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Timeline of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway

This is a timeline of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway and its direct predecessors. It also contains important events which impacted the railroad such as financial panics and other nearby railroads' major events.

Timeline

19th Century

  • 1828
  • John Langdon Sullivan surveys the first route across northern New Jersey with the intent of transporting Pennsylvania coal by rail to Paterson, New Jersey. NJ has iron but needs PA coal to smelt it.
  • 1831
  • The Morris Canal opens to transport coal
  • 1832
  • March 8: The state of New Jersey charters a railroad, its fifth, based on Sullivan's 1828 survey route across the state: The New Jersey, Hudson, and Delaware
  • 1837
  • Panic of 1837; The NJH&D charter languishes and no work is done
  • 1854
  • The Sussex Railroad opens, built by Abram Hewitt from Waterloo to Newton, to bring iron ore from Andover mines to Trenton for smelting, and service to Newton. It is the rebuilt Sussex Mine Railroad.
  • 1857
  • Panic of 1857; NJH&D can't get together enough money and sells its charter to the Pennsylvania Coal Company.
  • 1866
  • DeWitt Clinton Littlejohn forms the New York and Oswego Midland Railway 400 miles to the west of New York City to connect Oswego, New York with the port of New York
  • Hoboken Ridgefield & Paterson chartered on March 15
  • 1867
  • NJH&D grades in Butler and Bloomingdale to preserve its charter by doing some work
  • New Jersey Western Railway chartered to build west from Paterson
  • Sussex Valley Railroad chartered to build south from the New Jersey/New York state line south to the Delaware Water Gap
  • 1868
  • NYOM begins work eastward in New York state; it has no charter to build in New Jersey
  • 1869
  • April 1: Hudson Connecting Railroad chartered
  • NJW begins building both east and west from a junction with the Erie Railroad in the Spring from Hawthorne, just across the Passaic River from Paterson. Cornelius Wortendyke is in charge.
  • 1870
  • The New Jersey Western Railway becomes the New Jersey Midland Railway. This consolidates NJH&D, NJW, SVRR, Hoboken Ridgefield & Paterson, Hudson Connecting Railway.
  • December 20: the first locomotive runs on the NJM: 'Passaic' built by Rogers in Paterson
  • 1871
  • NJM completes west to Butler, first train April 27
  • July 1: NJM begins 99-year lease of Middletown, Unionville & Water Gap Railroad, to connect with NYOM
  • 1872
  • Combined NYOM/NJM line opens from Middletown, New York, to Jersey City; first train May 1
  • 1873
  • July 9: First train runs across the railroads from Oswego, New York, to Jersey City via NJM
  • September 4: NYOM lease of NJM begins
  • October: Panic of 1873; NYOM goes into receivership on Sept. 19, Abram S. Hewitt appointed Receiver
  • November 17: NJM assumes control of the NYOM line from Jersey City to Middletown
  • 1875
  • NJM falls into receivership with James McCulloh and Garret Hobart as receivers
  • 1880
  • New Jersey Midland Railway reorganized out of receivership as the New Jersey Midland Railroad. Wortendyke and Littlejohn are out, Garrett Hobart is in as president.
  • The New York and Oswego Midland Railroad is reorganized out of bankruptcy as the New York, Ontario and Western Railway
  • 1881
  • Each new extension of the railroad is another company: Paterson Extension Railroad, Midland Connecting Railway, New York and Scranton Construction Company in New Jersey, Pennsylvania Midland Railway in Pennsylvania
  • June 10 - July 1: NJM, Paterson Extension Railroad, Midland Connecting Railway, North Jersey Railroad, Water Gap Railroad, Pennsylvania Midland Railway all reorganize together as the first corporate incarnation of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad.
  • Sussex Railroad taken over by the DL&W
  • NYSW builds at least from Beaver Lake to Branchville Junction/Warbasse/Hyper Humus
  • Frederic A. Potts is the first NYSW president
  • 1882
  • First trains to Lackawanna interchange at Gravel Place, Pennsylvania run in the Fall
  • May 1: Paterson Extension Railroad opens
  • September: Lodi Branch Railroad bought, becomes Lodi branch; it would last until 2020
  • 1883
  • Blairstown Railway bought; the companies reorganize as the second corporate incarnation of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad
  • 1884
  • The Panic of 1884
  • 1885
  • July 13: Passaic and New York Railroad (The Passaic branch) chartered; begins operating in 1886 and would last until 2020
  • 1887
  • The railroad is double-tracked from Paterson to Jersey City
  • 1889
  • Charles Mercer Heald replaces Frederic A. Potts as NYSW President
  • 1890
  • Simon Borg replaces Charles Mercer Heald as NYSW President
  • 1891
  • The shops at Wortendyke are destroyed by fire; they are rebuilt in 1892
  • 1892
  • The Edgewater Branch is chartered; the terminal there opens in 1894
  • March 31: Hudson River Railroad and Terminal Co. organized to build at Edgewater; NYSW wants its own coal dock away from DL&W
  • Wilkes-Barre & Eastern Railroad chartered to build from Stroudsburg to the Wyoming Valley; begins operating in 1893
  • 1893
  • The Panic of 1893: NYSW reorganizes its subsidiaries into the parent company, keeping the NYSW Railroad name; the third corporate incarnation of the railroad.
  • 1894
  • The western end of the NYSW is cut back from Gravel Place to Stroudsburg
  • 1895
  • Amos Lawrence Hopkins replaces Simon Borg as NYSW President
  • 1896
  • The Susquehanna Connecting Railroad is chartered to build from Suscon to Minooka, Pennsylvania; it opens in 1897
  • Hackensack and Lodi Railroad built to connect to the Lodi branch
  • 1897
  • November 25: The Susquehanna Connecting Railroad is completed
  • 1898
  • In January, J.P. Morgan's co. begins buying NYSW stock for the Erie Railroad. In February, Erie Leases the NYSW. In July it begins control until 1940.
  • Eben B. Thomas replaces Amos Lawrence Hopkins as NYSW president

20th Century

  • 1901
  • Panic of 1901
  • Frederick Underwood replaces Eben B. Thomas as NYSW president
  • 1902
  • A fire in NYSW main office destroys corporate records
  • 1911
  • NYSW moves from Pennsylvania Railroad terminal in Jersey City to the Erie terminal, with freight switching from Marion (PRR) to Croxton (ERIE) yards
  • 1913
  • Lease of MUWGRR given up
  • 1917
  • December 28: Due to World War I the United States Railroad Administration takes control of NYSW until February 29, 1920
  • 1920
  • The two-year Depression of 1920-1921
  • In the next decade the Erie spends money on the NYSW, including scrapping old locomotives
  • In the next decade the decapods arrive
  • 1923
  • Recovering from USRA WWI operations, NYSW posts $5.5M gross earnings, the most it had ever done, but expenses pile up
  • 1926
  • John J. Bernet replaces Frederick Underwood as NYSW president
  • September 2: Kingston, Pennsylvania, western terminal of WB&E; terminal building sold due to lack of traffic
  • 1929
  • May 27: Charles E. Denney replaces John J. Bernet as NYSW president
  • October: The great stock market crash begins The Great Depression
  • 1936
  • Major areal storms and flooding
  • 1937
  • Bonds due
  • First NYSW bankruptcy filing. Eventual sole trustee appointed is Walter Kidde
  • WB&E files for abandonment
  • 1939
  • March 25: the last Wilkes Barre & Eastern train runs. The line is abandoned that year.
  • 1940
  • March: Erie control of NYSW ends
  • NYSW opens a joint office with NYOM in Manhattan
  • Walter Kidde buys the ACF Streamliners for the NYSW, and service between Paterson and New York City begins
  • 1941
  • The western end of the NYSW is cut back again; to Hainesburg from Stroudsburg
  • NYSW gets its first diesels, an order of ALCO RS-1s and ALCO S2s
  • 1943
  • Walter Kidde dies, Henry K. Norton is installed to replace him as the new trustee
  • 1947
  • Last NYSW steam locomotive operations on the railroad until the #142 is purchased in 1991 (though the Morris County Central would operate on a segment of the NYSW from 1974-1980)
  • 1950
  • NYSW buys Budd RDCs
  • 1951
  • NYSW buys stainless passenger coaches
  • 1953
  • The courts declare the NYSW reorganized, now-former-trustee Henry K. Norton becomes railroad president
  • 1955
  • Henry K. Norton retires; is replaced as NYSW president by James M. Baths
  • July: The Ford Motor Company Edgewater Assembly Plant closes and the NYSW loses an important customer
  • 1956
  • James. M. Baths is replaced as NYSW president by Ralph E. Sease
  • June: NYSW files with the New Jersey Board of Public Utility Commissioners to eliminate all passenger train service
  • 1957
  • The entire New York, Ontario and Western Railway is abandoned due to the recession starting this year
  • The New York Central and the Pennsylvania Railroad begin merger talks; they would merge in 1968.
  • 1958
  • NYSW financial difficulties; Stainless coaches bought just a few years before are sold off and fewer trains run overall
  • NYS&W abandons the Hanford Branch
  • 1959
  • June 21: the last Sunday passenger train runs
  • 1960
  • The Paterson City branch is sold to the City of Paterson
  • Passenger service eastern terminus moves from Jersey City to Susquehanna Transfer after the EL merger
  • June: Interchange partner L&NE files for abandonment
  • 1961
  • October 31: The last Lehigh and New England freight train over the NYSW; L&NE is shortly abandoned and NYSW loses its westernmost connection.
  • 1962
  • Real estate developer Irving W. Maidman buys control of NYS&W and replaces Ralph E. Sease as railroad president
  • Three EMD GP18s are ordered with a government loan; NYSW takes delivery in August. They have a new "yellowjacket" paint scheme which the railroad would use from then on for its freight operations
  • August 30: the last train runs west of Sparta Junction; operations now confined between Butler and Little Ferry
  • 1963
  • February: A 9-to-0 US Supreme Court ruling keeps passenger service going on the NYSW
  • September 1: John C. Clark is elected Railroad president
  • 1965
  • Delaware Otsego Railroad formed in New York State; will eventually purchase NYSW in 1980 as the Delaware Otsego Corporation
  • October: Herbert J. Draney is elected railroad president, replacing John C. Clark.
  • 1966
  • June 30: The last NYSW commuter train runs with one day's notice to customers. Railroad president Irving Maidman previously offered passengers $1000 each to stop riding. 95 years of passenger service ends.
  • Irving Maidman petitions to have NYSW included in the Penn Central merger
  • 1968
  • February 1: Completing a process begun in 1957, the New York Central and the Pennsylvania Railroad merge to form Penn Central, without the NYSW
  • February 29: Railroad president Herbert J. Draney retires and is replaced by William A. Logan by late March.
  • NYSW embargoed between Sparta Junction and Oak Ridge
  • 1970
  • June 21: Penn Central files for bankruptcy
  • 1971
  • Tropical Storm Doria hits New Jersey exceptionally hard, causing a washout near the Smoke Rise entrance grade crossing. This severs the NYSW interchange with CNJ at Green Pond Junction, which the CNJ subsequently abandons
  • 1972
  • June: The Erie Lackawanna Railroad goes bankrupt, in part due to the effects of Hurricane Agnes
  • 1973
  • 1973 oil crisis; global oil prices rise
  • 1974
  • May: Poughkeepsie Bridge burns, changing how trains would be routed in the area
  • The Morris County Central (MCC) railroad begins running tourist trains over the 1971-washout-isolated section of NYSW track, basing operations at Newfoundland, running until 1980.
  • 1976
  • April 1: Conrail begins operations (see also: List of companies transferred to Conrail)
  • April 1: Delaware Otsego begins operating The Stourbridge Line as the Lackawaxen and Stourbridge Railroad until 1989, eventually using some NYSW power
  • NYSW's second bankruptcy filing, due to defaulting on New Jersey taxes.
  • Walter G. Scott is appointed trustee, replacing Irving Maidman
  • 1978
  • NJDOT enters into agreement with NYSW to rehab the railroad
  • MCC stores steam locomotive no. 385 at Newfoundland, where it will sit until 1989
  • 1979
  • 1979 oil crisis
  • NYSW court-ordered abandonment and selloff
  • 1980
  • September 2: Delaware Otsego Corporation takes over NYSW for $5 Million after the State of New Jersey asks them to bid on the railroad. With Walter Rich as president, the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad becomes NYS&W Railway Corporation, the fourth corporate incarnation of the railroad.
  • October 31: A "Rededication Train" runs, with the mayor of Hawthorne even rechristening the railroad
  • NYSW has 70 shippers and DO-run NYSW runs 8000 carloads in their first year of operations
  • MCC ends its tourist operations on the NYSW
  • 1982
  • DO buys 157 miles of track in NY State, former DL&W; the new Northern Division. Closing on the properties is April 16, with the first train running the next day.
  • DO buys 200 miles of trackage rights over former Erie from Conrail
  • DO acquires the Pompton Branch and 13 miles of Conrail-half-embargoed L&HR from Sparta, New Jersey, to Franklin
  • Three used ALCOs 2000, 2002, 104 bought for locomotive power on the new Northern Division. GP18 1804 sent north as well
  • Passenger excursions begin on the Northern Division; they would run for two years
  • NYSW buys five ALCO C430s from Conrail - 3000-3008 (evens) - ex New York Central
  • 1983
  • A year-long project begins to bring Utica line up to 40 MPH standards
  • 1984
  • Sea-Land signs a 20-year lease on 22 acres in Little Ferry, selects C&O, D&H, NYSW to run trains
  • 1985
  • DO buys the Staten Island Railway
  • DO buys just over 9 mi of Conrail-abandoned L&HR
  • March: NYSW operations begin along Sparta Junction to Warwick section after DO reopens abandoned track from Franklin to Warwick
  • August 4: First NYSW Sea-Land intermodal train from Binghamton to Little Ferry
  • 1986
  • NYSW begins to reopen the original main line in the Spring
  • Conrail signals its intent to raise haulage rates, DO rehabs the NYSW main instead of paying more to them
  • A new connection is built at Sparta Junction between the NYSW and former L&HR. A new simpler connection at Maybrook is planned to simplify movements there
  • The first of several used EMD SD45s are bought for container train service
  • October 15: The first train using the new rehabbed main runs.
  • 1987
  • Conrail rehabs the former L&HR line from Warwick north
  • 1988
  • The GE Dash 8-40Bs begin to arrive, numbers starting 4002. Leased with CSX-backed financing, they are the first new locomotives since 1962's GP18s. The railroad will eventually have twenty-four of them at peak to assist with the new container traffic.
  • The NYSW is named operator of the Delaware and Hudson Railway after the D&H goes bankrupt
  • 1989
  • May 27: MCC steam locomotive no. 385 is moved from Newfoundland, where it sat since 1978, to Little Ferry. It will eventually end up at the Whippany Railway Museum.
  • June 30: Delaware Otsego stops operating the LASB after thirteen years
  • 1999
  • June 1: Conrail is officially broken up between NS and CSX

21st Century

  • 2007
  • Walter Rich dies and is succeeded as railroad president by Nathan Fenno
  • 2020
  • NYSW formally files for abandonment of the Lodi and Passaic branches
  • 2024
  • Nathan Fenno is succeeded by James Bonner as railroad president

Railroad name abbreviations

Bibliography

References