Nostalgia & History > NYO&W - Liberty, NY

I just picked up this NYO&W image off ebay and thought it was good enough to share.

NYO&W F3 #502 is southbound at Liberty, NY with what is probably Train #2 from Roscoe, NY to Weehawken, NJ during the Summer passenger season of 1951. Passenger service ended at the end of the 1953 season on September 10th. The flanger sign to the left of the engine marked the Lake Street crossing. With the baggage RPO car up front it's likely not a Sunday. Note also the station order board just above the rear of the locomotive, set on the inside of the curve for visibility.

This F3, built in 1948, went to the Sacramento Northern after the O&W closure in 1957 as their 301D. The rails were pulled up here in June 1958.

I'd love to be the fireman looking back at the platform.

Sadly I don't know who the original photographer was in order to give credit.

 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/24 14:59 by train1275.

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Wow!  What a piece of history you have there!  Many thanks for sharing it.
Bob

Excellent!!!

A vintage passenger train. What a cool find! And I share your anxiety about not being able to credit the original photographer. I run into that fairly often with all the collections. I have been archiving and scanning…

Posted from iPhone

A great slice of life image. Thanks for posting. 

train1275 Wrote:
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> I just picked up this NYO&W image off ebay and
> thought it was good enough to share.

Great find on ebay Doug!  I have a few O&W books but I've never seen a shot at Liberty like that.  I wonder if it's even possible to figure out the location that shot was taken.  I might have to pull off route 17 in my next pass thorough the area to investigate.  I'm not thinking I'll find it with the abandonment of the Old and Weary approaching 68 years -:)

Maybe this will help locate the site of the depot on your expedition off Route 17.  

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Cool,  I've never explored that part of town despite being through Liberty on route 17 most years of my existence despite having being a normal food and gas stop between Long Island and Central NY.

Looking at the two images it hasn't changed all that much, LOL
I've read several books on the Old and Weary. It was sort of a railroad that should never have been built and was the first "major" road to fail. Lehigh and New England, I believe was next in line to go down the tubes.
NYO&W was built to carry traffic from Lake Ontario to New York City, later building into the Lackawanna river Valley to access the thriving hard coal trade. L&NE was built as through route from New England to Harrisburg, PA but never quite accomplished that western destination. They too built an extension to tap Anthracite. When the Anthracite trade willowed, both of these roads were early casualties. Maybe Wilkes-Barre and Eastern was the first (minor player)?
Whatever, I missed seeing either in action other than catching the train pulling the L&NE rails near Snyders, PA. from route 309. I didn't figure out why a train was sitting there when my Dad took us on a Sunday drive in search of coal mines, until I had data on when they pulled the plug and ripped up the Arlington Extension, not to mention virtually all the rails. Central of New Jersey took over the Cement Belt rails that later Lehigh Valley garnered when CNJ retracted to NJ. Eventually that bit became Conrail and now NS. Wow! What a history. 
I wish I could have caught either while they were still active.
Gonut

NYO&W 502 would later be sold to Western Pacific and would become Sacramento Northern 301D.

Gonut1 Wrote:
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> Looking at the two images it hasn't changed all
> that much, LOL
> I've read several books on the Old and Weary. It
> was sort of a railroad that should never have been
> built and was the first "major" road to fail.
> Lehigh and New England, I believe was next in line
> to go down the tubes.
> NYO&W was built to carry traffic from Lake Ontario
> to New York City, later building into the
> Lackawanna river Valley to access the thriving
> hard coal trade. L&NE was built as through route
> from New England to Harrisburg, PA but never quite
> accomplished that western destination. They too
> built an extension to tap Anthracite. When the
> Anthracite trade willowed, both of these roads
> were early casualties. Maybe Wilkes-Barre and
> Eastern was the first (minor player)?
> Whatever, I missed seeing either in action other
> than catching the train pulling the L&NE rails
> near Snyders, PA. from route 309. I didn't figure
> out why a train was sitting there when my Dad took
> us on a Sunday drive in search of coal mines,
> until I had data on when they pulled the plug and
> ripped up the Arlington Extension, not to mention
> virtually all the rails. Central of New Jersey
> took over the Cement Belt rails that later Lehigh
> Valley garnered when CNJ retracted to NJ.
> Eventually that bit became Conrail and now NS.
> Wow! What a history. 
> I wish I could have caught either while they were
> still active.
> Gonut

A couple of additional points regarding the L&NE.

The railroad was owned by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company.  The carrier's end was different than most in that the parent company could see the writing on the wall and elected to shut down the railroad  before it could bleed them of any additional resources.

The cement region was picked up by the CNJ as you have stated but remained in operation by them until 1975 as it was not part of the L&S (the termination of the lease for the L&S is what cause the otherwise withdrawal from Pennsylvania in March of 1972) and was profitable.  The continuing decline of the CNJ itself caused them to walk away from the L&NE operation in 1975.

The NYO&W in color! A true gem!
Bob