Marathon Station reopens in 2003, after 45 years, for use as a passenger rail station. The story of the station, its proud history and grand rebirth, is a tribute to the spirit of downtown revitalization and historic preservation that is alive and well in the Village of Marathon, and a fine example of what can be accomplished through creative public-private partnerships.

The history of the Tioughnioga River and the NYS&W rail corridor which runs through it, are intertwined. The Tioughnioga River Waterfront Development project brings them together in an effort to allow the county and the region to more fully participate in the growing "heritage tourism" industry which has become a $19 billion sector of the New York State economy.

The Tioughnioga Rail Corridor is a resource of historical significance which was been deemed eligible in 1999 for inclusion on the National Historic Register as a Railroad Historic District. Equally important, it is still a working rail corridor and the NYS DOT has designated the Syracuse to Binghamton Tioughnioga Rail Corridor as a critical linkage in the State's transportation system. While freight use has been increasing over the past several years, passenger service has been primarily special runs such as "The Maple Express" for special events like Marathon's annual Maple Festival. A new rail initiative will re-institute passenger service along this historic rail corridor line.

The Tioughnioga Rail Corridor is part of the through route from Montreal to Philadelphia and southern points, and is one of the earliest corridors ever built. When the railroad industry was only 24 years old -- before rails crossed the Mississippi River -- civic leaders in Central New York banded together to connect Syracuse and Binghamton by rail. The Tioughnioga River Corridor (known as the Syracuse branch) of the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway (NYS&W) is one of the few rail lines in the nation to provide historically accurate passenger service to the public. In 1929, more than 29,000 passenger trains crisscrossed the country daily, but now only a handful like the NYS&W's Tioughnioga Rail Corridor offer the real experience of early 20th Century rail travel. In fact, less than 10 rail operations across the United States and Canada provide a ride in historically accurate equipment, and even fewer operations feature a steam locomotive. Today, the NYS&W operates steam and diesel locomotives common to the era of American passenger train travel, and coaches on these locomotives serve as the premier example of the steam passenger train era. In that sense, The Tioughnioga Rail Corridor is one of the last remaining glimpses into rail history.

The NYS&W acquired the Tioughnioga Corridor (Syracuse Branch) from Conrail in 1982 and rebuilt it for both freight and passenger service. There has been a focus on preserving many of the historic buildings along the Tioughnioga Corridor, including the Tully Passenger Station, Homer Passenger Station, Cortland Passenger Station and Marathon Passenger Station. The corridor also boasts unique "watch shanties" along the line, as well as one of the rarest types of railroad architecture -- the watchman's crow's nest crossing tower. Where once hundreds existed across the country, Cortland's watchman's crow's nest is one of only ten still standing in the country.

In the determination making the Tioughnioga Corridor eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places it was noted that the rail line was associated with events that made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of history. Passages from the determination by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation note "its significance in the historic economic development of Central New York and its significance as a largely intact railroad corridor reflecting the architecture and engineering of a prominent American railroad between 1876 and 1941." Completed in 1854 as the Syracuse, Binghamton & New York Railroad, control of the line passed to the DL&W in 1869, and service and capacity were continually upgraded in the early decades of the twentieth century as the railroad became an important carrier of Pennsylvania coal, and products manufactured in Syracuse, Cortland and Binghamton, as well as regional agricultural products such as milk.

Service peaked in the 1920s along the Tioughnioga Corridor when annual averages of 230,000 passengers and 46,000 carloads of freight were carried on the division. The last major investment in the railroad occurred in 1941 when a new passenger terminal was built in Syracuse and trackage was elevated from city streets.

Today, the corridor retains significant fabric from its 1876-1941 operation, including terminal buildings in Binghamton and Syracuse which are both listed in existing National Register districts, smaller stations in Marathon, Cortland, Homer, Tully, Apulia Station and Jamesville, as well as freight houses in Cortland and Homer. Bridges and culverts generally date back to 1902 through 1920, and include a notable castellated bridge at Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse, built in 1903, and a series of bridges over the Tioughnioga River built in 1904. While passenger service was discontinued in 1958, several groups such as the Central New York and Susquehanna Chapters of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) operate special excursions.

Tying the rail corridor to the river corridor in this project will enhance two resources of historic and cultural significance, and add to the potential for economic development and increased tourism for the many small communities along the corridor. The individual community programs the trains support, such as the Central New York Maple Festival in Marathon, make a major impact on the viability of these communities.

The annual Marathon Maple Excursion is a highlight in Central New York, with NYS&W's historic steam engine #142 offering service from Syracuse and Cortland to the annual event in early April. The festival draws 30,000 visitors who come to see the tapping of maple trees -- some as old as the area itself -- which has been a tradition in Cortland County since pioneer days.

A New Destination on the Rail and River Corridor:
The Tioughnioga Heritage Center at Marathon Station

Marathon Station is a key component of Central New York's architectural and economic history. The station's architectural significance lies in the fact that for half a century this building served as Marathon, New York's connection to the world via the Syracuse, Binghamton & New York Railroad (SBNY).

From 1907 to 1958, Marathon Station served as the gateway for the local community's access to travel along the nation's extensive passenger rail network, and as a means to participate in interstate commerce. Nine times daily for nearly 50 years, trains stopped in Marathon on their way to Syracuse and Oswego, or to Binghamton and New York City. Among other items, these trains brought the mail and carried away the bounty of the area's agricultural economy and tanneries. At the height of its operation, the SBNY transported nearly a quarter million people a year through Marathon on their way to Syracuse, Philadelphia or New York City. While rail transportation and the architecture of the railroad infrastructure have undergone sweeping changes during the last 100 years, Marathon Station has retained its original appearance for nearly a century.

The Lackawanna Railroad commissioned architect Frank Nies to design the passenger and freight station at Marathon in 1906. The station itself was constructed around 1907. The concrete structure replaced an older wood frame depot built sometime in the mid-1800s. The Lackawanna, through its subsidiary the SBNY, operated the station for passenger and freight service until 1958 when passenger service was discontinued along the entire Tioughnioga Corridor (Syracuse Branch). Marathon Station remained vacant until approximately 1979 when a machine tool rebuilding shop began to operate on the site, and Conrail Corporation, the successor of the Lackawanna and SBNY Railroads, sold Marathon Station in 1982 to the owners of the machine shop. The machine shop continued operation until 1992 when it moved to a new location on Front Street in Marathon, overlooking the Tioughnioga River. Marathon Station was vacant again until 1999 when NYS&W reacquired it from the former machine shop owners.

Marathon Station is a unique architectural specimen for both the Village of Marathon and Cortland County. At 3,880 square feet, the single story station is the largest concrete station built by the Lackawanna Railroad and the only remaining rail terminal in the Village of Marathon. A small basement located under the office and lavatories housed the heating system and coal storage. Tile roofing originally covered the wooden trussed roof, although the roof is currently covered with asphalt shingles. The facility's concrete construction makes it unlike any of the remaining railroad depots along the former SBNY route. Other freight and passenger stations built from brick or wood remain in Cortland County, however the concrete construction makes Marathon truly unique.

While it is difficult to classify the structure neatly into a specific style, Marathon Station is suggestive of the Craftsman or Arts and Crafts architectural movements in vogue in America from roughly 1860 to 1925. Its low façade and low hipped roof, broad eaves and heavy wooden brackets, are common in such structures. Also popular in American Arts and Crafts design were windows featuring the pairing of an upper sash, bearing small rectangular panes with a single paned lower sash such as the windows Marathon Station features on its trackside façade and lavatories. The basic plank construction of the station's doors was also common in this movement. Form does follow function at Marathon Station. The broad eaves provided shelter from the elements to passengers waiting outside, while its broad single-story design allowed for easy access to the inside storage and waiting areas.

Gustav Stickley's concept of Craftsman style architecture describes Marathon Station nearly perfectly. In his 1909 book, Craftsman Homes, Stickley refers to the design of a structure as "reduced to its simplest form," or one that "never fails to harmonize with its surroundings, because its low broad proportions and absolute lack of ornamentation give it a character so natural and unaffected that it seems to sing into and blend with any landscape." He further characterized the style as "built of any local material and with the aid of such help as local workmen can afford, so it is never expensive unless elaborated out of all kinship with its real character of a primitive dwelling. It is beautiful, because it is planned and built to meet simple needs in the simplest and most direct way..."

The architect's drawings for Marathon Station reveal a focus on simplicity and functionality. The long rectangular footprint of the building provides several access doors directly to the adjacent railroad tracks. The main floor plan provides separate space for general freight and baggage to the north with a centrally located general office and ticket window. The lavatories and smoking room are in the center of the building opposite the office. The passenger waiting room occupies the southern end of the station. The station architect also designed two-sided waiting room benches. Although the original benches are gone, the NYS&W located a similar bench from a salvage dealer in the Pacific Northwest. This massive oak bench has been meticulously restored and now resides in the former passenger area for use each year when passenger rail service returns to Marathon for the annual Marathon Maple Festival.

To evaluate Marathon Station with respect to historical context, the observer must look to the economic history of the village and Central New York during the period from the late 19th century through the middle 20th century. Immediately surrounding Marathon Station were tanneries, the Climax Road Machine Company, the Borden Creamery, a flour mill, livestock pens, and the local electric light company as well as oil and coal storage facilities. Nine rail sidings immediately surrounding Marathon Station directly served each of these local industries.

In the mid 1920s, an annual average of 46,000 carloads of freight would travel by rail between Syracuse and Binghamton. The daily milk train stopped in Marathon to pick up the local dairyman's product for delivery to New York City. Prior to the construction of State Route 11, as many as 230,000 passengers traveled annually by rail between Syracuse and Binghamton on one of nine daily trains. Each of these trains stopped in Marathon.

By 1958, with the expansion of the interstate highway system, the rise of the long haul trucking industry, and the resulting shift in passenger and freight traffic from rail to road, Marathon Station lost its importance as a transportation gateway. While trains continue to pass through Marathon regularly and the Station remains nearly unchanged from the day it was built, it has not been used as an active train station since the very last scheduled train -- the Delaware Lackawana & Western Railroad's Train No. 1915 -- pulled out of the station on September 14, 1958. More than 300 people were on board for the sentimental last journey. The Marathon community threw a memorable New Orleans style funeral party to close down the venerable old station. Attending were throngs from the local community, as well as members of the Southern Tier Model Railroad Club and the National Railway Historical Society. The last train originated in Binghamton and ended in Syracuse, and had a railway post office car, a baggage car, a refrigerator car and five coach cars. At hamlets along the route, in farming communities where mail had been delivered by train, people lined the tracks waving good-bye to No. 1915. Flag-carrying Boy Scout honor guards stood by the side of the tacks, while buglers sounded "taps" as the last train passed by. In Syracuse, the entire contingent, led by the Tioughnioga Post Marching Band, paraded through the streets of Syracuse, New Orleans style, to another landmark, the Hotel Syracuse for brunch. The event was sponsored by "Project All Aboard," a tribute to rail passenger travel organized by the late Walter Grunfeld, who was the publisher of a longtime weekly newspaper based out of Marathon. Grunfeld, who died in 2000, and whose dream it was to ultimately restore Marathon Station, is memorialized with a permanent plaque in the station.

Renovations to the station in 2002 and 2003, enabled with the support of Senator James Seward through the New York State Department of Transportation's Multi-Modal Program, are respectful of this rich heritage. Now jointly owned by the NYS&W Railway and the Cortland County Industrial Development Agency, the renovated station reflects careful attention to historical preservation and architectural integrity. Restoration designs for the project were done by historic architects, the Cooperstown, NY-based Altonview group, and include the repair of original plaster walls and ceilings, refinishing the original terrazzo passenger waiting area floor, refinishing of the original bead board wainscoting and ceiling beams, and cleaning and restoration of early 1900s copper gutters, along with the addition of period-style interior lighting. A complete mechanical overhaul of the station was also made, to bring plumbing, wiring, heating and other utilities up to modern standards. A new station platform, facade work, period style lighting, paving and landscaping will also be completed in 2003.

With its rededication on April 5, 2003, at the 33rd annual Marathon Maple Festival, the next era in the station's history -- as a working passenger and freight facility, as well as a tourism destination and community landmark -- promises to be as grand as the first chapter in its proud story.