a city, this time Gloversville.
In Gloversville, the trail reaches what is really its centerpiece - Trail Station Park. This municipal park has ample parking as well as a pavilion and exercise equipment. The park was once home to the Gloversville train station and the headquarters of the FJ&G Railroad, and today a boxcar from the FJ&G is preserved within the park as a reminder of the trail’s railroad heritage. From there, the final three miles takes trail users north through Gloversville neighborhoods and into the surrounding countryside before the trail reaches its current end at Denny’s Crossing.
A cautionary note along this last stretch is the trail's most challenging road crossing: high-speed and heavily used State Route 30A.
The FJ & G Rail Trail was built on the bed of the former Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad, constructed in 1870 to give the area’s glove factories better access to markets through a connection with the main line of the New York Central Railroad in Fonda. Later, the line extended from its initial terminus in Gloversville north to the village of Northville, where it brought summer vacationers to inns, cabins and tent sites along the banks of the Sacandaga River. Travelers disembarking at Northville also took additional means to travel further north into the Adirondack Mountains, giving the rail line its nickname as the “Gateway to the Adirondacks.” A branch line constructed to connect the village of Broadalbin with the main line today comprises the Vail Mills section of the rail trail.
By the late 1920s, traffic on the railroad had begun to decline, especially among vacationers to the Adirondacks, as cars and paved roads became more prevalent. A death knell for the route was sounded in 1930, when New York State completed the dam that created the Great Sacandaga Lake. This project flooded much of the northernmost area served by the FJ & G, including the line to Northville. One of the most famous photos of the railroad’s history shows a locomotive pulling the last train out as rising water covered the rails.
While freight business continued until the 1980s, the decline of the leather business left the route without a sufficient customer base.
In the late 1990s, Fulton County took steps to convert the railbed into a trail, starting with the 2.8 miles between North Perry Street in Johnstown and Spring Street in Gloversville. Since that time, the trail has grown to its current length. The coming years could see further growth of the trail as earlier this year, Fulton County announced that they were working with the railroad company that still owns some of the corridor to purchase two properties that would help connect the line beyond Denny’s Crossing with the Vail Mills section of the trail.
There has been extensive discussion in the past about connecting the line to the south where it would potentially end in Fonda, just across the river from the Erie Canalway Trail in Fultonville. While these discussions have not yet resulted in built trail,, the right-of-way mostly remains intact. Eventually, the FJ&G Rail Trail could comprise a 22-mile path stretching from the Mohawk River to Broadalbin, and the corridor could serve once again as the “Gateway to the Adirondacks.”
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