Another New York, Ontario & Western building bites the dust. The old shop complex in Middletown, NY burned. They tore down the last remaining roundhouse, which was here in Rome, about 5 years ago. The big Middletown station/company headquarters partially burned a few years back and sits empty, with the one corner falling in. Not much left of the O&W and less every year.
Happier days on the NYO&W: A Y-2 Mountain pounds past a pair of young railfans at the watering pipe in Cornwall, NY. The fireman hanging off the ladder is interesting, presumably getting ready to pick up orders on the fly.
NYO&W Class E Ten-Wheeler #227 crosses the Erie Railroad's Montgomery Branch at Campbell Hall, NY. Pretty meager consist, just a single passenger car and a combine.
#227, again at Campbell Hall.
A NYO&W "Long John" W-2 Consolidation, their first non-Camelback 2-8-0s, moves a freight through Campbell Hall in '39.
Semi-streamlined Y-1 Mountain #405 leads the Mountaineer Limited on a cold winter's day. An attempt to cash in on the luxury trains on other routes, the Mountaineer Limited failed to turn around the O&W's sagging passenger profits.
Another photo of NYO&W #405 with the Mountaineer. The name was taken from the railroad's slogan "The Route Of The Mountaineer", derived from the NYO&W's torturous routing that ran as the crow flies, resulting in numerous bridges, tunnels, and grades as it when through the mountains, rather than following the curvature of the land for an easier route.
"Long John" #322 leads what I assume has to be a railfan special at Ramapo, NY in '46. The W-2s were rough-riders and low-drivered, so they were not typically used on passenger trains. The fact that the passenger cars appear to be packed, at this late in the O&W's life, as makes me believe this was some sort of special event. Also interesting about this photo is that the train is on Erie Railroad's line, not the NYO&W's.
An NYO&W Class U Mogul hustles a 14 car freight along the Middlestown & Unionville Railroad to make a connection at Hanford Junction with the New York, Susquehanna & Western.
NYO&W camelback 4-6-0 leads an eastbound passenger train at Fair Oaks, NY on July 7th of 1940
"Long John" #324 works a freight train north out of Woodridge in '47. The #324's, and every other O&W steam engine's, days are numbered.
Y-1 Mountain #404 leads a northbound freight at Mountain Dale, NY.
NYO&W's Apple Blossom Special is lead out of Phillipsport, NY by Camelback 2-6-0 #281
Shiny new FT A-B sets #804 and #802 roar through Campbell Hall in '46. The NYO&W dieselized early and fast, as well as adopting Central Traffic Control, in hopes that the improved efficiency could save the Old & Weary.
NYO&W FTs detour onto the Erie through Port Jervis due to a wreck at Cooks Falls on the O&W. While the NYO&W tried to put on a brave face in later years with the slogan "New, Young, Out & Working", pundits referred to it as "Not Young, Old & Weary", "Old & Wobbly" and the "Old Woman".
Y-2 Mountain #457 at the Stony Ford crossing. The Y-2 Mountain was a duplicate of a New York Central L-2 Mohawk. None survived, despite five being sold to the Bangor & Aroostook. They also sold five Y-1 Mountains to Savannah & Atlanta, again none survived. And a single Camelback went down to Cuba, along with the lone surviving RF&P steam engine, but both are presumed scrapped.
NYO&W FTs roll past Erie hopper cars at Secaucus, NJ
F3A #501 at Middletown, NY with a rather meager consist.
A southbound freight behind FTs at Middletown.
F3s at Middletown in June of '53 with a passenger train. Passenger service would be suspended permanently a few months later.
Camelback Ten-Wheeler #202 switches coal cars at Waddell Breaker in PA. Coal made, and broke, the NYO&W. They built their Scranton division to access the big anthracite fields and despite moving only 2% of coal in PA, it made up for over 50% of the O&W's revenue. But the O&W had to work with the smaller, less productive mines, as the big ones were already claimed. When the veins were tapped out and the mines went bankrupt and coal demand plummeted, so did the O&W's finances.
F3 #502 at Maybrook with borrowed New Haven passenger cars on a fantrip.
Coupled behind the #502 is what looks like a truncated B-unit. It's actually an O&W HT "heater car". The FTs and F3s were available with optional steam heat generators but the O&W, for whatever reason, optioned their F3s and FTs without generators. Instead they took a pair of tender frames and trucks from Class X 2-10-2 "Bullmooses" and installed a steam generator and water tank, and then built a body that matched an F-unit. When the O&W ended year-round passenger service in 1950, they sold HT-2 to the Fernwood, Columbia & Gulf, where it was presumably scrapped. They held onto HT-1 for the occasional winter special or chilly spring runs, and after the O&W's abandonment in '57 it hung around the Camp Shanks storage yard with many of the O&W's cars, until it was scrapped.
You'll need to log in to post.
