page_title: New York, Ontario and Western Railway
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: New York, Ontario and Western Railway / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Share of the New York, Ontario and Western Railway, issued 7. October 1921 Deutsch: Aktie der New York, Ontario and Western Railway vom 7. Oktober 1921
context_page_description: The New York, Ontario and Western Railway, 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. It was the first notable U.S. railroad with its mainline entirely abandoned.
  The railroad began life as the New York and Oswego Midland Railroad, organized by Dewitt C. Littlejohn in 1868. Its mainline extended 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; Monticello, New York; Delhi, 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.
context_section_description: On September 3, 1869, the New York and Oswego Midland Railroad began using the Pennsylvania Railroad's station at Exchange Place which provided its passengers with ferry access to the Cortland Street Ferry Depot in lower Manhattan and the Desbrosses Street Ferry.
  In 1880, the O&W inherited the Oswego-New York corridor as well as the branches to Ellenville, Delhi and New Berlin, New York, from the New York & Oswego Midland, which had constructed the lines. The O&W improved the line by providing a new route to the New York City area from Middletown, NY which extended to Cornwall on the Hudson River and then to Weehawken Terminal. This development was made possible by negotiating rights of way from the New York, West Shore & Buffalo Railway, later part of the New York Central system.
  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 Lake Oneida, the 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, New York.
  The most significant addition occurred in 1890, when the O&W constructed a 54-mile branch from Cadosia, New York, to Scranton, Pennsylvania, 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. The railroad's W-in-O logo first appeared in 1892
  During the ill-fated "Morganization" of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NH), the railroad acquired control of the O&W and installed NH president Charles Sanger Mellen as president for a year. Regulatory difficulties frustrated Mellen's plans to barter the O&W to the New York Central Railroad for concessions elsewhere.
  Improved highways ended the O&W's passenger service to the resort areas of the lower Catskill Mountains (the "Borscht Belt") and lightly populated portions of Upstate New York, with the last train from Walton, New York, to Weehawken operating during the summer of 1948. The last passenger train (from Roscoe, New York, to Weehawken Terminal) operated on September 10, 1953.
caption: Share of the New York, Ontario and Western Railway, issued 7 October 1921
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