The , more commonly known as the '''O&W''' or '''NYO&W''', was a regional
Railroad with origins in
1868 , lasting until
March 29 ,
1957 when it was ordered
Liquidated by a US
Bankruptcy judge.
The railroad began life as the , organized by
Dewitt C. Littlejohn in 1868.
The railroad's mainline ran from
Weehawken, New Jersey in the greater New York City area to
Oswego, New York , a port city on
Lake Ontario . It had branch lines to
Scranton, Pennsylvania ,
Kingston, New York ,
Port Jervis, New York ,
Utica, New York and
Rome, New York . The part south of
Cornwall, New York was operated over the
New York Central Railroad 's
West Shore Railroad via
Trackage Rights .
In 1880 O&W inherited the Oswego - New York corridor as well as the branches to Ellenville, Delhi and New Berlin, NY from the New York & Oswego Midland, which had constructed the lines. O&W improved the line by providing a new entrance to Gotham from Middletown, NY which ran to Cornwall on the Hudson river and then to Weehawken, NJ. This development was made possible by negotiating rights of way from the New York, West Shore & Buffalo Railway, later New York Central.
In 1886 the O&W acquired the operations of both the Utica, Clinton & Binghamton and the Rome & Clinton railroads from the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. By acquisition of these assets and construction of a new line to Sylvan Beach on the east shore of Oneida, O&W extended its operations into new market areas, and the Sylvan Beach Loop became a seasonally-significant corridor by providing transportation to central New York's recreational resort area. By 1889, the O&W added two new branches, New Berlin to Edmeston, and Port Jervis to Monticello, connecting to the main line at Summitville, NY.
The most significant addition came in 1890, when the O&W constructed a 54- mile branch from Cadosia, NY to Scranton, PA through the rich
Anthracite coal reserves in Pennsylvania's Lackawanna Valley. Revenues from this Scranton division strengthened O&W's revenues and provided the means for future improvements to the railroad.
Improved highways put an end to the O&W's pioneering passenger access to the lower Catskill Mountains and portions of lightly-populated upstate New York, and it operated as a virtual 19th-century "time warp" until final liquidation in 1957. The end of coal as a heating fuel for other than major power plants removed its primary freight business, as did the end of rail transport of high-priority dairy products from upstate New York to the
Metro New York City area. By virtue of its superb online scenery and anachronistic operations, the O&W retains "cult status" among railroad and history buffs more than 50 years after its abandonment, with periodic bus tours of remaining railroad artifacts.
