The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway , also referred to as the Susie-Q or the Susquehanna ( ; Lenape: ), and formerly the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad, is an American Class II freight railway operating over of trackage in the states of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
The NYS&W was formed in 1881 out of a merger of six smaller railroads. After formation, the new NYS&W's primary business concern was transporting anthracite coal out of Pennsylvania's Wyoming Valley coal region, a business that would last into the twentieth century. From 1898 to 1940, the NYS&W operated as a subsidiary of the Erie Railroad after J. P. Morgan purchased a majority stake on the Erie's behalf. The Susquehanna emerged from the Erie's control in 1940 as part of a bankruptcy reorganization begun in 1937. Around this time the railroad began winding down its coal operations until finally discontinuing them completely in 1951. This followed years of declines in coal usage due to the rapid growth of the petroleum industry. The railroad had also proclaimed itself completely dieselized by 1945.
By the early 1950s, the NYS&W changed their primary source of income to their commuter trains. Running as far west as Butler, the railroad advertised a bus connection to New York City via Susquehanna Transfer beginning in late 1939, taking advantage of the recently opened Lincoln Tunnel. By 1955 however, passenger services were losing money for the company. All of their commuter services were discontinued in 1966, and by that time, the railroad experienced additional financial troubles from a loss of freight customers and interchange partners. The seventies spelled out even harder times for the railroad and it fell into its second bankruptcy by 1976.
In 1980, the NYS&W was purchased by the Delaware Otsego Corporation (DO), who reorganized and expanded the railway's operations and finances. The Susquehanna also then benefited from Conrail's monopoly in the northeastern U.S., by operating competing intermodal trains until 1999, when Conrail was split between Norfolk Southern (NS) and CSX.
As of 2026, the NYS&W consists of a southern division and a northern division. The southern division runs between Jersey City, New Jersey and Binghamton, New York and contains what is left of the original NYS&W mainline. The northern division, formed by two branches north of Binghamton, serves Utica and Syracuse and was purchased in 1982. The two divisions are connected via trackage rights over a segment of the Southern Tier Line.
History
Pre-company beginnings
The earliest origins of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway trace back to 1828, when John Langdon Sullivan surveyed the first route across northern New Jersey with the intent of transporting Pennsylvania coal by rail to industrial Paterson, New Jersey. While New Jersey industry had supply of iron ore, it needed local sources of coal to smelt it following shortages of British coal after the War of 1812. The Morris Canal had begun operation for this purpose by 1831, but was seasonal and slow; industry demanded better. Nothing was done with Sullivan's plans until the New Jersey, Hudson and Delaware Railroad (NJH&D) was chartered by a group of Paterson, New Jersey businessmen in 1832. Due to financial difficulties incurred during the Panic of 1837, the company did not construct anything until 1867, but its charter remained active. Further set back by the Panic of 1857, the railroad sold its charter to the Pennsylvania Coal Company. Following the events of the Civil War though, canals became disused, and a major railroad boom began throughout the United States.
By the mid-1860s, several companies were formed to create railroads across northern New Jersey. The earliest of these, the Hoboken, Ridgefield and Paterson Railroad (HR&P), was chartered in March of 1866 to connect Paterson with the ports along the Hudson River waterfront; various logistical issues ensured this company would not actually build anything. The most successful attempt was by the New Jersey Western Railroad (NJW), which was founded by Cornelius Wortendyke in 1867. That railroad began laying track at Hawthorne the following year. They soon completed a line between Hawthorne and Butler.
In 1866, the New York and Oswego Midland Railroad (NY&OM) was incorporated in New York State under the leadership of DeWitt Clinton Littlejohn. His plan was to provide a connection from New York City to the port city of Oswego, New York on Lake Ontario. Construction on their trackage began at Oswego two years later. However, Wortendyke had no charter to build in New Jersey, a necessity in reaching New York City.
The NJW quickly decided to shift its focus towards connecting their route with the NY&OM to benefit both railroads. Cornelius Wortendyke signed an agreement with DeWitt Littlejohn, where the two companies would lease and access each other's routes. By 1870, the NJW expanded westward from Hackensack to Hanford, but in doing so, they encountered the NJH&D and the Sussex Valley Railroad, which had already obtained resources and begun work. The Sussex Valley had been chartered in 1867 to build south from the New Jersey-New York state line to the Delaware Water Gap.
By 1870, all four railroads decided it would be convenient to consolidate the work that had already been completed, so they merged together to create the New Jersey Midland Railway (NJM or Midland). Concurrently, the NY&OM expanded to Middletown, New York, and they leased the Middletown, Unionville and Water Gap Railroad (MU&WG), since it had provided a connection between the NY&OM at Middletown and the NJM at Hanford. The first Midland train to Butler ran on April 27, 1871, with the first train between Jersey City and Middletown running May 1, 1872, having completed construction on their final stretch of trackage from Hackensack to Jersey City, using trackage rights over the Pennsylvania Railroad's New Jersey Rail Road and Transportation Company.
In 1872, the NJM formally became leased by the NY&OM. On July 9, 1873, the first train over the NY&OM and NJM was operated from Oswego to Jersey City. With the inaugural run, the two railroads created the third trunk railroad line to connect New York City and the Great Lakes region, but the ongoing Panic of 1873 quickly affected the finances of both companies, with the NY&OM falling under receivership.
The NY&OM suspended all lease payments, and their partnership with the NJM was quickly put to an end. The NY&OM was later reorganized as the New York, Ontario and Western Railway (NYO&W) in 1879, and they began forming a separate partnership with the West Shore Railroad (later the New York Central Railroad (NYC) to access New York City.
Formation and expansion
thumb|A New York City map that displays the terminus of various railroads, including the NYS&W at Edgewater, circa 1900
In 1880, investors from the original NJM regrouped and reorganized the company as the Midland Railroad of New Jersey, with Hobart serving as their president, and the company regained their finances by serving New Jersey industrial firms. The investors decided to profit from hauling anthracite out of Pennsylvania, and they chartered the New York and Scranton Construction Company, which in turn chartered four other small companies, to lay down portions of the NJM route from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.
On June 17, 1881, the Midland Railroad of New Jersey was consolidated with five other companies to form the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad (NYS&W); "Susquehanna" was incorporated in the name, since one of the company's goals was to reach the Susquehanna River. In 1887, the railroad laid down a double-track route from Paterson to Jersey City to accommodate their rising traffic.
In 1892, the Susquehanna ended their transfer partnerships with the DL&W and the PRR, when they extended their own line eastward from their Little Ferry Yard to a new coal terminal at Edgewater, and they began leasing the newly chartered Wilkes-Barre and Eastern Railroad (WB&E) between Stroudsburg and Wilkes-Barre, for direct coal mine access. In 1896, the NYS&W chartered the Susquehanna Connecting Railroad to directly access the Wyoming Valley south of Scranton, and to divert coal traffic away from the DL&W.
Erie Railroad control
The NYSW's prosperity caught the attention of an influential financer, J. P. Morgan, and a company he financed, the Erie Railroad. The Erie already had access to coal mines north of Scranton, but they desired to also access the mines south of the area, and they believed the Susquehanna provided the best route there.
On behalf of the Erie, Morgan quietly purchased the NYSW's stock until he obtained the majority of their shares, and by July 1898, the Erie took over control of all of the railroad's operations, making the Susquehanna their subsidiary.
In 1911, the Susquehanna's Jersey City passenger terminus was moved from the PRR's Exchange Place Station to the Erie's Pavonia Terminal, and their freight terminus was moved from the PRR's Marion yards to the Erie's Croxton yards. In 1923, the Susquehanna's total gross income peaked at $5.5 million.
The Erie subsequently invested in rebuilding and upgrading the NYSW's trackage and bridges. During the 1920s, the Erie began operating under the control of the Van Sweringen brothers, and they installed a new president for the Erie, John J. Bernet. During Bernet's tenure for the Erie, he initiated a major modernization program for the Susquehanna; most of the railroad's original steam locomotives and wooden passenger cars were scrapped and replaced with newer Erie equipment.
Throughout the 1930s, the NYS&W experienced some major financial problems from the Great Depression, and the Erie began to neglect them. The general demand for anthracite coal was declining, and while other anthracite-hauling railroads were able to change their freight priorities, the NYS&W struggled to follow suit.
During 1937, the railroad defaulted on some major bonds and taxes they owed, and on June 1, they filed for bankruptcy and reorganization. That same month, the bankruptcy court appointed two co-trustees to the NYSW; Walter Kidde and Hudson Bordwell, but the latter died only five months into his position, making the former their sole trustee.
Walter Kidde, who had no prior experience in operating railroads, began to explore ways of reorganizing the NYS&W and its assets.
He also entrusted ownership of the Susquehanna Connecting Railroad to the Erie. In 1938, Kidde discontinued a portion of the NYSW's commuter passenger services. By March 1940, Kidde arranged other cutbacks for the Susquehanna, which resulted in the company being spun-off from the Erie's control.
Walter Kidde-Henry Norton reorganization
thumb|New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway streamlined locomotive constructed by the [[American Car and Foundry Company|American Car and Foundry company, ]]
Following the abandonment of the WB&E, the NYS&W did not prospect any benefits in continuing their Pennsylvania operations, so by 1941, they cut back the western end of their line to Hainesburg, New Jersey. Walter Kidde decided to have the Susquehanna improve their remaining suburban commuter passenger trains and make profits from providing bus services to Manhattan, and the Susquehanna Transfer Railway was created in 1939, for this purpose. A precedent was quickly set on the NYSW, where all of their diesels with multiple-unit controls would only receive even road numbers, while all of their non-multiple-unit diesels would only receive odd road numbers.
The Susquehanna also settled a $7 million freight balance debt they owed the Erie by paying them $250,000 and purchasing their freight terminal in Edgewater. By June 1945, almost all of the Susquehanna's remaining steam locomotives had either been retired or sold off, and they declared themselves as the first Class I railroad in the United States to completely dieselize. In December that same year, the NYSW's president position was changed again to Ralph E. Sease, a former Central of Georgia executive.
By that time, the Susquehanna had run all of their passenger trains at a financial loss from declining ridership and competition from a new park and ride service, and they considered filing an application to discontinue their services. The railroad also lost money after one of their primary customers, the Ford Motor Company, closed their Edgewater assembly plant.
Following the Recession of 1957, the NYS&W experienced additional financial problems, and a portion of their other freight customers abandoned the railroad to begin relying on truck shipping.
The first task Maidman did for the NYS&W was to obtain a $550,000 federal loan for the purchase of three EMD GP18 road switchers to assist the NYS&W's failing ALCO locomotives. In 1963, Maidman became the NYSW's newest board chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), and he began to install new executives for the railroad, including his wife Edith Shivitz and his son and attorney Robert Maidman. As a desperate attempt to eliminate all ridership, Maidman personally offered to pay the NYS&W's 200 remaining commuters $1,000 each to stop using their trains, but only five of them accepted.
Maidman's tactics were challenged by commuters, and the State of New Jersey argued on their behalf against the railroad at the US Supreme Court in December of 1963. A 9-0 decision kept passenger service continuing at the time. However, by June 1966, the NYSW obtained court permission to terminate all of their passenger services, despite commuters' continuing efforts to keep them running. The railroad's final commuter train operated on June 30 with only a day's notice, and the following day, uninformed commuters waited to board NYS&W trains that never arrived. In doing so, he petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to have the NYS&W involved in the Pennsylvania Railroad-New York Central merger. The ICC in turn asked the PRR and NYC to incorporate the Susquehanna, along with the bankrupt New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (New Haven) into the merger as a condition, and both railroads agreed to the former, since it provided a major connection between the PRR and NYC in New Jersey.
The new Penn Central Transportation Company (PC) was formally created on February 1, 1968, and the New Haven was incorporated on December 31 of that year, but the NYS&W was excluded. Their inclusion fell through, since Maidman and PC's management disputed over the railroad's price value; Maidman wanted to sell the NYSW for its business value, while PC's management wanted to purchase it for its salvage value.
By December 1968, the Susquehanna turned a profit for the first time since 1955, with an income of $17,755.
The NYSW also sued the Erie's successor, the Erie Lackawanna Railway (EL), for $1.6 million in unpaid usage of Susquehanna trackage, but they subsequently settled for a $186,315 claim, and the EL agreed to pay a $15,000 yearly fee. By the end of 1969, the NYS&W turned a profit of $297,644.
In 1971, the NYSW lost their interchange with the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) at Green Pond Junction, when a stretch of trackage at Smoke Rise was washed away and mud-covered by Tropical Storm Doria. Following the damage from Storm Doria, along with that from Hurricane Agnes the following year, the Susquehanna began operating at a financial loss again, and the condition of their remaining trackage worsened. Concurrently, Irving Maidman also began to lose money from his other businesses, and he began intentionally defaulting on property taxes owed to the state of New Jersey and Citibank, believing they were overcharging him.
In mid-1975, William Frazier became hospitalized for cancer treatment, and then in August, Maidman ransacked Fraizer's desk and discovered that since 1971, Frazier, along with chief engineer Joseph J. Novellino, both defrauded the railroad with fake bills for personal gain and funding for Novellino's private business. The board of directors quickly voted to have Frazier resign, and Maidman became the Susquehanna's president.
Second bankruptcy protection
By January 1976, the NYSW defaulted on $252,498 of business and property taxes owed to the state of New Jersey, and they were forced to file for section 77 bankruptcy. By that time, the NYS&W railroad was cut down to a line from Croton and Edgewater through Paterson to Butler. Simultaneously, Conrail was being developed to assume control of many other bankrupt railroads in the northeastern U.S., but the NYS&W was not included. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) had banned the NYS&W from shipping hazardous materials on their trackage as a safety precaution.
On November 21, 1979, their creditors decided to petition the ICC to shut down and liquidate the railroad by February 1, 1980. The NYSW's remaining customers appealed the petition, since they envisioned the shut down would result in 6,000 jobs being lost across the state. The two DL&W branches out of Binghamton and the CNYK quickly became labeled as the NYSW's Northern Division, and the former L&HR route, the Greenwood Lake Branch, and the NYSW's remaining original trackage in New Jersey became labeled as their Southern Division.
To connect the two divisions, DO arranged a haulage rights agreement with Conrail, where once-a-week NYS&W trains would operate over a portion of Conrail's Southern Tier Line between Binghamton and Passaic Junction in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, using Conrail crews. If Conrail chose to terminate their haulage rights contract, a trackage rights agreement would be exercised, involving the restoration and usage of the NYS&W's route between Butler and Sparta Junction, which had been completely shut down since the early 1970s.]]In 1992, the NYS&W installed various freight transloading facilities for their industrial customers in New Jersey, to diversify their freight operations. From 1992 to 1994, the NYSW operated their intermodal trains at a $4.1 million loss, since the intermodal-shipping industry was affected by the early 1990s recession.
The NYSW reversed their losses by renewing their intermodal contracts with NS and CSX to increase their intermodal traffic, and the NYS&W and NS began to jointly haul container-on-flatcar and trailer-on-flatcar trains for CSX Intermodal. In 1995, the NYSW turned a profit of $1.6 million, but in 1996, the NYSW experienced a $1 million loss, following that year's blizzard and a further decline in intermodal traffic.
In 1994, Onondaga County, New York purchased Conrail's former DL&W trackage between Jamesville and Syracuse, with the provision that the NYSW provide shuttle commuter service in Syracuse between Syracuse University, Armory Square, and the Carousel Mall, and further proposed routes were considered. The NYSW utilized $7 million state grants and loans and initiated a rehabilitation of the route to boost its speed restriction, and they installed a new intermodal interchange with Conrail at Syracuse.
The shuttle commuter provision lead to the creation of OnTrack, which the NYS&W operated in exchange for property tax relief on the route, and three former New Haven Rail Diesel Cars were acquired and restored. With OnTrack, the NYSW operated their first commercial passenger trains since 1966. In May 1995, DO obtained another subsidiary, the Illinois-based Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway (TP&W), and they began assisting the NYSW's intermodal interchanges with western U.S. railroads by providing a bypass route around Chicago.
Conrail split and management buyout
Throughout the 1990s, Norfolk Southern negotiated with Conrail to merge together, and DO and CSX both feared the merger would affect their freight operations. DO made an offer to outright purchase Conrail's Southern Tier Line, along with their Meadville Line between Hornell and Youngstown, Ohio, but it was swiftly rejected. DO and CSX then secretly financed a regional development authority's purchase of the Meadville Line, to prevent Conrail from ripping it up.
The NS-Conrail merger subsequently fell through, but in October 1996, CSX unexpectedly announced their plans to merge with Conrail. Following some subsequent disputes by NS, it was announced in April 1997 that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) would authorize Conrail to be split between NS and CSX. Since NS and CSX would both receive direct routes into the New York City area, the NYSW would lose all of their intermodal operations, which by that time, provided 70% of the railway's annual income. Walter Rich quickly mulled his options to satisfy his fellow DO stockholders.
One option was to carry out their proposed "Northeast Network" alliance with the Canadian National Railway (CN), where the NYSW would have provided a New York City connection for CN, and the two railways would have jointly purchased Conrail's Montreal Line, while the NYS&W would have either purchased Conrail's Southern Tier Line or extended their trackage rights to a Conrail-CN interchange at Buffalo. DO's stockholders were looking into selling their DO shares to secure the corporation's future, and they contacted fourteen parties for a buyout, but only NS and CSX expressed interest. In June 1997, Walter Rich, along with DO Vice-President C. David Soule, negotiated with CSX chairman and CEO John Snow and NS executive David R. Goode to arrange a transaction between their three companies.
On August 17, a new privately held holding company, DO Acquisition LLC, completed their $55 million purchase of Delaware Otsego via a stock tender offer of $22 per share. The purchase brought the NYSW under control of DO Acquisition LLC, with Walter Rich obtaining 16% of DO's shares, while Norfolk Southern and CSX collectively received 84%, along with the right of first refusal to purchase the Susquehanna, if Rich chose to sell it.
The transaction was completed on October 3, and the NYS&W's Northeast Network alliance plan with CN was quickly dropped. In 1999, the Conrail split between NS and CSX was finalized, and they began to operate intermodal trains out of New Jersey, on their own. The NYS&W's final intermodal train operated on February 3, 2001, after their intermodal contracts expired.
Post-Conrail activity
The NYS&W reoriented their freight operations to solely serve their industrial customers, but Rich explored other opportunities for the railway to gain additional profits. Following the Conrail split, CSX and NS both experienced overflowing freight traffic on their new routes, so the NYSW allowed CSX to use their trackage as a detour for their River Line trains, and they allowed NS to use their Southern Division as a relief route to prevent their Southern Tier trains from conflicting with NJ Transit's commuter operations.
Concurrently, NJ Transit negotiated with the NYS&W to provide commuter service in the Southern Division between Hawthorne and Sparta, to alleviate roadway congestion on Route 23. The proposal was postponed, when a suitable location for an NJ Transit storage yard around Sparta could not be agreed upon. In 2005, the NYSW leased a section of the Southern Tier Line from Port Jervis to Binghamton from Norfolk Southern under the Central New York Railroad (CNYK) name, which was previously reorganized as a paper corporation. All operations and maintenance of the route would be performed by NYSW personnel, while NS retained overhead trackage rights.
In 2006, NYSW's Utica branch experienced some major storm damage, with some sections of trackage in Chenango County, being washed out. The branch was consequently removed from service, and the NYS&W began to rely on CSX's connection in Utica to serve their customers on the branch between Utica and Sangerfield. On August 9, 2007, Walter Rich died of pancreatic cancer, at the age of 61. The CSX and NS bought the remaining ownership of the NYSW from Walter Rich's estate, bringing ownership to a roughly 50-50 split with neither corporation having a controlling stake. Nathan Fenno succeeded Rich as president of the NYSW, and he ordered for all passenger operations to be discontinued, including the cost-prohibitive OnTrack service, and the railway's remaining passenger equipment was subsequently sold off. Many older diesel locomotives were also sold off.
In July 2011, NYSW obtained ownership of five leased CEFX locomotives to aid their increasing power shortage. The five locomotives were used to supplement the railway's fleet in mainline service and occasional local freight service. New FRA-compliant diesel multiple unit rail cars were also placed into service.
That same year, a project to rehabilitate the Utica branch began by the Chenango County Industrial Development Agency, with funding being provided by the agency, Chenango County, the New York State Department of Transportation, and the federal Economic Development Administration. Throughout the 2010s, the project was promoted via social networking blogs and Facebook, resulting in Kinnelon officials publicly voicing support for it. By May 2017, the project was completed, and service on the Utica branch was resumed. Service was again discontinued in 2018, and the 60 miles from Chenango Forks to Sangerfield is currently out-of-service with no customers and no prospects. In 2025, Open Space Institute officially proposed to purchase and convert the right of way into a rail trail.
In October 2015, U.S. Congressman Bill Pascrell joined state legislators in creating a coalition to revive NJ Transit's proposed Hawthorne-Sparta commuter service over the NYSW. In January 2016, the local governments of the involved municipalities passed concurrent resolutions to restart the project. In 2021, the NYSW formally abandoned their Lodi and Passaic branch lines. Both were ripped up in 2025.
In July of 2024, James Bonner succeeded Nathan Fenno as president of the NYSW having previously served in the same capacity for the New York and Atlantic Railway on Long Island.
Modern Operations
As of 2026, the NYS&W Operates over of trackage in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania and services over 60 customers. With the exception of occasional bridge traffic for the Middletown and New Jersey Railroad (M&NJ), all of the annual carloads generated or destined for the NYS&W are for online customers. Commodities are diverse and include Asphalt, Construction Waste, Food Oils, Frack Sand, Plastics, Lumber Products, Aggregates, Paper Products, Sugar, and Propane.
The railway's operations are split between the Northern Division and Southern Division.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Northern Division (Binghamton to Syracuse and Utica)
!Terminal
!Job
!Description
|-
|Utica, NY
|UT-1
|Utica Local, Sangerfield Turn
|-
|Cortland, NY
|CL-1
|Cortland Local
|-
|
|CL-2
|Cortland - Syracuse Turn Job (CSXT Interchange)
|-
|
|CL-3
|Cortland - Binghamton Turn Job (NS Interchange)
|-
|Binghamton, NY
|BH-1
|Binghamton Local
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|+Southern Division (North Bergen to Warwick, NY)
!Terminal
!Job
!Description
|-
|Ridgefield Park, NJ
|WS-1
|CSXT Little Ferry Interchange, Yard Switching
|-
|
|WS-2
|Little Ferry West - Saddle Brook to Butler
|-
|
|WS-3
|Little Ferry East - NS Interchange at Marion
|-
|Sparta, NJ
|SJ-1
|Sparta Local
|}
A nocturnal, twice weekly haulage train, the SU-100, runs 250 miles from Binghamton to Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, carrying Syracuse (CSXT) and Binghamton (NS) interchange traffic destined for New Jersey customers. This train would work customers along the CNYK Division including the interchange with the Stourbridge Line at Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania. The crew would lay over in NJ and return to Binghamton the next evening as the SU-99.
As this train runs over a portion of Metro North's Port Jervis Line from Hudson Junction to Sparrow Bush, New York, these trains are required to operate with Positive Train Control.
The SU-100/SU-99 also traverses the Hudson Secondary from Warwick to Hudson Junction near Campbell Hall under a trackage rights agreement with the Norfolk Southern, though the operation is currently leased to the M&NJ.
Excursion operations
Under Delaware Otsego management, the Susquehanna began to operate diesel-powered public excursion trains, with the first one taking place in October 1981, for the Jersey Central Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS). In 1982, DO purchased a fleet of dome cars from the bankrupt Auto-Train Corporation and began to use them for additional excursion trains in the NYSW's Northern Division. Passenger ridership on the trains barely broke-even, so in 1985, the excursion services were reduced, and most of the dome cars were sold to fund the rehabilitation of the NYS&W's Butler-Sparta route. There was subsequently a hiatus of excursion operations until July 1988, when the NYS&W hosted some additional trains, as part of that year's NRHS Convention.
In 1989, during their temporary takeover of the D&H, the NYSW was contracted by Steamtown National Historic Site and the Lackawanna County Rail Authority to operate their steam-powered excursion trains over the D&H between Scranton and Kingsley, Pennsylvania, while their line to Moscow was under repairs. The NYS&W subsequently decided to host their own steam excursion program, taking inspiration from similar programs hosted by Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific (UP). They originally planned to restore and operate Southern Railway 385 and United States Army 4039, both of which previously operated on the defunct Morris County Central tourist railroad, but those plans fell through, after it was determined the restoration of both locomotives would be too costly.
In June 1990, the NYSW decided to import a new steam locomotive from China, taking inspiration from SY Nos. 1647 and 1658 on the Connecticut Valley (VALE) and Knox and Kane (K&K) railroads, respectively. The railway contracted the Tangshan Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works to construct a modified copy of the SY class, and its boiler design was altered to abide with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) boiler code and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) regulations.
The NYSW subsequently explored multiple steam locomotives to acquire and replace their lost SY. In November that same year, two operable steam locomotives became available for purchase; No. 1647 by the VALE and Canadian National 6060 by the Canadian government of Alberta. The NYSW began negotiating with both parties to purchase their locomotives, but the group that operated No. 6060 at the time protested to keep the locomotive from leaving Canada, and the Alberta government subsequently began to reconsider the locomotive's future. In 2003, the NYSW sold the No. 142 locomotive to the historical society, following a major increase in insurance premium prices, and since 2004, No. 142 resided at the Belvidere and Delaware River Railway (Bel-Del). Following the death of Walter Rich in 2007, all remaining excursions on the Susquehanna were put to an end.
Connections with other railroads
- The railroad has connections with two Class I railroads:
- CSX Transportation - Syracuse, New York; Utica, New York; North Bergen, New Jersey
- Norfolk Southern Railway - Binghamton, New York, Marion Junction (New Jersey) and the Passaic Junction (rail yard) rail yard in Saddle Brook, New Jersey
- The railroad has connections with five other railroads:
- Morristown and Erie Railway and New Jersey Transit - Passaic Junction (rail yard), Saddle Brook, New Jersey
- Middletown and New Jersey Railroad - Warwick, New York
- Finger Lakes Railway - Syracuse, New York
- Mohawk, Adirondack and Northern Railroad (MHWA) - Utica, New York
- Stourbridge Railroad - Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania
Stations
{|class="wikitable"
!State
!Location
!Station
!
!Date<br />opened
!Date<br />closed
!Notes
|-
|rowspan=63|NJ
|Jersey City
|Pavonia Terminal
|
|December 1, 1911
|December 12, 1958
|Until December 1, 1911, the railroad used the Pennsylvania Railroad's Exchange Place Terminal.
|June 30, 1966
|From December 13, 1958 – June 30, 1966, Susquehanna Transfer served as the southern terminus of the railroad. The station shared service with the Erie Railroad Northern Branch.
|-
|North Bergen
|
|
||June 30, 1966
||June 30, 1966 The original wooden passenger station was replaced by an ornate brick structure that opened on August 20, 1927.
|-
|Bogota
|Bogota
|
|March 11, 1872 Damaged in a fire on October 13, 1969, the railroad demolished the station soon after. East Paterson changed its name to Elmwood Park on January 1, 1973.
|-
|rowspan=4|Paterson
|Vreeland Avenue
|
|
|June 30, 1966
|-
|Broadway-Paterson
|
|March 11, 1872 The station, abandoned for 12 years, burned on June 24, 1978.
|-
!colspan=5|Paterson City Branch forked off to Paterson City station.
|-
|Riverside
|
|March 11, 1872
|-
|rowspan=2|Midland Park
|Midland Park
|
|March 11, 1872
|-
|Wortendyke
|
|March 11, 1872
|-
|West Oakland
|
|
|
|
|-
|rowspan=2|Pompton Lakes
|Pompton Lakes
|
|March 11, 1872
|
|This station marked a junction with the Erie Railroad's New York and Greenwood Lake Railway. The abandoned station burned to the ground on May 8, 1941.
|-
|Riverdale
|Bloomingdale
|
|March 11, 1872
|March 21, 1941<hr>September 1944
|
|-
!colspan=5|Macopin Lake Branch forks off at Macopin Lake Junction
|-
|Newfoundland
|
|March 11, 1872
|-
|Sparta Junction
|
|
|
|
|-
|Lafayette Township
|Hyper-Humus
|
|
|
|Junction with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad's Sussex Branch
|-
|rowspan=2|Hampton Township
|Halsey
|
|
|
|
|-
|Swartswood
|
|
|
|
|-
|rowspan=2|Stillwater Township
|Emmaus
|
|
|
|
|-
|Stillwater
|
|
|
|
|-
|rowspan=2|Frelinghuysen Township
|Paulina
|
|
|
|
|-
|Marksboro
|
|
|
|
|-
|rowspan=3|Blairstown
|Blairstown
|
|
|
|
|-
|Kalarama
|
|
|
|Citing low sales, the station at Kalarama was to be moved to Vails in a similar fashion to North Hawthorne. The station fell off the rail platform it had been moved to, tumbled down an embankment, and fell apart.
|-
|Vail
|
|
|
|
|-
|rowspan=5|Knowlton Township
|Hainesburg
|
|
|
|
|-
|Hainesburg Junction
|
|
|
|
|-
|Warrington
|
|
|
|
|-
!colspan=5|Delaware Branch forked off after Warrington station
|-
|Columbia
|
|
|
|
|-
|rowspan=2|Pahaquarry Township
|Howeys
|
|
|
|Howeys station was a summer flag stop east of Dunnfield.
|-
|Dunnfield
|
|
|February 16, 1941
|
|-
!colspan=7|Delaware River
|-
|rowspan=4|PA
|Smithfield Township
|Water Gap
|
|
|February 16, 1941
|
|-
|rowspan=3|Stroudsburg
|Stroudsburg
|
|
|February 16, 1941
|
|-
!colspan=7|Wilkes-Barre and Eastern Railroad forked off west of Stroudsburg
|-
|Gravel Place
|
|
|February 16, 1941
|Western terminus of NYSW
|}
Equipment
Locomotive roster
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Number
!Image
!Builder
!Model
!Powertrain
|- align="center"
|3010, 3014
|150x150px
| rowspan="6" |EMD
|SD40T-2
| rowspan="6" |Diesel–electric
|- align="center"
|3012, 3016
|150x150px
|SD33ECO
|- align="center"
|3018, 3022, 3024
|center|frameless|132x132px
|SD40-2
|- align="center"
|3040
|
|GP40
|- align="center"
|3618, 3634
|150x150px
|SD45-2
|- align="center"
|4060, 4062, 4064, 4066
|150x150px
|SD70M-2
|}
Former locomotives
{| class="wikitable"
|+Locomotive details
!Number
!Image
!Builder
!Model
!Powertrain
|-
|M-1, M-2, M-3, M-4, M-5, M-6, M-7, M-8
|center|frameless|182x182px
|Budd Company
|RDC1
|Diesel–hydraulic
|-
|100
|N/A
|Buda Engine Co.
|Streamlined Inspection car
|Gas-mechanical
|-
|101, 104
|center|frameless|182x182px
|American Locomotive Company
|RS-3
| rowspan="3" |Diesel–electric
|-
|116
| rowspan="2" |N/A
| rowspan="2" |Electro-Motive Diesel
|NW-2
|-
|120
|SW-9
|-
|142
|center|frameless|180x180px
|Tangshan Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works
|SY 2-8-2
|Steam
|-
|150, 151
|center|frameless|177x177px
|Geo D. Whitcomb Company
|20T
|Gas-mechanical
|-
|200
|N/A
|GE Transportation
|45-tonner
| rowspan="3" |Diesel–electric
|-
|202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 208
|center|frameless|182x182px
| rowspan="2" |American Locomotive Company
|S2
|-
|230, 231 (2), 232, 233 (2), 234, 236, 238, 240, 242, 244, 246, 248, 250, 252, 254, 256
|center|frameless|181x181px
|RS-1
|-
|1001, 1002, 1003-1004, 1005-1006
|center|frameless|177x177px
|American Car and Foundry Company
|Motorailer
|Diesel-mechanical<br>
Hesselman engine
|-
|1800, 1802, 1804
| rowspan="2" |N/A
|Electro-Motive Diesel
|GP18
| rowspan="4" |Diesel–electric
|-
|2000, 2002 (later 260)
|American Locomotive Company
|C420
|-
|2400, 2402
|center|frameless|176x176px
|E9
|-
|3000, 3002, 3004, 3006, 3008
|center|frameless|176x176px
|American Locomotive Company
|C430
|-
|3001
|center|frameless|173x173px
| rowspan="2" |J. G. Brill
|Model 250
| rowspan="2" |Gas– electric
|-
|3002
| rowspan="2" |N/A
|-
|3636, 3638 (formerly 6640, 6370)
|Electro-Motive Diesel
|F45
| rowspan="3" |Diesel–electric
|-
|4002 - 4048 evens
|center|frameless|176x176px
|GE
|Dash 8-40B
|-
|4050, 4052, 4054
|rowspan="3" |N/A
|Electro-Motive Diesel
|SD70M
|-
|5012
|Electro-Motive/Bethlehem Steel
|Stillwell baggage coach
motorcar
|Gas– electric
|-
|6360, 6361 (later 3626), 6362 (later 3612), 6364 (later 3614), 6366, 6503 (later 3620), 6509 (later 3622), 6513 (later 3624), 6515, 6521 (later 3630), 6525 (later 3632), 6542 (later 3634)
|EMD
|SD45
| rowspan="5" |Diesel–electric
|-
|3660
|center|frameless|173x173px
|American Locomotive Company
|C636
|-
|3664, 3666, 3668, 3670, 3672, 3674
| rowspan="2" |N/A
|Montreal Locomotive Works
|M636
|-
|3800, 3802, 3804, 3806, 3808, 3810
|Electro-Motive Diesel
|SD60
|}
Notes
- Culminating with the sale of their coal dumper to the Reading Railroad.
- In reality it would retain steam power for yard switching duties until 1946 or 1947, as well as leasing out steam locomotives for a time.
- In 1867 the NJH&D would perform some minimal grading in Butler and Bloomingdale to preserve its charter by at least doing some work
See also
- Delaware Otsego Corporation - Parent company for NYS&W
- Hawthorne station (New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad)
- Maywood Station Museum
- Susquehanna Transfer station
References
Bibliography
Further reading
External links
- NYS&W Web Site — Official Corporate Site
- New York, Susquehanna & Western Technical & Historical Society
- Maywood Station Historical Committee