About New York, Ontario and Western Railway
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The New York, Ontario and Western Railway Company—usually the O&W—emerged from the November 14, 1879 reorganization of the bankrupt New York and Oswego Midland Railroad. Its corporate home was in New York City, while Middletown, New York served as its operating headquarters: a very on-brand split personality for a railroad with a very long name.
The O&W connected the New York metropolitan area with Oswego on Lake Ontario, while branches reached resort country, dairy territory, and northeastern Pennsylvania. A route from Middletown to Cornwall opened in 1883, allowing the railroad to use trackage rights southward to Weehawken. In 1890, its Scranton Division tapped Pennsylvania anthracite country, giving the line a desperately useful freight lifeline.
Coal, milk, vacationers, mountain grades, and a little stubbornness kept the O&W rolling. But changing home-heating fuels, highways, and shrinking traffic caught up with it. The company entered reorganization in 1937; the final freight ran from Norwich to Middletown on March 29, 1957. Most rails and bridges were removed during 1958 and 1959.
Our New York, Ontario and Western Railway collection celebrates the scrappy “Old & Weary”: a line that ran from city-bound ambition to Catskill detours, carried the coal and cream, and left behind an improbably durable legend.