THE NYO&W REVISITED IN OSWEGO, NY
by Marty LeukhardtThe New York Ontario & Western Railroad ceased operations in March of 1957. It's abandonment meant that certain, still profitable portions of its right-of-way and trackage were then operated by other railroads. The New York Central Railroad absorbed the trackage in and around the City of Oswego. This was later absorbed by Conrail. The following photos were taken in June of 1994 and show what the "Old & Weary" became, at least in part. Those of us who saw Ken Hojnacki's O&W in Oswego, NY presentation at the OWRHS meeting in April 2000 may enjoy this update.
1. Looking south toward Minetto and Fulton, and Oneida, NY is the old O&W mainline, as operated and maintained by Conrail, seen from the State Road overpass in Oswego, NY. That's the Albany Street overpass in the distance.
2. Looking north from the State Road overpass we see a Conrail MU idling away the afternoon. The East Seneca overpass is in the background.
3. Looking south from East Seneca Street. The track curving to the right once led to the O&W turntable, roundhouse and engine facilities, the U.S. Army's Fort Ontario, the O&W and D&H coal trestles, and the downtown O&W passenger station and the O&W freight station with its small yard. The track curving left serviced two paper mills and the Fitzgibbons Boiler Factory on the lakefront. It then looped around Fort Ontario using the RW&O Shore Track in its descent to O&W docks in the Port of Oswego where the O&W coal trestle once stood and to facilities on the State owned Downey Dock where the D&H coal trestle was located.
4. A view of the track going downtown. The engine facility was to the right. The track joined the RW&O mainline from Watertown, NY in the upper right comer and both lines shared the trackage down Schuyler Street. The O&W ends at it's Passenger Station while the Rome Watertown & Ogdensburg RR (later the New York Central RR) continued through a tunnel under the County Court House onto a bridge over the Oswego River and then to connections with a number of other railroads.
5. Another view looking south from the other end of the East Seneca Street overpass. That looks like the Oswego Speedway in the right background.
6 Looking north from the East Seneca Street overpass is a scrap yard that now occupies the site of the O&W engine facility. The red brick building in the foreground was the power house that in 1950 was altered to become a combination diesel locomotive enginehouse and motive power/car department office. The old storehouse is in the background. The roundhouse and turntable was once just behind these two buildings.
7. A different view of the diesel enginehouse.
8. A close-up of the storehouse. The storehouse became the Oswego freight house in the 50's.
9. That's Downey Dock on the right (former site of the D&H coal trestle operated by the O&W). To the left are the old O&W docks (former site of the O&W coal trestle).
10. Another view of the former site of the O&W docks. The old warehouses are gone.
11. More development by the Port of Oswego Authority. That's old Fort Ontario in the background.
12. The RW&O freight house adjacent to the Barge Canal Terminal two blocks down Cayuga Street from the O&W freight house.
13. The former O&W docks site seen from the former grain elevator site an the west bank of the port.
14. Cahill's Fish Market and Restaurant with their fishing boat tied up alongside. Cement silos and ship in background. This was DL&W territory.
15. Coal burning power plant in background together with a coal loading pier (coal to Canada) gave the DL&W some heavy tonnage to Oswego.
16. The DL&W freight house on the west side of the Oswego River not far from the RW&O (NYC) bridge.
Header Photo: A couple of schooners await their cargos at Oswego harbor adjacent to Fort Ontario in this view captured from the top of the O&W trestle. At the left center is the Life Saving Station. O&W Marine Issue Observer.
