The New York, Ontario & Western

The New York Ontario & Western RR has an active website with lots of links, maps and info.

https://www.nyow.org

Peter

Also a NYO&W  Facebook group.

Ontario & Western Railway Historical Society, Inc.

Don't forget the O&W Museum in Roscoe.

http://www.nyow.org/museum.html 

Tom

Here's a link to a thread from 2017 with a lot of information......

https://ogrforum.com/...45#71678964394525545

Peter

Peter, Tom and Train1872H:

     Thank you for the information. I will follow up on each.,

     John

Gerald Best's 1956 book Minisink Valley Express documents the history of this branch.  OOP and tough to find but it has been digitized.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/c...2105;view=1up;seq=11

Coal Cracker:

     This is incredible! I have already read some of it, but can't wait to read the entire book.

This is much appreciated!

Thank you,

     John

I'm not sure if this is still available from the O&W historical society or if an updated version is available.

A Guide To The New York Ontario & Western's Monticello, Port Jervis & Kingston Division by Charle M. Breiner and William E. Scott - 90 pages with many photos, maps, structure plans and drawings of the railroads Monticello, Port Jervis & Kingston Division. This street by street guide will help you navigate along the right-of-way pointing out the remaining points of interest as you travel along.................................................. $15.00

Your best best would be to join and post on the O&W facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/OWRHS/

When I was a young lad, we would travel to Port Jervis via the Erie? (Maybe O&W?) and then take an automobile ride to Forestburgh, where my aunt had a summer home. I remember visiting a place called the Sho Fu Den and also Monticello. We had to take a ferry to the Jersey Shore to get the train, but I was about 5 years old in 1947, and my memory is a little fuzzy! Did the Erie also run through Port Jervis? I do remember the steam Loco backing up to couple onto our train, and the tender backup light as we were in the first coach!

Art.....I believe both did.....the O&W would start in Weehawken and then after Middletown, in Summitville, a branchline served Port Jervis and Monticello. The Erie would start out in Jersey City and head north to Suffren and Port Jervis was part of their main line west. I believe the NJTransit/Metro North commuter train to Port Jervis follows mostly the Erie route in southern NY state. By the way, those of you who used to stop at the Red Apple Rest driving to the Catskills.....it was abandoned last time I drove by a few years ago.

Peter

Putnam Division posted:

By the way, those of you who used to stop at the Red Apple Rest driving to the Catskills.....it was abandoned last time I drove by a few years ago.

I always looked forward to stopping at the Red Apple Rest on every trip up to the Catskills. I believe the other place nearby (on Route 17) was Orsick Boys or Orsick Brothers. Early 1950s. Then would go to watch the NYO&W in South Fallsburg. A long time ago.

MELGAR

Anyone else rememher the Sho Fu Den near or in Forestburgh?

Tinplate Art posted:

Anyone else rememher the Shu Fu Den near or in Forestburgh?

Not familiar with it, but here is a start...

https://twitter.com/langealexa...s/747078930742583296

While were on the subject:

The Monticello station still exists, it is now owned  by the VanEtten Oil co. (VEO) . there is an historical marker in front of the building put there by the NYO&W historical society.

as far as the Sho Fu Den in Forestburgh goes I've never heard of it and I live in sullivan county.

I would recommend anyone interested in the O&W to join the O&W historical society, it's a great deal you get a collectible limited edition book and a collectible calendar. See the website for details.

Most people that can give you most all the information you need to know about the O&W will be at Middletown Railroad day in Middletown NY on July 29th

     Many thanks to Dave, Tinplate Art, MELGAR, Peter, Tom, Train1872H, hCoal Cracker and Jim for all of the information on the New York, Ontario and Western- Monticello to Port Jervis- spur. My son and I now have much to follow up on. We will be investigating for the next few weeks and I will report back with any new "discoveries," etc.

Your input is much appreciated,

John

I have the book, O. & W. by William F. Helmer. I was curious why my late father in law had it. Upon further review, he was from Carbondale PA and there is the picture of the station that he apparently visited.

This sits out by me on the Black River & Western Line here in NJ, would be great if restored the rest of the way. I hope that when restored, tgey paint it as it was Rail line and all as they have with the PRR equipment. I'll have to look at some of the links above now that I have my laptop back and running.

Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

This sits out by me on the Black River & Western Line here in NJ, would be great if restored the rest of the way. I hope that when restored, tgey paint it as it was Rail line and all as they have with the PRR equipment. I'll have to look at some of the links above now that I have my laptop back and running.

IIRC, this was not an O&W railcar. Can’t recall the origin. 

I belive the only remaining car is parlor car 30, the Warwick. 

This is what the WIKI says on the car. Seems like a good portion was once privately owned like that one Jim.

The NYO&W Chenango #99 was built in 1903 by Harlan & Hollingsworth as a 72 foot parlor car and was converted to a coach in 1942.  I believe it was sold in 1945 with other O&W passenger cars to Mexico; I'm not sure of its final disposition. Link below to a google book which shows interior and  exterior pics.

https://books.google.com/books...ngsworth&f=false

Coal Cracker posted:

Gerald Best's 1956 book Minisink Valley Express documents the history of this branch.  OOP and tough to find but it has been digitized.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/c...2105;view=1up;seq=11

Thanks for this link!  A few hours of pleasurable reading (I'm often distracted so it may take others much less time)

Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

This sits out by me on the Black River & Western Line here in NJ,

Question. Maybe it’s just the angle of the camera, but is this car still on trucks? It seems really high in the air. If it’s used as a residence, wouldn’t it be better to have under the car enclosed somehow? If nothing else, keep plumbing from freezing and unwanted drafts in the winter.

MIKATT1 posted:

The Monticello station still exists, it is now owned  by the VanEtten Oil co. (VEO) . there is an historical marker in front of the building put there by the NYO&W historical society.

 

Dave is spot on.....sorry I didn't post these pics right away........I was out of town and away from my picture archives.

These are the pics of the Monticello station and station area now re-purposed into an oil dealership....I took these pics in June 2008.

You can see rails, ties and parts of the station platform in the parking lot.

Peter

Peter:

    Thank you so much for the excellent photos! Our journey will begin there at the Monticello Station.

John

John,

  You may like this, too. 

http://nyow.org/owremains_part1.pdf

Tom 

This is one of my favorite railroad books. If you guys are interested in the once thriving dairy business and the O&W's role in it, you should try and pick this up:

Tom

Another book.....I highly recommend it as a good overview of its last 20 years or so.

Peter

MNCW posted:

This is one of my favorite railroad books. If you guys are interested in the once thriving dairy business and the O&W's role in it, you should try and pick this up:

Tom

 

A bit of a funny story with this book, sorry if it came out longer than I expected. I used to have an annual college financial aid conference that I would go to, in Glens Falls, NY (near Albany & Saratoga Springs) at the Queensbury Hotel. I enjoyed my time when there, especially walking around town (they had an antiques store that usually had train items)...one day I stumbled on a nice train store, I think the name was Trains Plus. The store owner's name was Mr. Curran. It was a small store, but they had a nice selection, including books like the O&W dairy book and it gave me another reason to look forward to Glens Falls. 

The first time when I stumbled upon the store, I was browsing when Mr. Curran and I started chatting. I explained I was staying at the nearby Queensbury Hotel for a State University of New York (SUNY) conference. He said something back like, "Oh, my son goes to a SUNY school." I said something like, "Well, I work at SUNY Purchase (which is in Westchester County, NY). He replied with, "My son is a student at SUNY Purchase!" This was somewhat surprising because there are 64 SUNY campuses throughout New York. As it turned out, I also knew the son's name. A few years later the store closed down, but it still remains as one of my favorite train shops of all time.

Tom

Paul,

 I seem to recall some of the O&W FT diesels turned up on the New York Central.

Tom 

...maybe not dead line or scrapper's line, maybe more like the "rescue line."

MNCW posted:

Paul,

 I seem to recall some of the O&W FT diesels turned up on the New York Central.

Tom 

I think the O&W aficionados amongst us will need to chime in with something definitive, but I looked in the Guide to North American Diesel Locomotives, and there is no indication that the O&W FT’s had an afterlife... they has 9 FTA’s (601, 801 - 808) and 9 FTB’s (601B, 801B - 808B), all delivered in 1945. The only NYC FT’s (A&B) were delivered in 1944. The only NYC engines listed as received from the O&W were 17 NW2’s in 1957...

The 2019 date for Middletown Railroad day is July 28th

 and the times are  9:00 am until 3:00pm

If you go to this, there will be many members that could tell you almost anything you'd want to know about the O&W!

Apples55 posted:

MNCW posted:

Paul,

 I seem to recall some of the O&W FT diesels turned up on the New York Central.

Tom 

I think the O&W aficionados amongst us will need to chime in with something definitive, but I looked in the Guide to North American Diesel Locomotives, and there is no indication that the O&W FT’s had an afterlife... they has 9 FTA’s (601, 801 - 808) and 9 FTB’s (601B, 801B - 808B), all delivered in 1945. The only NYC FT’s (A&B) were delivered in 1944. The only NYC engines listed as received from the O&W were 17 NW2’s in 1957...

I found this on a blog from trainorders.com:

MIKATT1 posted:

The 2019 date for Middletown Railroad day is July 28th

 and the times are  9:00 am until 3:00pm

If you go to this, there will be many members that could tell you almost anything you'd want to know about the O&W!

Thanks, Dave. I actually have to head over to Westchester that morning (via I84), so I’ll try and drop by.

MNCW posted:

Apples55 posted:

MNCW posted:

Paul,

 I seem to recall some of the O&W FT diesels turned up on the New York Central.

Tom 

I think the O&W aficionados amongst us will need to chime in with something definitive, but I looked in the Guide to North American Diesel Locomotives, and there is no indication that the O&W FT’s had an afterlife... they has 9 FTA’s (601, 801 - 808) and 9 FTB’s (601B, 801B - 808B), all delivered in 1945. The only NYC FT’s (A&B) were delivered in 1944. The only NYC engines listed as received from the O&W were 17 NW2’s in 1957...

I found this on a blog from trainorders.com:

Around 1967 NYC bought the remaining O&W FT's that had been stored on the EL at Croxton Yard in NJ and traded them in on GP40's, so some ex-O&W Blomberg trucks might still be running around.

 

Tom

This is beginning to sound like a shell game!!! Thanks Tom.