Nostalgia & History > NYS&W - the west end

Once upon a time, before the current New York Susquehanna & Western reached Syracuse, NY, it was an anthracite coal carrier, reaching the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valleys in northeastern Pennsylvania. By 1941 only a few isolated segments in Pennsylvania, leased to the Erie remained. However, the NYS&W lingered on to Stroudsburg, PA for a while and its vital connection to the Lehigh & New England survived until 1962, a year after the L&NE was abandoned.

Here is a little tour of the NYS&W's west end, a line that served creameries and lumber yards, through some very rural territory. Today the right of way is the Paulins Kill Rail-Trail, through the still mostly rural dairy farming northern part of Warren County (yes folks, there is a part of NJ that does not look like an episode of the Sopranos).

Photo 1 - A quartet of RS1s lead the Hainesburg "haul" east through Blairstown. A lumber company and plumbing supply company kept the NYS&W operating the west end of the line for about a year after the L&NE quit.

Photo 2 - A few miles west of Blairstown was Vails (today it is just "Vail). There was a creamery here.

Photo 3 - A Vails to Blairstown ticket. Mixed train service ended in 1935.

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Photo 4: Hainesburg was next. Just west of here was Hainesburg Jct. where the connection with the Lehigh & New England was. That is the Paulins Kill viaduct of the Lackawanna's Cutoff looming overhead.

Photo 5: Next the NYS&W reach the Delaware River and swung north to follow the river to the Delaware Water Gap. The town at this point was Columbia. The overhead bridge in the distance was the Lehigh & New England's crossing over the Delaware to Portland, PA and beyond.

Photo 6: The tiny flag stop for Howleys. There were a number a small resorts the did a brisk Summer business, although the DL&W had the bulk of the business with the much larger and more famous resorts on the PA side.

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Photo 7: Dunnfield was the last stop in New Jersey. Today I-80 has obliterated this scene.

Photo 8: Another view of Dunnfield, looking south through the Delaware Water Gap. The Lackawanna would be on the PA side in the right side of this photo.

Photo 9: The bridge over the Delaware River. The story goes that the condition of this bridge was the final straw for abandoning the line to Stroudsburg.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/14 12:28 by njmidland.

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Photo 10: Stroudsburg station. This station was also used by the subsidiary Wilkes Barre & Eastern.

Photo 11: On June 23, 1940, the Railroadians of America ran an excursion using the new ACF railcar to Stroudsburg. This would be the last passenger train ever in PA on the NYS&W (although NYS&W RDC M-1 would make it to the Poconos in 1993, but that's another story).

Photo 12: An unused ticket from that trip.

Thanks for touring the NYS&W today!

Tim

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The Hainesburg and Howeys pics. are real gems. Excellent post!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/14 07:20 by mp51w.

Great stuff. Love old Susquehanna! Although I grew up in NJ, never was in the right place at the right time to see an NYS&W train.

Tom Y

njmidland Wrote:
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> Photo 4: Hainesburg was next. Just west of here
> was Hainesburg Jct. where the connection with the
> Lehigh & New England was. That is the Paulins
> Kill viaduct of the Lackawanna's Cutoff looming
> overhead.


Outstanding photo! Any idea what year the photo pic was taken?


Allen

bradleymckay Wrote:
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> Outstanding photo! Any idea what year the photo
> pic was taken?

The Hainesburg photo was taken by John Treen in 1960.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/14 12:31 by njmidland.

Can't wait to read about the RDC visit to the Poconos in 1993....

Great photos - grew up with the NYSW in the 60's & would see those RS-1's daily on the Passaic Branch which is still in place but dormant today.
jburek

boejoe Wrote:
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> Can't wait to read about the RDC visit to the
> Poconos in 1993....

I don't have any photos handy, but NYS&W RDC M-1 attended the Railfest event at Steamtown in 1993. It ran a solo excursion on the DL&W main down to Pocono Summit where Johnnie's Pocono Summit Inn opened up to give us a great Italian feast (I miss that place!). On the return trip we were running late so the engineer let it rip. I was in the rear cab when there was a loud thud. For a moment I thought the worst until I realized that we must have been going over 50 mph as that is where the RDC's torque converters lock up for direct drive!

At that point in Steamtown's history everything operated to Moscow or Elmhurst so we were out there on a lonely but wonderful piece of railroad. The kicker was that by being in Pocono Summit, we were the first NYS&W train to be in that town since 1939. At one time there was a physical connection between the DL&W and the WB&E there (no interchange that I have ever been able to document - both railroads got ice from the same series of ice houses along Stillwater Lake). Likely to be the last NYS&W train there ever.

Tim