The New Jersey Midland
traces its roots back to the 1830's when the first thoughts of
building a railroad from the Paterson area to the coal fields
around Scranton came about. Later the NJM was redirected to be
part of the New York &Oswego Midland, to link New York City
with Lake Ontario at Oswego, NY (the NY&OM was originally
going to reach New York via the New York &Greenwood Lake
Railroad, but money ran out before the missing link between Greenwood
Lake and Middletown, NY was even started). The NJM ran from the
Pennsylvania Railroad at Jersey City to the NJ/NY border at Unionville.
The 13 mile Middletown, Unionville &Water Gap was leased
to reach the New York & Oswego Midland at Middletown, NY.
As it turned out, Buffalo became the major great lake city, not
Oswego and both companies collapsed in the Panic of 1873. After
the bondholders slugged it out in court, the NJM again became
independent and resumed the quest to reach the coal fields. In
1881 the NJM and its affiliates merged to become the New York,
Susquehanna & Western.
The
New Jersey Midland Railroad
Historical Society, Inc. is dedicated to the
preservation of the history of the railroads that have operated in New
Jersey, with special emphasis on the New Jersey Midland; its successor
New York, Susquehanna & Western; and other lines connected or affiliated
including Lehigh & Hudson River; Lehigh & New England; Middletown & New
Jersey; New York & Greenwood Lake; and Wharton & Northern.
The
Railroadians of America,
founded in 1939, were one of the oldest railroad historical
organizations in the country, dedicated to gathering, preserving,
writing and publishing railroad history. The Railroadians of America
were merged into the New Jersey Midland Railroad Historical Society on
December 31, 1996
For more info please visit the
New Jersey Midland Railroad
Historical Society
New York Susquehanna &
Western Technical & Historical Society
The New York, Susquehanna
& Western reached Stroudsburg, PA in 1882, the old Midland
route from the main line at Beaver Lake, NJ to Middletown became
a branch (cut back to the state line when the Middletown, Unionville
& Water Gap lease was dropped in 1913). At Stroudsburg the
NYS&W received coal from the Lackawanna (DL&W). In 1892
the NYS&W decided to reach the coal fields directly and began
construction of the Wilkes Barre & Eastern and the Susquehana
Connecting RR to directly reach the Wyoming Valley anthracite
coal. The new line was highly profitable and caused pricing chaos
among the older anthracite roads. In 1898, J.P. Morgan bought
control of the NYS&W and leased it to the Erie. The NYS&W
functioned as part of the Erie until 1937 when bankruptcy resumed
independant operations and at the same time caused the abandonment
of the Wilkes Barre & Eastern. Independance brough many changes:
the first class one railroad to completely dieselize (with Alco
RS-1s and S-2s), ACF railcars for the commuter runs from Paterson
to a bus transfer via the Lincoln Tunnel into New York, and abandonment
of the line between Stroudsburg, PA and Hainesburg Jct., NJ.
In the early 1950s the line was somewhat prosperous with more
diesels and Budd RDCs for passengers. In 1958 the NYS&W's
fortunes declined: the branch to Unionville was abandoned, the
RDCs sold off, maintenance reduced to a minimum. In 1962 all
track west of Sparta Jct., NJ was abandoned. In 1966 the last
commuter service to Butler ended. In 1969 an unsafe bridge in
Sparta embargoed the line between the Wharton & Northern
at Green Pond and the Lehigh & Hudson River at Sparta Jct.
A washout in 1971 closed the line west of Butler. The NYS&W
was again bankrupt in 1976 and near abandonment in 1980 when
purchased by the Delaware Otsego Corp. By 1986 the NYS&W
aquired the former Lackawanna branches from Binghamton, NY to
Utica and Syracuse and the L&HR from Sparta Jct. to Warwick,
NY. The line between Butler and Sparta Jct. was rebuilt. Today,
the NYS&W runs double stack container trains over its lines
as the eastern link for containers from ports on the west coast.
RDC service is provided in Syracuse and commuter trains are slated
to run from Sparta to Hoboken in 1999.
The
New York Susquehanna & Western is a non-profit educational and historical
society dedicated to the preservation and history of the New York
Susquehanna & Western Railway. The Society has close to 600 members located
in almost every state and many from around the world.
The society is primarily funded by the many rail-excursion
trips run every year. Our most famous trip is our hugely popular Steam On
The Susquehanna, our all day fall foliage spectacular. Easter Bunny and
Santa Claus train rides are a big favorite with the kids!
The Society owns three of the original four Susquehanna Budd
cars, one of which is completely restored and is used on our trips. New to
the society is our beautiful new engine facility. Take your time and look
around the site. Enter the chat room, read some stories, or just browse
through the many pictures. If you are interested in riding the very best
historic train trips any where, visit the
train trips area and buy
tickets today!
Visit
the NYS&WTHS website for more info.
This photo of the Susquehanna's 142 was taken at Baird's Farm
in New York State
by George Read during the Suzy Q's November steam excursions.
Special thanks
to to New Jersey Midland Railway Historical Society for the use
of their materials on this page and also to the M&NJRHS and
the NYS&WT&HS.
