The Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail is a 9-mile pathway that follows the old Albany and Susquehanna Railroad between Albany and Voorheesville, linking places including Normanskill Gorge in Albany, the hamlets of Delmar and Elsmere, the Village of Voorheesville, and the fields and woodlands of New Scotland at the base of the Helderberg Escarpment. In the mid-19th century, private investors sought a railroad connecting Albany and the upper Susquehanna Valley to carry coal and link the valley's farms with Albany markets, and the privately owned Albany and Susquehanna Railroad was formed, opening its first section between Albany and Central Bridge in September 1863. Soon after the line was completed, a struggle by aggressive capitalists for control of the board of directors led to a lengthy proxy war and an armed confrontation, and on February 24, 1870, the weary board leased the line in perpetuity to the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. The railroad transformed freight and passenger movement in Bethlehem and New Scotland, expanding farmers' access to markets and enabling commuters to travel daily between homes in Delmar, Slingerlands, and Voorheesville and offices in Albany, helping begin suburbanization. Passenger service on this section ended in the 1930s and freight service ended in the 1990s. In 2010, Albany County, with funding from the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation and Scenic Hudson, purchased 9.1 miles of rail bed from the Canadian Pacific Railway to create the Albany County Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail, then improved the trail from Albany to Voorheesville for recreation and alternative transportation with the assistance of Bethlehem, New Scotland, Voorheesville, Albany, and the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy.
