19th century

Map

The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway traces its roots back to the failed New Jersey, Hudson and Delaware Railroad (NJH&D), chartered in 1832 to connect industrial Paterson, New Jersey in the east to the ports in the Hudson Waterfront in Hoboken near New York City, to Pennsylvania at the Delaware Water Gap in the west.^[8]

In 1867, several competing companies emerged to develop routes through this corridor. The New Jersey Western Railroad (NJW) was the most successful, constructing westward from Paterson and Hawthorne.

In 1866, the New York and Oswego Midland Railroad (NY&OM) was chartered to connect the Great Lakes port at Oswego, New York, with New York City.

In 1868, construction on the NY&OM began, and progressed rapidly. The creation of this company prompted the NJW to shift its focus towards connecting to this route. Cornelius Wortendyke, president of the NJW, signed a lease agreement with DeWitt Clinton Littlejohn of NY&OM, offering his road as a route into New Jersey. Construction on the NJW had stretched from Hackensack to Hanford.

In 1870, it changed its name to the New Jersey Midland Railway (NJM), and consolidated with three other competing companies, including the NJH&D.^[9]

The NY&OM reached Middletown, New York, and leased the connecting Middletown, Unionville and Water Gap Railroad (MU&WG), which reached the NJM at Hanford. The last stretch of construction from Hackensack to Jersey City completed the NJM in 1872. The first train from Oswego, New York to Jersey City operated on July 9, 1873.

While the goals of the two partners had been reached, the Panic of 1873 caused financial ruin for both companies. The NY&OM suspended lease payments, and the agreement was broken. The NY&OM was reorganized as the New York, Ontario and Western Railway in 1879, and went its separate way. The NJM also took over the lease of the MU&WG. Unable to weather the financial storm, the NJM was put into receivership in 1875.^[9]

In 1880, the NJM was reorganized as the New Jersey Midland Railroad (NJM), which sought to transport lucrative anthracite from the Coal Region of eastern and northeastern Pennsylvania.

In 1881, the New Jersey Midland Railroad was consolidated with five other railroads to form the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway. The new New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway extended west to Gravel Place, Pennsylvania, and connected with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). The NYS&W also had a connection to the DL&W at Knowlton Township, New Jersey via the Blairstown Railway. Due to the increased volume of traffic, the railroad was double-tracked from Paterson to Jersey City in 1887. To reach the port on the Hudson River waterfront, traffic was handed off to the Pennsylvania Railroad at Marion Junction via the Hudson Connecting Railway. To keep more of the line haul revenue for themselves, the Susquehanna extended their line from their Little Ferry Yard through the new Palisades Tunnel to a new terminal at Edgewater where they had constructed coal docks for transfer from train to boat in 1892. The NYSW reached west of the Delaware River, and leased the Wilkes-Barre and Eastern Railroad to access the Scranton area directly and divert traffic away from the Lackawanna.^[10]

J. P. Morgan, the influential American financier, began noticing of this rapidly expanding coal-hauler, and quietly bought up its stock on behalf of the Erie Railroad. The railroad was leased in 1898 by the Erie, which soon after took over complete operation of the line.^[8][11][12]

20th century

The NYS&W was reported as the first Class I railroad in the U.S. to completely replace its steam locomotives with internal combustion motive power, in the form of diesel electric locomotives, in early June 1945.^[14] By that time the railroad was profitably operating a suburban commuter passenger service across New Jersey, as well as being a bridge line for freight connecting to several regional carriers.^[15] Motorailers were employed for passen/ger service.

The NYS&W fell on hard times during the economic recession of 1957. In 1961, the NYS&W lost its western connection to the Lehigh and New England Railroad when the L&NE ceased operations, resulting in the NYS&W pulling up all its track west of Sparta Junction, which now comprises what is now known as the Paulinskill Valley Trail. The NYS&W subsequently sold its nearly new Budd passenger cars and replaced them with second-hand used equipment. Desperate to close its money-losing commuter service, the railroad's trustees offered its commuters $1,000 each to stop using the trains. Permission to end commuter service was granted in 1966. In 1971, Tropical Storm Doria cut off other connections, and the railroad was instead connected through Butler, New Jersey.

The NYS&W declared bankruptcy in 1976 after failing to pay New Jersey state taxes, though managed to stay out of Conrail, which had surrounded it. The bankruptcy court ordered that the railroad be abandoned and its assets sold. By then, the NYS&W was down to a 43-mile (69 km) line from Croxton and Edgewater through Paterson to Butler. The State of New Jersey, aware of Delaware Otsego Corporation's reputation at rehabilitating short lines, asked it to take over the railroad.

In 1966, Delaware Otsego was founded to operate a 2.6 mi (4.2 km) section of the former New York Central Railroad Catskill Mountain Branch outside Oneonta, New York. This was the first of many cast-off short line acquisitions. Between 1971 and 1986, D.O. acquired several other branches and short lines, including the Cooperstown Branch of the Delaware and Hudson Railway in 1971, the Richfield Springs Branch of the Erie Lackawanna Railway (EL) in 1973, the Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad in 1974, and The Stourbridge Line in 1976.^[11]

In 1980, the Delaware Otsego Corporation purchased the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway.^[11]

In 1988, Guilford Transportation Industries, now Pan Am Railways, which owned the Delaware and Hudson Railway, declared that road bankrupt and abandoned it after two labor strikes. The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway 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 Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (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.^[16]

Chinese steam operations and history

This section possibly contains original research. (March 2016)

In the 1990s, NYS&W President Walter Rich wanted a China Railways SY-type steam locomotive.^{[citation needed]} The engine purchased, SY 1698M, was to be NYS&W #141, delivered eventually to Syracuse, New York. Transport was to be by cargo ship from the Tangshan Works in China via the Indian Ocean. Due to the Gulf War, shipment was delayed for several months.^{[citation needed]} Then, the Norwegian freighter M/V Braut Team encountered a major cyclone in the Indian Ocean, flooded and sank on June 7, 1991, in the Bay of Bengal, and all cargo was lost.^[17][18]

After the loss of #141, NYS&W made an offer to the Valley Railroad to purchase their Tangshan-built SY #1647 steam locomotive, which the Valley Railroad accepted in 1992.^[19] The engine, altered and painted to look like a 1920s-era engine, was lettered and renumbered to #142, the next locomotive after the lost #141. The engine made runs throughout the NYS&W system, participating in the Steamtown National Historic Site opening in 1995,^[20] the Dunellen Railroad Days and Lincoln Park Railroad Days. The engine also has double-headed with other steam locomotives, such as Chesapeake & Ohio 614 and Milwaukee Road 261. The engine is now operated by the Belvidere and Delaware River Railway for tourist excursions along the Delaware River. In late 2017, the locomotive was pulled from service to be rebuilt, which had not yet been completed as of late 2024.^[21]

21st century

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.^[22]

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.^[23] 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.

In October 2015, U.S. Congressman Bill Pascrell joined state legislators in creating a coalition to revive the project,^[24] and in January 2016 the local governments of the involved municipalities passed concurrent resolutions to restart the project.^[25]

New FRA-compliant diesel multiple unit rail cars will be used.^[26][27][28] The project has been promoted via social networking blogs and Facebook,^[29] resulting in Kinnelon officials publicly voicing support for the project.^[30]

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.^[31]

In 2021, the railway formally abandoned the Lodi and Passaic branch lines.^[32]

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.