New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway

New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway

Map of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway routes in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania
NYS&W freight train No. SU-99 at Bogota, New Jersey, on June 2, 2021
Overview
Headquarters	Cooperstown, New York, U.S.
Reporting mark	NYSW
Locale	New Jersey New York Pennsylvania, U.S.
Dates of operation	1881–present
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Other
Website	www.nysw.com
Route map New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway Conrail Northern Branch CSX Bergen Subdivision I-495 Susquehanna Transfer 6.0 North Bergen 6.8 New Durham Babbitt Hudson–Bergen Light Rail CSX North Bergen Yard 8.0 CSX Northern Branch 9.8 Edgewater Branch Little Ferry Yard 10.9 Little Ferry 11.6 Ridgefield Park CSX River Subdivision 13.1 Bogota 13.7 Hackensack NJT Pascack Valley Line 14.6 Prospect Ave Lodi Industrial 15.2 Maywood 15.9 Rochelle Park Route 17 I-80 Passaic Junction Yard 17.4 NJT Bergen County Line Passaic Branch G.S. Parkway I-80 18.5 East Paterson 19.1 Vreeland Ave 20.3 Paterson NJT Main Line 22.6 Hawthorne 23.2 North Hawthorne Route 208 25.0 Midland Park 26.3 Wortendyke 27.7 Wyckoff 29.4 Campgaw 30.5 Crystal Lake Route 208 31.8 Oakland West Oakland 34.8 Pompton Lakes 35.4 Pompton Junction New York & Greenwood Lake Ry I-287 36.6 Bloomingdale 37.7 Butler 39.6 Smith's Mills Route 23 CNJ High Bridge Branch 42.7 Green Pond Jctrdt 43.2 Charlotteburg 44.9 Newfoundland 46.8 Oak Ridge Route 23 50.2 Stockholm 53.7 Beaver Lake Route 23 Hanford/Middletown Branch 56.7 South Ogdensburg 60.7 Sparta Lehigh & Hudson River Limecrest Industrial 62.9 Paulinskill Valley Trail (former Mainline) Franklin Route 23 Hamburg 73.2 McAfee 76.8 Vernon New Jersey New York Warwick 13.0 Sugar Loaf NY 17 12.6 Chester Orange Heritage Trailway former Erie Main Line Campbell Hall Junction I-84 Middletown NY 17 Otisville Tunnel Otisville Port Jervis New York Pennsylvania Mill Rift Shohola Lackawaxen Stourbridge Railroad Pennsylvania New York Narrowsburg Cochecton Callicoon Hancock NY 17 Deposit NY 17 Gulf Summit New York Pennsylvania Starrucca Viaduct Susquehanna I-81 Great Bend Pennsylvania New York Conklin Yard Binghamton Binghamton Yard New York, Susquehanna and Western Passenger service 1939–1966 Butler Yard Butler Bloomingdale I-287 New York & Greenwood Lake Pompton Junction Pompton Lakes West Oakland Ramapo River Oakland Crystal Lake Campgaw Wyckoff Goffle Brook Wortendyke Midland Park Goffle Brook Route 208 North Hawthorne Hawthorne Erie Main Line Passaic River Riverside – Paterson Paterson City Branch Broadway–Paterson Vreeland Avenue – Paterson Passaic River I-80 Route 17 East Paterson Passaic Branch Norfolk Southern / NJT Bergen County Line Passaic Junction Passaic Junction Yard I-80 Rochelle Park G.S. Parkway Maywood Lodi Branch Prospect Avenue Erie New Jersey & New York RR (NJT Pascack Valley Line) Hackensack River Street Hackensack River Bogota West Shore RR/ CSX River Subdivision US 46 Ridgefield Park CP5 Overpeck Creek Little Ferry Yard N.J. Turnpike Western Spur N.J. Turnpike Eastern Spur Edgewater Branch Erie Northern Branch Babbitt Granton Junction West Shore RR/ Hudson–Bergen Light Rail New Durham North Bergen Susquehanna Transfer I-495 Lincoln Tunnel approach Pennsylvania RR Northeast Corridor (NJT Northeast Corridor Line) West End Yard (Landbridge Terminal) end of Erie trackage rights to Croxton Yard Erie Main Line/ NY&GL Newark Branch Marion Junction: Northern Branch and PRR Passaic & Harsimus Line US 1/9 DL&W Montclair/ Morris & Essex RR (NJT Montclair/M&E/Main Lines) to Long Dock Tunnel & National Docks Secondary Bergen Arches Erie Yards Pavonia Terminal

The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (reporting mark NYSW), also referred to as the Susie-Q or the Susquehanna, and formerly referred to as the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad, is an American Class II freight railway that operates over 400 miles (640 km) of trackage in the states of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

The company was formed in 1881, out of a merger of several smaller railroads. Passenger service in North Jersey was offered, until 1966, and by that time, the railway was running into financial troubles. In 1980, the railway was purchased by the Delaware Otsego Corporation, who reorganized the company and made them turn profits by transporting intermodal trains.

A southern division of the railway runs from Jersey City, New Jersey to Binghamton, New York, and a northern division, formed by two branches north of Binghamton, serves Utica and Syracuse.

History

Pre-company beginnings

The origins of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway trace back to the New Jersey, Hudson and Delaware Railroad (NJH&D), which was chartered by a group of Paterson, New Jersey businessmen in 1832, with the purpose of connecting the ports of the Hudson Waterfront near New York City to Pennsylvania via the Delaware Water Gap. By that time, many industrial firms had been established throughout northern New Jersey, and anthracite coal was being mined out of the Pennsylvania Coal Region. The NJH&D was unable to raise enough funds to begin laying down their trackage, due to money panics and competition from the nearby Morris and Essex Canal.

In 1857, the NJH&D charter was sold to the Pennsylvania Coal Company, but they also struggled to raise enough capital to begin construction. Following the events of the Civil War, canals became disused, and a major railroad boom began throughout the United States. In 1866, the New York and Oswego Midland Railroad (NY&OM) was incorporated under the leadership of DeWitt Clinton Littlejohn, and his plan for the railroad was to provide a connection from New York City to the port city of Oswego, New York at Lake Ontario. Construction on their trackage began at Oswego, two years later.

In 1867, the NJH&D began their grading in Butler, and several competing railroads also emerged and attempted to develop routes throughout northern New Jersey; the Hoboken, Ridgefield and Paterson (HR&P) graded from the industrial city of Paterson to the Hudson River; and the Sussex Valley Railroad completed a grade that reached the Delaware Water Gap. The most successful attempt was by the New Jersey Western Railroad (NJW), which was founded by Cornelius Wortendyke in 1868, and they began laying down their trackage at Hawthorne, the following year.

The NJW quickly decided to shift its focus towards connecting their route with the NY&OM to benefit both railroads. Cornelius Wortendyke signed an agreement with DeWitt Littlejohn, where the two companies would lease and access each other's routes. By 1870, the NJW expanded westward from Hackensack to Hanford, but in doing so, they encountered the NJH&D, the HR&P, and the Sussex Valley, all of which already obtained resources and created their route grades. All four railroads decided it would be convenient to consolidate the work that had already been completed, so they merged together to create the New Jersey Midland Railway (NJM). Concurrently, the NY&OM expanded to Middletown, New York, and they leased the Middletown, Unionville and Water Gap Railroad (MU&WG), since it had provided a connection between the NY&OM at Middletown and the NJM at Hanford.

In 1872, the NJM formally became leased by the NY&OM, and the NJM completed construction on their final stretch of trackage from Hackensack to Jersey City, using trackage rights over the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). On July 9, 1873, the first train over the NY&OM and NJM was operated from Oswego to Jersey City. With the inaugural run, the two railroads created the third trunk railroad line to connect New York City and the Great Lakes region, but the ongoing Panic of 1873 quickly affected the finances of both companies, with the NY&OM falling under receivership.

The NY&OM suspended all lease payments, and their partnership with the NJM was quickly put to an end. The NY&OM was later reorganized as the New York, Ontario and Western Railway (NYO&W) in 1879, and they began forming a separate partnership with the West Shore Railroad (later the New York Central Railroad (NYC) to access New York City. The NJM took over the lease of the MU&WG, but in 1875, the NJM was also put into receivership from the after affects of the Panic, and James McCulloh and Garret Hobart served as the NJM's receivers.

Formation and expansion

A New York City map that displays the terminus of various railroads, including the NYS&W at Edgewater, circa 1900

In 1880, investors from the original NJM regrouped and reorganized the company as the Midland Railroad of New Jersey, with Hobart serving as their president, and the company regained their finances by serving New Jersey industrial firms. The investors decided to profit from hauling anthracite out of Pennsylvania, and they chartered the New York and Scranton Construction Company, which in turn chartered four other small companies, to lay down portions of the NJM route from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.

On May 26, 1881, the Midland Railroad of New Jersey merged with the five companies to form the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad (NYS&W); "Susquehanna" was incorporated in the name, since one of the company's goals was to reach the Susquehanna River. In 1882, the new NYS&W railroad extended westward to Gravel Place, Pennsylvania, but they were originally reluctant to extend through the Pocono Mountains, so they began to outsource their coal traffic to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) and interchange with them at Stroudsburg.

To reach the Hudson River waterfront ports, the NYS&W would transfer their coal traffic to the Pennsylvania Railroad at Marion Junction via the Hudson Connecting Railway. The NYS&W also began operating passenger trains. By the late 1880s, the NYS&W's profitability boomed from their coal-hauling business and from their industrial and farmer customers. In 1887, the railroad laid down a double-track route from Paterson to Jersey City to accommodate their rising traffic.

In 1892, the Susquehanna ended their transfer partnerships with the DL&W and the PRR, when they extended their own line eastward from their Little Ferry Yard to a new coal terminal at Edgewater, and they began leasing the newly-chartered Wilkes-Barre and Eastern Railroad (WB&E) between Stroudsburg and Wilkes-Barre, for direct coal mine access. In 1896, the NYS&W chartered the Susquehanna Connecting Railroad to directly access the Lackawanna Valley south of Scranton, and to divert coal traffic away from the DL&W.

Erie Railroad control

The NYS&W's prosperity caught the attention of an influential financer, J. P. Morgan, and a company he financed, the Erie Railroad. The Erie already had access to coal mines north of Scranton, but they desired to also access the mines south of the area, and they believed the Susquehanna provided the best route there. On behalf of the Erie, Morgan quietly purchased the NYS&W's stock until he obtained the majority of their shares, and by July 1898, the Erie took over control of all of the railroad's operations, making the Susquehanna their subsidiary.

In 1908, the Susquehanna purchased their final new steam locomotive, 2-8-0 No. 140, from the Baldwin Locomotive Works; all of their subsequent steam locomotives were either leased or purchased second-hand from the Erie. In 1911, the Susquehanna's Jersey City passenger terminus was moved from the PRR's Exchange Place Station to the Erie's Pavonia Terminal, and their freight terminus was moved from the PRR's Marion yards to the Erie's Croxton yards. In 1923, the Susquehanna's total gross income peaked at $5.5 million.

The Erie subsequently invested in rebuilding and upgrading the NYS&W's trackage and bridges. During the 1920s, the Erie began operating under the control of the Van Sweringen brothers, and they installed a new president for the Erie, John J. Bernet. During Bernet's tenure for the Erie, he initiated a major modernization program for the Susquehanna; most of the railroad's original steam locomotives and wooden passenger cars were scrapped and replaced with newer Erie equipment. Throughout the 1930s, the NYS&W experienced some major financial problems from the Great Depression, and the Erie began to neglect them.

The general demand for anthracite coal was declining, and while other anthracite-hauling railroads were able to change their freight priorities, the NYS&W struggled to follow suit. During 1937, the railroad defaulted on some major bonds and taxes they owed, and on June 1, they filed for bankruptcy and reorganization. That same month, the bankruptcy court appointed two co-trustees to the NYS&W; Walter Kidde and Hudson Bordwell, but the latter died only five months into his position, making the former their sole trustee.

Walter Kidde, who had no prior experience in operating railroads, began to explore ways of reorganizing the NYS&W and its assets. The first task he did was to terminate the company's lease of the Wilkes-Barre and Eastern, effectively ending their anthracite coal operations, and the WB&E was quickly shut down and ripped up, after they filed for their own bankruptcy. He also entrusted ownership of the Susquehanna Connecting Railroad to the Erie. In 1938, Kidde discontinued a portion of the NYS&W's commuter passenger services. By March 1940, Kidde arranged other cutbacks for the Susquehanna, which resulted in the company being disbanded from the Erie's control.

20th century independence period

New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway streamlined locomotive constructed by the American Car and Foundry company, c. 1940

Following the abandonment of the WB&E, the NYS&W did not prospect any benefits in continuing their Pennsylvania operations, so by 1941, they cut back the western end of their line to Hainesburg, New Jersey. Walter Kidde decided to have the Susquehanna improve their remaining suburban commuter passenger trains and make profits from providing bus services to Manhattan, and the Susquehanna Transfer Railway was created in 1939, for this purpose.

Kidde also opted to dieselize the NYS&W's locomotive roster to reduce their operating costs. In June 1940, they began to purchase some streamlined self-propelled rail cars from the American Car and Foundry Company (ACF) to cover their commuter services. In 1941, the NYS&W began to order some S-2 switchers and RS-1 road switchers from the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) to supersede their steam locomotives.

The Susquehanna also settled a $7 million freight balance debt they owed the Erie by paying them $250,000 and purchasing their freight terminal in Edgewater. The railroad also obtained money from World War II, by providing an effective coastal coal barge route out of Edgewater, to aid a major coal shortage in Great Britain, since a similar route out of Norfolk, Virginia, was blocked by the 1942 submarine menace. In February 1943, Kidde died, and his deputy and executive officer, Henry K. Norton, subsequently succeeded him as the Susquehanna's trustee, and he opted to continue Kidde's restructuring plans for the company.

By June 1945, almost all of the Susquehanna's remaining steam locomotives had either been retired or sold off, and they declared themselves as the first Class I railroad in the United States to completely dieselize. Three locomotives, 2-10-0s Nos. 2435, 2461, and 2492, were retained as yard switchers, until they were also retired by October 1947.

After World War II ended, coal continued to be shipped from Edgewater to Europe, in accordance with the Marshall Plan, until the NYS&W shut down their coal terminal in 1948. By that time, the railroad signed a contract with Seatrain Lines to provide rolling stock-shipping services at Edgewater. By November 1951, the Susquehanna's entire passenger car fleet was replaced with stainless steel cars, their entire streamlined rail car fleet was replaced with Budd Rail Diesel Cars, and many of their passenger stations were revamped.

On June 3, 1953, the NYS&W emerged from bankruptcy and completed its reorganization process, having reduced their capitalization from $42 million to $16 million. Norton subsequently became the NYS&W's newest president, as a reward for his and Kidde's restructuring methods. Two years later, in 1955, stockholders voted to have Norton demoted to chairman and replaced by former Chicago Great Western vice-president James M. Baths, due to Norton's excessively-progressive foresight. In December that same year, the NYS&W's president position was changed again to Ralph E. Sease, a former Central of Georgia executive.

By that time, the Susquehanna had run all of their passenger trains at a financial loss from declining ridership and competition from a new park and ride service, and they considered filing an application to discontinue their services. The railroad also lost money after one of their primary customers, the Ford Motor Company, closed their Edgewater assembly plant. Following the Recession of 1957, the NYS&W experienced additional financial problems, and a portion of their other freight customers abandoned the railroad to begin relying on truck shipping. Sease opted to arrange some cutbacks for the company, which involved discontinuing a number of their commuter services and moving their Jersey City passenger terminus from Pavonia Terminal to the DL&W's Hoboken Terminal.

The NYS&W subsequently sold off its Budd passenger cars and replaced them with used second-hand equipment. One of the other cutbacks was the abandonment of the Hanford Branch, the remains of the original NJM-NY&OM route, since it had lost its farm traffic to the recession, and long-time interchange partner NYO&W had shut down. In 1961, another one of the NYS&W's long-time interchange partners, the Lehigh and New England Railroad (L&NE), ceased operations, and the following year, the NYS&W consequently abandoned its route between Hainesburg and Sparta Junction. The route was later ripped up and became part of the Paulinskill Valley Trail.

In October 1962, the NYS&W railroad was purchased by a New York real-estate developer and millionaire, Irving Maidman. Maidman previously acquired the former Ford Edgewater plant for use as a rental warehouse, and since the NYS&W happened to have served the building, Maidman opted to purchase the majority of the railroad's shares to ensure their freight services in Edgewater remained active. The first task Maidman did for the NYS&W was to obtain a $550,000 federal loan for the purchase of three EMD GP18 road switchers to assist the NYS&W's failing ALCO locomotives.

ALCO RS-1 No. 236 leading a suburban commuter train at Hackensack, New Jersey, September 1965; the following year, on June 30, 1966, the NYS&W terminated all passenger operations.

In 1963, Maidman became the NYS&W's newest board chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), and he began to install new executives for the railroad, which involved Ralph Sease resigning from his president position and being replaced by John P. Clark. That same year, Maidman began to have the NYS&W prioritize on serving his warehouse business, but the railroad consequently began to neglect their other stockholders and the rest of their remaining freight customers. Maintenance on the NYS&W's trackage also became deffered, and in ensuing years, it resulted in derailments and slower deliveries, which in turn resulted in additional customers abandoning the railroad.

Maidman also arranged for the NYS&W to sell some of their land properties to other businesses Maidman owned, and they began to lease some new land property in Edgewater for use as backup storage. He also discontinued all of the NYS&W's bus services, and he filed a petition to the state of New Jersey to terminate all of the railroad's commuter services. As a desperate attempt to eliminate all ridership, Maidman personally offered to pay the NYS&W's 200 remaining commuters $1,000 each to stop using their trains, but only five of them accepted. In June 1966, the NYS&W obtained court permission to terminate all of their passenger services, despite commuters having petitioned to keep them open. The railroad's final commuter train operated on June 30 with only a day's notice, and the following day, uninformed commuters waited to board NYS&W trains that never arrived.

By that time, Maidman had petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to have the NYS&W involved in the Pennsylvania Railroad-New York Central merger. The ICC in turn asked the PRR and NYC to incorporate the Susquehanna, along with the bankrupt New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NH) into the merger as a condition, and both railroads agreed to the former, since it provided a major connection between them. The new Penn Central (PC) company was formally created on February 1, 1968, but only the NH became included in the merger.

The NYS&W's inclusion fell through, after Maidman and PC's management disputed over the railroad's price value, and in March 1969, the NYS&W withdrew their ICC application to save costs and continue independently. By December 1968, the Susquehanna turned a profit for the first time since 1955, with an income of $17,755. That same year, the railroad lost another interchange partner, the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway (L&HR), when their Station Road bridge in Sparta was deemed unsafe, and they had to cut back their Sparta route to Oak Ridge.

Also in that same year, Seatrain Lines breached their shipping contract with the NYS&W by moving their shipyard operations from Edgewater to Brooklyn for a separate partnership with the U.S. government, and Maidman sued Seatrain for $4.8 million in compensatory damages. The NYS&W also sued the Erie's successor, the Erie Lackawanna Railway (EL), for $1.6 million in unpaid usage of Susquehanna trackage, but they subsequently settled for a $186,315 claim, and the EL agreed to pay a $15,000 yearly fee. By the end of 1969, the NYS&W turned a profit of $297,644. In 1970, NYS&W executive William T. Frazier became the railroad's newest president, after the position had been changed three times within the previous five years.

In 1971, the NYS&W lost their interchange with the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) at Green Pond Junction, when a stretch of trackage at Smoke Rise was washed away and mud-covered by Tropical Storm Doria. Following the damage from Storm Doria, along with that from Hurricane Agnes the following year, the Susquehanna began operating at a financial loss again, and the condition of their remaining trackage worsened. Concurrently, Irving Maidman also began to lose money from his other businesses, and he began intentionally defaulting on property taxes owed to the state of New Jersey and Citibank, believing they were overcharging him.

In mid-1975, William Frazier became hospitalized for cancer treatment, and then in August, Maidman ransacked Fraizer's desk and discovered that since 1971, Frazier, along with chief engineer Joseph J. Novellino, both defrauded the railroad with fake bills for personal gain and funding for Novellino's private business. The board of directors quickly voted to have Frazier resign, and Maidman became the Susquehanna's president. In September, Maidman, along with his son and attorney Robert, convinced the NYS&W's board of directors to purchase $2 million in general mortgage bonds from W. E. Hutton & Co. while secretly arranging the transaction to bail Maidman out of a major debt he owed Hutton.

By January 1976, the NYS&W defaulted on $252,498 of business and property taxes owed to the state of New Jersey, and they were forced to file for section 77 bankruptcy. By that time, the NYS&W railroad was cut down to a 43-mile (69 km) line from Croton and Edgewater through Paterson to Butler. Simultaneously, Conrail was being developed to assume control of many other bankrupt railroads in the northeastern U.S., but the NYS&W was not included. The Securities and Exchange Commission began to investigate the NYS&W's operations, and they quickly discovered that the railroad's purchase of their $2 million bond on Maidman's behalf was stock fraud.

The bankruptcy court quickly confiscated control of the Susquehanna from Maidman and appointed Walter G. Scott as the railroad's new trustee. Maidman's other businesses, including the Edgewater warehouse, were also confiscated by other creditors, and by June 1977, Maidman's final remaining source of income was his new limited position on the NYS&W as a real-estate consultant. Scott began to rearrange the NYS&W's operations and assets; the railroad suspended all land leases Maidman began, they reprioritized the maintenance of their locomotives and trackage, and they hired new industrial customers.

Some other members of the new court-appointed management team believed the NYS&W would be able to regain its finances by serving as an alternative to Conrail's services. Maidman, who often quarreled with Scott, had hopes of regaining control of the railroad before selling it on his own after it emerged from bankruptcy, having said to the The Record "I expect to straighten things out. I'll get the railroad back. I'll tell Scott to go to hell." In June 1978, Maidman became physically weakened and hospitalized, following a car accident, and then in October 1979, he died at the age of 82.

By that time, the NYS&W still struggled to financially recover, and their trackage was deteriorated to the point they held a 10-mile-per-hour (16 km/h) speed restriction. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) had banned the NYS&W from shipping hazardous materials on their trackage as a safety precaution. On November 21, their creditors decided to petition the ICC to shut down and liquidate the railroad by February 1, 1980. The NYS&W's remaining customers appealed the petition, since they envisioned the shut down would result in 6,000 jobs being lost across the state. A public hearing subsequently postponed the railroad's closure throughout 1980. On August 15, the ICC authorized the closure, and the NYS&W railroad's final revenue train operated on August 29.

Delaware Otsego ownership

RDC M-5, used on NYS&W's passenger service in Syracuse, now on display at the Conway Scenic Railroad

In 1966, the Delaware Otsego Corporation (DO) was founded by a group of businessmen and railfans led by Walter G. Rich. DO's original purpose was to operate tourist trains over a 2.6-mile (4.2 km) section of the NYC's abandoned Ulster and Delaware branch near Oneonta, New York. In 1971, after the branch was ripped up in favor of Interstate 88's construction, DO purchased the 16-mile (26 km) Cooperstown branch from the Delaware and Hudson Railway (D&H) and began operating it as the Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railroad (CACV). Within ensuing years, DO's tourist operations were shut down from low ridership, and they began making profits from reactivating abandoned branch lines as beneficial short line freight railroads. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, DO acquired and leased multiple short lines; in 1973, they acquired the Erie Lackawanna's Richfield Springs branch and began operating it as the Central New York Railroad (CNYK); from 1974 to 1984, they owned and operated the Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad (FJ&G); and from 1976 to 1989, they were contracted to operate the Lackawaxen and Stourbridge Railroad (LASB).

By 1979, DO's short line renovations caught the attention of New Jersey state and county officials, who were exploring ways of having the NYS&W continue operations under new ownership. They asked DO to submit a proposal to purchase the NYS&W, and in turn, DO sent a team of inspectors to evaluate the railroad's trackage. Two other parties also offered to purchase the railroad, but in June 1980, the bankruptcy court accepted DO's $5 million offer. On September 1, DO took over the NYS&W's operations under lease before purchasing all of their assets, two years later. DO quickly rebranded the railroad as the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway, with Walter Rich becoming their newest president and CEO, and he opted to retain the Susquehanna name out of his fondness of the NYO&W.

The NYS&W's first train under DO operated on September 2, 1980. That same year, DO established their own real-estate unit to begin arranging for the NYS&W to lease line-side land property that was deemed unessential for railroad purposes. Within the next two years, the NYS&W retained their status quo in serving industrial customers, having retained most of their pre-DO executives and employees, but DO worked to recondition their trackage and to improve their operations. By that time, seven of the NYS&W's twenty-seven locomotives were still operable: three GP18s, three RS-1s, and one S-2; the rest had deteriorated outdoors and were subsequently scrapped.

Following the Staggers Rail Act of 1980, Conrail began to abandon many of their routes to streamline their operations, including their former DL&W Binghamton-Jamesville and Binghamton-Utica routes in New York, their former L&HR Warwick-Franklin route, and their former Erie Greenwood Lake Branch in New Jersey. DO feared the abandonment of the Binghamton-Utica route would landlock their CNYK railroad, and they were interested in further expanding their operations. They contacted the routes' customers for freight potential, and they negotiated with Conrail to purchase the routes.

On April 16, 1982, the ICC approved DO's purchase of the routes from Conrail for $4.2 million, they commenced operations under DO, the following day. The two DL&W routes out of Binghamton and the CNYK quickly became labeled as the NYS&W's Northern Division, and the former L&HR route, the Greenwood Lake Branch, and the NYS&W's remaining original trackage in New Jersey became labeled as their Southern Division. To connect the two divisions, DO arranged a haulage rights agreement with Conrail, where once-a-week NYS&W trains would operate over Conrail's former Erie mainline between Binghamton and Passaic Junction in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, using Conrail crews.

The NYS&W's old route between Butler and Sparta Junction had been shut down for years, but if Conrail chose to cancel their haulage rights contract, a trackage rights agreement would be exercised, involving the restoration and usage of the Butler-Sparta route. To cover the Northern Division operations, one GP18 was transferred over, and DO purchased some ALCO locomotives second-hand: one RS-3 from the recently-closed Adirondack Railway; two C420s from a holding company owned by Tony Hannold; and five C430s from Conrail. In July 1983, the first NYS&W haulage train operated over Conrail, as per the haulage agreement.

That same year, DO established a new subsidiary, Susquehanna Properties, Inc., to expand the NYS&W's land-leasing program, and customers who had solely relied on truck-shipping began to lease Susquehanna property and constructed line-side facilities for rail services. By that time, Walter Rich reported to his fellow stockholders that reorganizing the NYS&W helped DO expand from a short line operation to a regional railroad network. In 1985, Conrail filed their former L&HR route between Franklin and Belvidere, for abandonment. DO partnered with Sussex County officials to purchase a portion of the route between Franklin and Lime Crest, to serve its remaining customers and to preserve the NYS&W-L&HR interchange at Sparta Junction.

In 1988, Guilford Transportation Industries, which owned the Delaware and Hudson, filed that company for bankruptcy and disbanded it, following two labor strikes. The New York, Susquehanna and Western was ordered by the federal government to operate the D&H until a new buyer could be found. In 1990, CP Rail, now Canadian Pacific, bought the Delaware and Hudson Railway System.

In 1990, NYS&W end service on its Edgewater Branch, a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) long line connecting its former Hudson River terminal with the mainline in Fairview at Undercliff Junction. As of 2008, the tunnel carries a pipeline owned by the Amerada Hess Corporation.

In 1994, Onondaga County, New York purchased the former DL&W line into Syracuse, with the provision that the NYS&W operate RDC service in Syracuse between Syracuse University, Armory Square, and the Carousel Mall, with the option for further routes, leading to the creation of OnTrack. With operations on this segment, the Syracuse branch was rehabilitated and the Conrail interchange relocated. Regular steam excursions were offered and RDCs refurbished for OnTrack use. Intermodal trains rolled beyond Binghamton to Syracuse for interchange with Conrail. After a few years, regular excursions were halted.

With the impending break-up of the Conrail system to Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation, the NYS&W was a ripe target for acquisition, as it could potentially siphon lucrative traffic away from either road.

On October 3, 1997, DOCP Acquisition LLC announced it had completed the short-form merger of Delaware Otsego Corporation (NASDAQ:DOCP) with a wholly-owned subsidiary via a stock tender offer of $22 per share.

The deal brought the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYS&W), under control of Norfolk Southern and CSX, as DOCP Acquisition LLC, 10% of which was owned by Norfolk Southern, 10% by CSX, and 80% by Walter G. Rich of the Delaware Otsego Corporation.

In 2005, the NYS&W leased the former Erie Main Line from Port Jervis to Binghamton from Norfolk Southern. Leased and operated under the name Central New York Railroad (CNYK), the CNYK is a "paper" railroad and all train operations and line maintenance is performed by Susquehanna personnel, while Norfolk Southern Railway retains overhead trackage rights. As of July 2023, there are only four trains a week operated by the NYS&W on the line, two in each direction. The Stourbridge Railroad (SBRR) depends on the NYS&W for interchange at Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania.

In 2006, NYSW's Utica Main Line had major storm damage. The storm damage washed out sections of track in Chenango County putting the branch to Utica out of service. NYS&W continued serving customers on the line in the Utica area and south to Sangerfield from the CSX connection in Utica. In 2011, a project to restore the line was started by the Chenango County Industrial Development Agency with funding by the agency, Chenango County, the New York State Department of Transportation, and the federal Economic Development Administration.

On August 9, 2007, Delaware Otsego founder Walter Rich died of pancreatic cancer. After Rich's death, the new president, Nathan Fenno, canceled all passenger operations and excursions and the fleet used on them was sold-off. Many older diesel locomotives were sidelined, retired and sold during this time as well.

In July 2011, NYS&W took possession of five leased CEFX locomotives, to ease the railroad's continually worsening power shortage. These five locomotives were used as a supplement to its current EMD 645 fleet in road train service, and occasionally on local duty. It was not uncommon to see road train line-ups consisting of entirely-leased power.

New FRA-compliant diesel multiple unit rail cars will be used. The project has been promoted via social networking blogs and Facebook, resulting in Kinnelon officials publicly voicing support for the project.

In March 2016, work began clearing brush along the 45.5-mile (73.2 km) right-of-way in Chenango County. Subsequent work included filling in washouts, replacing ties, resurfacing bridge decks, repairing and reactivating crossing signals, and other repairs. The restoration project was completed and rail service restored in May 2017.

In 2021, the railway formally abandoned the Lodi and Passaic branch lines.

The Bergen-Passaic Rail Line was a New Jersey Transit initiative in the mid-2000s, studying restoration of passenger service on a segment of NYS&W trackage between Sparta and Hackensack, New Jersey to alleviate traffic congestion on Route 23. The project encountered delays when a suitable location for a NJ Transit rail storage yard in or near Sparta Township could not be agreed upon. In October 2015, U.S. Congressman Bill Pascrell joined state legislators in creating a coalition to revive the project, and in January 2016 the local governments of the involved municipalities passed concurrent resolutions to restart the project.

Steam excursion operations

See also: New York, Susquehanna and Western 142 § Susquehanna steam program

Under Delaware Otsego management, the Susquehanna began to operate diesel-powered public excursion trains, with the first one taking place in October 1981, for the Jersey Central Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS). In June 1982, the NYS&W hosted an excursion that helped raise funds for Recycling Railroads, an organization that specialized in converting abandoned trackage beds into trails. There was subsequently a hiatus of excursion operations until July 1988, when the NYS&W hosted some additional trains, as part of that year's NRHS Convention. In 1989, the NYS&W decided to host their own steam-powered excursion program, taking inspiration from similar programs hosted by Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific (UP). They originally planned to restore and operate Southern Railway 385 and United States Army 4039, both of which previously operated on the defunct Morris County Central tourist railroad, but those plans fell through, after it was determined the restoration of both locomotives would be too costly.

In June 1990, the NYS&W decided to import a new steam locomotive from China, taking inspiration from SY Nos. 1647 and 1658 on the Connecticut Valley (VALE) and Knox and Kane (K&K) railroads, respectively. The railway contracted the Tangshan Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works to construct a modified copy of the SY class, and its boiler design was altered to abide with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) boiler code and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) regulations. The new locomotive, numbered SY-1698M, was planned to be renumbered as NYS&W No. 141, and following several months of shipping delays, the locomotive was loaded on board Norwegian vessel Braut Team and began its voyage to the U.S., in May 1991. The following month, on June 7, Braut Team sunk at the Bay of Bengal after encountering a major storm, and SY-1698M was lost.

The NYS&W subsequently explored multiple steam locomotives to acquire and replace their lost SY. In November that same year, two operable steam locomotives became available for purchase; No. 1647 by the VALE and Canadian National 6060 by the Canadian government of Alberta. The NYS&W began negotiating with both parties to purchase their locomotives, but the group that operated No. 6060 at the time protested to keep the locomotive from leaving Canada, and the Alberta government subsequently began to reconsider the locomotive's future. The Susquehanna believed the reconsideration would be a long process, so they dropped their negotiations with them, and by December 2, they finalized their purchase of No. 1647 from the VALE.

After being repainted as NYS&W No. 142 and reclassified as an N-4, the locomotive began hauling multiple excursions on the Susquehanna's trackage. In 1997, the Susquehanna quietly diminished their excursion program to lower their operating costs, and the Susquehanna Technical and Historical Society gained the rights to operate No. 142-led excursions for occasional events. In 2003, the NYS&W sold the No. 142 locomotive to the historical society, following a major increase in insurance premium prices, and since 2004, No. 142 resided at the Belvidere and Delaware River Railway (Bel-Del). Following the death of Walter Rich in 2007, all remaining excursions on the Susquehanna were put to an end.

Connections with other railroads

• The railroad has connections with two Class I railroads:

1. CSX Transportation - Syracuse, New York; Utica, New York; North Bergen, New Jersey
2. Norfolk Southern Railway - Binghamton, New York, Marion Junction (New Jersey) and the Passaic Junction (rail yard) rail yard in Saddle Brook, New Jersey

• The railroad has connections with five other railroads:

1. Morristown and Erie Railway and New Jersey Transit - Passaic Junction (rail yard), Saddle Brook, New Jersey
2. Middletown and New Jersey Railroad - Warwick, New York
3. Finger Lakes Railway - Syracuse, New York
4. Mohawk, Adirondack and Northern Railroad (MHWA) - Utica, New York
5. Stourbridge Railroad - Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania

Stations

State	Location	Station	Miles (km)	Date opened	Date closed	Notes
NJ	Jersey City	Pavonia Terminal	0.0 miles (0 km)	December 1, 1911	December 12, 1958	Until December 1, 1911, the railroad used the Pennsylvania Railroad's Exchange Place Terminal.
	North Bergen	Susquehanna Transfer		August 1, 1939	June 30, 1966	From December 13, 1958 – June 30, 1966, Susquehanna Transfer served as the southern terminus of the railroad. The station shared service with the Erie Railroad Northern Branch.
		North Bergen	6.0 miles (9.7 km)		June 30, 1966	Shared service with the Erie Railroad Northern Branch
		New Durham	6.9 miles (11.1 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966	Shared service with the Erie Railroad Northern Branch
		Northern Branch forks off at Granton Junction
		Babbitt	8.5 miles (13.7 km)		June 30, 1966
	Ridgefield Park	Little Ferry	11.1 miles (17.9 km)		June 30, 1966	Name of station (and associated freight yard) derived from Little Ferry, the ferry service that formerly operated across the Hackensack River here; the municipality of Little Ferry on the other side of the river was also named for the ferry service.
		Ridgefield Park	11.8 miles (19.0 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966	Station co-served with the West Shore Railroad of the New York Central Railroad until they discontinued passenger service on December 10, 1959. The original wooden passenger station was replaced by an ornate brick structure that opened on August 20, 1927.
	Bogota	Bogota	13.2 miles (21.2 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966
	Hackensack	Hackensack	13.9 miles (22.4 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966
		Prospect Avenue	14.6 miles (23.5 km)		June 30, 1966
		Lodi Branch forked off west of Prospect Avenue
	Maywood	Maywood	15.3 miles (24.6 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966
	Rochelle Park	Rochelle Park	16.1 miles (25.9 km)		June 30, 1966
	Saddle Brook	Passaic Junction	17.4 miles (28.0 km)
		Passaic Branch forked off at Passaic Junction
	East Paterson	East Paterson	18.6 miles (29.9 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966	The station was known as Dundee Lake until October 1928, 12 years after the borough changed names to East Paterson. Damaged in a fire on October 13, 1969, the railroad demolished the station soon after. East Paterson changed its name to Elmwood Park on January 1, 1973.
	Paterson	Vreeland Avenue	19.3 miles (31.1 km)		June 30, 1966	The railroad demolished the original wooden Vreeland Avenue station in 1949 and replaced it with a brick structure that opened in September.
		Broadway-Paterson	20.5 miles (33.0 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966	The station served as junction to the Paterson City Branch, which discontinued service on January 8, 1960. The station, abandoned for 12 years, burned on June 24, 1978.
		Paterson City Branch forked off to Paterson City station.
		Riverside	21.9 miles (35.2 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966
	Hawthorne	Hawthorne	22.8 miles (36.7 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966
		North Hawthorne	23.4 miles (37.7 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966	The station at North Hawthorne was first known as Van Winkles, named after a local family who donated the land for the new station and railway. Despite protests from the family, the Susquehanna moved the station to its modern location on May 24, 1891, when the railroad changed the name to North Paterson. The name changed again in 1923 to North Hawthorne.
	Midland Park	Midland Park	25.2 miles (40.6 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966	Midland Park station burned on August 28, 1985, while serving as a furniture stripping company building.
		Wortendyke	26.5 miles (42.6 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966	Wortendyke served as the home of the car repair shops until a fire on December 27, 1891. The shops were not rebuilt at Wortendyke, but moved to North Paterson station in 1892.
	Wyckoff	Wyckoff	28.0 miles (45.1 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966
	Franklin Lakes	Campgaw	29.7 miles (47.8 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966
		Crystal Lake	30.7 miles (49.4 km)	March 11, 1872
	Oakland	Oakland	32.0 miles (51.5 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966	Oakland station came down on November 25, 1957, to be replaced by a post office that included a small area for a railroad office.
		West Oakland
	Pompton Lakes	Pompton Lakes	35.0 miles (56.3 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966
		Pompton Junction	35.6 miles (57.3 km)	January 1, 1873		This station marked a junction with the Erie Railroad's New York and Greenwood Lake Railway. The abandoned station burned to the ground on May 8, 1941.
	Riverdale	Bloomingdale	36.8 miles (59.2 km)	March 11, 1872		Despite being named after the borough of Bloomingdale, the station was actually in nearby Riverdale.
	Butler	Butler	38.0 miles (61.2 km)	March 11, 1872	June 30, 1966	Formerly known as West Bloomingdale, Butler served as the northern terminus of commuter passenger service until its discontinuation on June 30, 1966.
	West Milford	Smiths Mills	39 miles (63 km)	March 11, 1872
		Wharton and Northern Railroad merges with the railroad at Green Pond Junction
		Charlotteburgh	43.4 miles (69.8 km)	March 11, 1872 August 7, 1942	March 21, 1941 September 1944
		Macopin Lake Branch forks off at Macopin Lake Junction
		Newfoundland	45.1 miles (72.6 km)	March 11, 1872 August 7, 1942	March 21, 1941 September 1944
		Oak Ridge	47.0 miles (75.6 km)	August 7, 1942	March 21, 1941 September 1944
	Hardyston Township	Stockholm	50.4 miles (81.1 km)	August 7, 1942	March 21, 1941 September 1944
		Beaver Lake	53.9 miles (86.7 km)	August 7, 1942	March 21, 1941 September 1944
		Hanford Branch forked off at Beaver Lake station
	Ogdensburg	South Ogdensburg	57 miles (92 km)
	Sparta	Sparta	60.2 miles (96.9 km)			Sparta station burned in an early morning fire on September 3, 2012.
		Sparta Junction	63.1 miles (101.5 km)
	Lafayette Township	Hyper-Humus	65.9 miles (106.1 km)			Junction with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad's Sussex Branch
	Hampton Township	Halsey	68.4 miles (110.1 km)
		Swartswood	71.3 miles (114.7 km)
	Stillwater Township	Emmaus
		Stillwater	75.3 miles (121.2 km)
	Frelinghuysen Township	Paulina
		Marksboro	79.8 miles (128.4 km)
	Blairstown	Blairstown	82.9 miles (133.4 km)
		Kalarama	84.7 miles (136.3 km)			Citing low sales, the station at Kalarama was to be moved to Vails in a similar fashion to North Hawthorne. The station fell off the rail platform it had been moved to, tumbled down an embankment, and fell apart.
		Vail	86.5 miles (139.2 km)
	Knowlton Township	Hainesburg	89.1 miles (143.4 km)
		Hainesburg Junction	89.4 miles (143.9 km)
		Warrington	91 miles (146 km)
		Delaware Branch forked off after Warrington station
		Columbia	91.7 miles (147.6 km)
	Pahaquarry Township	Howeys				Howeys station was a summer flag stop east of Dunnfield.
		Dunnfield	95.3 miles (153.4 km)		February 16, 1941
Delaware River
PA	Smithfield Township	Water Gap	97.9 miles (157.6 km)		February 16, 1941
	Stroudsburg	Stroudsburg	101.2 miles (162.9 km)		February 16, 1941
		Wilkes-Barre and Eastern Railroad forked off west of Stroudsburg
		Gravel Place	103.6 miles (166.7 km)		February 16, 1941	Western terminus of NYSW

Locomotive roster

Road Number(s)	Photo	Manufacturer	Model	Powertrain
3010, 3014		EMD	SD40T-2	Diesel–electric
3012, 3016			SD33ECO
3018, 3022, 3024			SD40-2
3040			GP40
3618, 3634			SD45-2
4060, 4062, 4064, 4066			SD70M-2

Former locomotives

Road Number(s)	Photo	Manufacturer	Model	Powertrain
M-1, M-2, M-3, M-4, M-5, M-6, M-7, M-8		Budd Company	RDC1	Diesel– hydraulic
100	N/A	Buda	Streamlined Inspection car	Gas-mechanical
101, 104		ALCO	RS-3	Diesel–electric
116		EMD	NW-2
120			SW-9
142		Tangshan Locomotive Works	SY 2-8-2	Steam
150, 151		Whitcomb	20T	Gas-mechanical
202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 208		ALCO	S2	Diesel–electric
230,231(2), 232,233(2), 234, 236, 238, 240, 242, 244, 246, 248, 250, 252, 254, 256			RS-1
1001,1002, 1003-1004, 1005-1006		ACF	Motorailer	Diesel– hydraulic
1800,1802, 1804		EMD	GP18	Diesel–electric
2400, 2402			E9
3001		J. G. Brill	Model 250	Gas– electric
3002	N/A
3636, 3638		EMD	F45	Diesel–electric
5012		Electro-Motive/Bethlehem Steel	Stillwell baggage coach motorcar	Gas– electric

Gallery

• 
  GE B40-8 No. 4002 traveling under a former Erie coaling tower at Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, April 1989
• 
  EMD SD40T-2 No. 3012 at Butler, New Jersey
• 
  Former Burlington Northern EMD SD45 No. 3618 at Ridgefield Park, New Jersey
• 
  ALCO C636 No. 3660 at Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, September 2005
• 
  The Paulinskill Valley Trail near a former Susquehanna station site in Marksboro, New Jersey

See also

• Delaware Otsego Corporation - Parent company for NYS&W
• Hawthorne station (New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad)
• Maywood Station Museum
• Susquehanna Transfer station

References

• Ashley, Wallace W. (July 1946). "Susquehanna". Trains. Vol. 6, no. 9. pp. 10–23. ISSN 0041-0934.
• Drury, George H. (1992). The Train-Watcher's Guide to North American Railroads: A Contemporary Reference to the Major railroads of the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 0-89024-131-7.
• Drury, George H. (1994). The Historical Guide to North American Railroads: Histories, Figures, and Features of more than 160 Railroads Abandoned or Merged since 1930. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Media. ISBN 0-89024-072-8.
• Hartley, Scott (January 1988). "Regionals In Review - The Delaware Otsego Story". Trains. Vol. 48, no. 3. Kalmbach Publishing. pp. 28–41. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
• Kaminski, Edward S. (2010). Maywood - The Borough, The Station, and The Railroad. Acadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-7234-5.
• Krause, John; Crist, Ed (1991). Susquehanna: New York Susquehanna & Western RR. Carstens Publications. ISBN 0-911868-38-0.
• Mohowski, Robert E. (2003). The New York Susquehanna and Western Railroad. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-7222-7.
• Tupaczewski, Paul R. (2002). New York, Susquehanna and Western In Color. Scotch Plains, New Jersey: Morning Sun Books, Inc. ISBN 1-58248-070-2.

Further reading

• "THE NEW-JERSEY MIDLAND.; THE STOCKHOLDERS DEMANDING A SHARE UNDER THE REORGANIZATION". The New York Times. March 11, 1880.
• Kaminski, Edward S. (2010). New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad in New Jersey. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-7367-0.
• Martin, Ben (November 2001). "The Changing of the Guard". Railfan & Railroad. Vol. 20, no. 11. Carstens Publications. pp. 6–9.
• Povall, George (1986). The New Susquehanna Great Spots for Shots. Valley Stream, New York: Privately printed. OCLC 1138036119.
• Stephens, Bill (January 1998). "The Susie-Q Saga". Trains. Vol. 58, no. 1. Kalmbach Publishing. pp. 42–47. Archived from the original on October 2, 2024. Retrieved September 25, 2024.

External links

• NYS&W Web Site — Official Corporate Site
• New York, Susquehanna & Western Technical & Historical Society
• Maywood Station Historical Committee
• The New Jersey Midland Railway — NYS&W Early History