From the President's Office
By Walter J. Kierzkowski
We are coming into another vacation season, a time to do things with your family. We have some
good clean family type activities coming up.
The Maywood Historical Group will hold its annual Railroad Day on June 3rd at the restored
O&W depot at Sidney Center, NY. The following Sunday, June 10th the Chenango County Museum in
Norwich NY has their annual Railroad Day. June 16th and 17th is the Butler, NJ, Centennial and
the NYS&W's steam locomotive #142 will be on hand to give short steam trips on both days, about a
two hour trip.
On July 21st and 22nd we can look forward to Roscoe, NY for their annual Railway Festival
- a real fun filled event. The O&W Northfield Tunnel Hike (a must-do) is on August 4th. And then
there's our annual joint society family picnic at Slate Hill, NY on Sunday August 12th, a fun day
for all.
So please try to get to some of these events. I know that you will enjoy them. Have a
good summer!
Editor's Note: Due to space limitations, the second installment of the late Philip E. Munson's
"Boyhood Recollections of the O&W" has been postponed until the next issue.
Arthur P. Madsen 1908-2001
Long-time O&W Society member Arthur P. Madsen died on May 9, 2001, eight days short of his 93rd
birthday.
Arthur joined the O&W RHS in 1975. In the 1980s he served as Treasurer and Membership Chairman,
where he developed the Society's first computerized membership database. In the 1990s he was a
member of the Board of Trustees. Arthur received the Society's John Hobbs Chryn "Member of the
Year" award in 1988.
Vice President Chuck Van Der Eems and Treasurer Dave Ackerman represented the Society at a
memorial service in the Wyckoff (NJ) Reformed Church. Arthur was a very active member of this
church and had been substitute organist until into his late eighties. It was noted in the eulogy
that right up until Arthur became ill, he had a computer in his room in the health care center and
was assembling car kits for his model railroad.
D.A.A.
News from NATIONAL
by Dave Ackerman, National Director
The Spring NRHS Board of Directors Meeting was held in Philadelphia on the weekend of April 21.
Philadelphia Chapter, the meeting host, is the largest NRHS chapter and one of the oldest, so it
was a surprise that they couldn't arrange much more than a day-long trolley trip. (In contrast,
11/2 years ago the smaller and newer Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Chapter hosted a Board meeting in
Scranton which included a chartered steam excursion.) But the trolley trip was well done, and
attendees had their choice of a 1947 PCC or 1920s Peter Witt car for their ride through the
streets of West Philadelphia.
The Board meeting was the usual collection of dull reports and in-jokes. National Railway
Bulletin issue #6 had just been mailed, but the Bulletin is now 21/2 months behind schedule.
Issue #6 included this year's list of rail attractions offered to NRHS members who present their
blue NRHS membership card.
One report that was not dull concerned the National Park Service's "Trails & Rails"
program, which we promoted in the January MOUNTAINEER. At least 50 volunteers from several
chapters, including O&W, have been trained as on-board narrators for Amtrak trains. The
commentary between Croton-Harmon and Hudson, NY is expected to begin in a few weeks. Trails &
Rails coordinator Frank Ackerman was recently named one of seven National Park Service volunteers
of the year.
In Convention news, more than 1900 railfans have registered for this year's meeting in St.
Louis, and some events are sold out. Next year's convention in Williams, AZ is taking shape,
although the dates have changed from October to August 18-26, 2002. Plans call for inbound and
outbound steam trains between Los Angeles and Arizona and visits to the Grand Canyon and other
places.
No year-end membership figures were released, but the financial statement indicates that
total membership was virtually unchanged from 1999 to 2000. By comparison, O&W membership
continued to grow, and as of April 17 we were the fourth largest NRHS chapter. And just nine more
members would have put us in SECOND place!
The Veterans Memorial Railroad Chapter in Bristol, FL was chartered, making a total of 178
chapters - but five of them are below the five-member threshold under which NRHS bylaws require
them to be put on Inactive status. Three of those five - including one less than two years old -
have no paid members at all! (Isn't that like saying "We have 178 members, including three who
are dead"?)
The NRHS Board approved - but not unanimously - a dues increase of $3.00 per Regular
member and $1.00 per Family member, effective in 2002. I thought the voice vote sounded close,
but President Molloy declared that the ayes had it. One wonders if this dues hike, which was
deemed necessary to reduce a projected $50,000 operating deficit, would have been needed had
membership grown as it did during the 1987-1994 administration of O&W's own Ray Wood, in my
opinion one of NRHS's greatest Presidents.
Yes, NRHS Can Do Something Right
by Dave Ackerman
Many current NRHS functions, such as the film library, grants program, National Convention
Committee, and staffed National office are continuations of programs started during the late Ray
Wood's tenure, and are being handled largely by the same people he recruited. One of the few
successful programs initiated in the six years of the current administration is RailCamp. This
unique week-long program, held at Steamtown in Scranton, PA, gives high school students a hands-on
opportunity to learn about the railroading career opportunities that exist today, both in modern
main-line railroading and in the vintage railroading industry such as that at Steamtown.
Another recent accomplishment is a useful web site - www.nrhs.com. Webmaster Jim Lilly
deserves praise for scrapping the former atrocity and replacing it with an active, useful center
for information about NRHS and its chapters. You can learn more about NRHS conventions and other
activities than we have space to report here. Take a look - it's almost as good as our own O&W
site!
RailCamp and the web site are creating much-needed positive publicity for NRHS. They help
offset the current management's lackluster membership recruitment and publicity efforts - yes,
that Membership Development post has now been vacant for more than two years, and the Vice
President - Public Relations hasn't been seen at a Board meeting for quite a while.
Member of the Year Award
In the January issue we neglected to report that the annual John Hobbs Chryn Award was presented
at the November banquet to William E. Scott. Bill has been a Society member for over 25 years,
has served as Treasurer and Trustee, and is currently a very active member of the Archives
Committee. Our apologies and congratulations, Bill!
Roscoe O&W Museum Report
by Wilmer E. Sipple, Director
MUSEUM RECEIVES NEW CHARTER
The story of the caboose is well documented in the 1985 O&W Observer magazine and Railpace
Newsmagazine. What has not been presented is the actual relationship with the Ontario & Western
Railway Historical Society.
Once Conrail notified us of our successful bid on the Erie caboose I enlisted the help of
several townspeople to help raise funds, but was unable to find a local not-for-profit sponsor.
Since we were involved with a railroad car, I elicited the O&WRHS to act as a non-contributing
sponsor. The O&W Society Trustees agreed, but advised that I was completely responsible for the
success of the project.
The caboose would now serve as an O&W mini-museum and information center with a
five-member board under the supervision of the Society. I began inquiring about the process of
getting a charter, when Society President Ray Wood reported that the Society's charter allowed for
the establishment of a museum, so now we were all set. Early on, Ray Wood and other Society Board
members would meet with us at the Roscoe Diner. All donations were accepted by our acting
treasurer, Verlynn Hill, and were transferred to Arthur Madsen, treasurer of the Society, who set
up a special account and paid all our bills. In the beginning, Ray completed the NY State museum
annual reports until he stepped down as president and I continued to file them each year until the
last year.
At the same time, the Society's Board discussed the problems of supervising the museum 50 miles
away, and suggested that we should apply for our own charter. For years we knew that
consolidation of the museum and association was necessary, but until recently many of the
association members would not even consider it. The Society's Board assured us they would
continue to support us and would even provide financial aid.
Completing the application forms was time consuming so it took longer than expected, but
in March 2001 the two charters arrived: Consolidation of the Roscoe O&W Railway Museum and Roscoe
NYO&W Association and finally the five year Provisional Charter for the Roscoe O&W Railway Museum.
Details must be completed but we hope it will result in a closer working relationship for the good
of preserving the memory of the O&W.
MUSEUM NEWS FOR THE SUMMER SEASON
The Roscoe O&W Railway Museum will begin the season on May 26, Memorial Weekend and will be open
Saturday, Sunday and Holidays from 11 AM to 3 PM, until closing date, October 14. For Museum
information, write the Roscoe O&W Railway Museum, P.O. Box 305, Roscoe, NY 12776, or call
607-498-4346, or e-mail wilsip@wpe.com.
New D&H Canal Bus Trip Planned
by Wilmer E. Sipple
The Roscoe O&W Railway Museum is sponsoring a trip along the D&H Canal from Honesdale to
Cuddebackville. The trip is planned for Saturday, October 20, 2001 with departure from the Roscoe
O&W Railway Museum parking lot at 8:00 AM.
The ticket price is $35 which includes a special tour guide, hot buffet luncheon,
narration by knowledgeable guides, photo stops at significant sites and visits to Canal museums.
The bus will stop at Beach Lake to pick up area passengers at Art's Garage. After
arriving at Honesdale about 9:00 AM we visit the Wayne County Museum and view the area where the
Canal originated. We then board the bus to follow the Canal along the Lackawaxen River to the
Roebling Delaware Aqueduct for a walk across the bridge to visit the National Park museum.
We board the bus again to follow the Canal to the Pond Eddy area for lunch at 12:30.
After lunch we follow the Canal along the Delaware River to Port Jervis and on to Cuddebackville
to visit the Neversink Valley Area Museum.
The trip terminates at Roscoe by 4:30 PM.
Please make check payable to the Roscoe O&W Railway Museum and mail to: Bus Trip, Box 305,
Roscoe, NY 12776. Seats are reserved in the order received. For information call 607-498-4346 or
leave message on 5500; e-mail wilsip@wpe.com.
Archives Report
by Arthur Robb, Archivist
We received from Malcolm Houck two pictures of the W class Consolidation with the small butterfly
plow attached. The picture may have been taken at Utica based on the coaling facility - a bucket
conveyer.
As listed in the last report, we still need photos of engines #303 and #315 as Class W-2
(with air pumps on pilot). Both locomotives were scrapped in 1948 but no pictures are on file
taken after 1940. Before 1940 both engines were Class W and we have pictures taken with air pumps
on the left side of the boiler. The best chance to find these pictures will be ones taken on the
Northern Division where the steam engines spent their final days.
The restoration of the O&W Napanoch station, on the grounds of the Eastern Correctional
facility, was featured in the Middletown Times Herald Record on April 18 and the New York Times on
May 12. The interior wooden wainscoting is being restained. The station now has a new "Napanoch"
sign showing the distances to New York and to Kingston. The sign design and distances were
derived from O&WRHS files.
In 1974, O&W caboose #8304 was purchased by JJ Maher and moved to Mapleton, Iowa. We
recently corresponded with Mrs. Maher and found that the town had lost interest in the caboose and
Mr. Maher's railroadiana collection. The lot was auctioned and Mrs. Maher believes the caboose
might have gone to San Diego, CA. Has anyone seen a wooden O&W caboose on the West Coast?
In the Archive building, we have been sorting the papers Ray Brown left to the Society. A
whole new file will be established on the repair and maintenance of steam and diesel locomotives.
Repairs made on brake triple valves, Middletown and Unionville engines will be part of the file.
Bill Scott and Charlie Breiner continue to work on the tour guide following the O&W from
Cornwall to Liberty. The goal: a bus trip for the fall of 2001 showing where the O&W ran and
also pointing out what still can be seen. (This will be a different trip from the one sponsored
by the Roscoe O&W Railway Museum.)
A package from Warren Capach, who lived in the Burnside station, contained an updated
article on Burnside for Observer use, information on ice harvesting, an employee timetable for the
Fall Brook Coal Co. Railway plus an O&W lead seal marked AV and a NYNH&H switch key.
Contact us by e-mail - ArtRobb@nyow.org - or through PO Box 713, Middletown, NY 10940.
Ontario & Western Memories
by George S. Shammas
"Sealed with a Kiss"
I doubt wholeheartedly that there was any affection related to the job of securing and sealing
valuable property, but the Express Agent, as well as the Station Agent, paid close attention to
the task of sealing items to be shipped.
One of my latest acquisitions was not something I found, but rather, it found me, as it
came from a fellow collector's collection. It is a tool that is known as a lead sealer, or
crimping tool. This particular sealer was used by the Railway Express Agency in Roscoe, New York,
and obviously used in the Ontario & Western depot in Roscoe. The Railway Express Agency was the
result of the consolidation of smaller express agencies such as Adams, Wells Fargo, American and
National. Prior to consolidation, the Adams Express Agency was the company of choice to serve the
Ontario & Western Railway.
Lead sealers were used by railroads, express companies, armored truck companies, banks,
and maybe even by bus lines and airlines. Their purpose was to insure that a valuable parcel,
such as currency, stocks, bonds, mail and jewelry, just to name a few, was sent to its destination
securely, without tampering by those who handled it along the way.
The idea behind this tool was to crimp a lead seal, or slug, over a length of wire, thus
completing a loop, or circle. This loop of wire and seal would be applied to a variety of locking
devices, after the shipment was packed up and locked. If the parcel arrived with the seal broken,
then the parcel was tampered with. If the parcel arrived with the seal in place, then no
tampering did occur. Most anything that traveled could be sealed. In the railway express car
alone, one would find strong boxes, postal sacks, crates and the like. In some cases, such as
with Wells Fargo & Co., the parcel may have had a padlock on it, one that was owned by the express
company. These padlocks identified the company (WF & Co.), and had a hole that went through the
lock body as well as the locking hasp of the lock. When the lock was closed, the wire was passed
through the hole and the entire lock, and then sealed with the lead sealer and slug. If the lock
was to be opened, the lead seal and wire would have to be cut or breached. I have heard of other
applications used by the railroad itself, in that these seals may have been applied to the locking
mechanism of boxcars. I'm sure the paymasters traveled with strong boxes of currency with some
type of seal in place.
The lead seals measure approximately three-quarters of an inch across, and have a
scalloped edge that looks somewhat like a bottle cap. When crimped, they would have identifying
marks on it to trace the origin of the parcel. In this particular case, the seal, when crimped,
has embossed letters and numbers. One side reads: RY. EX. AGY. 2046. On the other side it reads:
ROSCOE N.Y.
Along with this extra step in security came the task of recording such shipments. The
paper trail was, and still is, very important when it comes to shipping valuables. The sending
agent would have to keep records of sent parcels with seals, and the receiving agent would have to
record the condition of a seal when it arrived. He would also record the opening of such a seal.
They were held accountable for any mishaps, or losses, and the paper trail was immensely important
in revealing the guilt or innocence of a particular agent. The Ontario & Western had their own
sealers as well. I imagine they were used for their own purpose, within their own line, station
to station. They used the same type lead slug, and were embossed with the railroad's O&W logo on
one side, and a destination, or origination code on the other. On some of my lead seals, K5 and
B4 appear on the reverse side of the logo.
The actual tool has two handles, approximately nine inches in length, that are attached by
a hinge that is spring loaded. The handles have holes in them, probably so the tool could be
hung. Inside the actual crimping area are two opposed cylinders, each having the engraved
information that appears on the lead plug as raised letters and numbers when the slug is crimped.
It was manufactured by Brooks & Company, New York, and has a patent date of December 7, 1897. To
operate and apply the seal, one would place the wire through the locking device, and then place
each end of the wire through the lead slug. The slug would then be placed into the sealer, and
crimped by squeezing the sealer handles towards each other, thus completing the loop.
Today, the armored companies, postal service, and banks use different forms of seals. The
seals of today are mostly made of plastic, and do not require the use of a tool to be applied.
It's important to remember that these seals were used only to reveal tampering, and not used to
actually secure the parcel. The locking device that the seal was attached to did the securing.
I'm not sure if every REA office in every O&W station was assigned its own lead sealer. I
guess it is conceivable to presume they did. However, since the REA was a consolidated company,
then they may have been present at only the busiest locations on the O&W, leaving the shipping of
valuables from the more remote locations up to the railroad itself. Valuable parcels may first
have been shipped to the nearest REA office, using O&W seals, and then resealed by the REA agent
using the REA seals. This is only a theory, and I'm sure many ideas may apply.
This is the only lead sealer that I know of to be used in an O&W depot and to have the
actual town name on it. If anyone knows of others that may exist, I'd be interested in knowing
about them. Any information may be forwarded to the website.
Bill
Wilcox and the 116:
The Sequel
May
26 begins the excursion season on the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley
Railroad between Milford and Cooperstown, NY.
Motive power continues to be ex-NYO&W NW2 #116, on lease from the NYS&W
Railway. The CACV schedule is
on-line at www.lrhs.com,
or write to PO Box 681, Oneonta, NY 13820, or call 607-432-2429.
In
March, CACV engineer Bill “Flying Diesel Corps” Wilcox had a heart attack
and underwent quadruple bypass surgery, but he looks forward to returning to the
throttle of his “old friend.” Bill
says, “I want to see more members riding on O&W NW2 #116 this upcoming
season. I will even let you sit in
‘the seat’ for a while.”
So
please go for a ride – but go soon, as there are reports that the NYS&W
may want the 116 back!
News
from the North
by John Taibi
NORTHERN
DIVISION MEETING SEPTEMBER 15
Arrangements
have been made with the Limestone Ridge Historical Society of Oriskany Falls to
host this year's Northern Division meeting.
The LRHS is the foremost society in the Oriskany Valley and houses a
wonderful collection of not only O&W related photographs and artifacts, but
also of the community and the surrounding area.
The
day selected for this event will be on Saturday, Sept. 15th.
At 1 PM, John Taibi, author of the forthcoming book entitled "Rails
along the Oriskany" will lead a tour of the old O&W Utica Division, and
at 6 PM the formal meeting and program will be held in the LRHS headquarters on
Main Street in Oriskany Falls. The
museum is located in a reconfigured 19th Century church on the west side of Main
Street. Main Street is a one-way street, southward, that can be
accessed from Route 12-B in the center of the village.
The 1 PM tour will also depart from the LRHS headquarters.
Questions can be directed to John Taibi at JTAIBI@oneida-broad.moric.org,
or by calling (315) 495-6721.
As
with all the previous Northern Division meetings, this one promises to be
another autumn delight.
DEANSBORO
DEPOT TO BE RESTORED
The
oldest surviving O&W depot has a new owner.
Built by the Utica & Waterville Railroad (the predecessor to the
Utica, Clinton & Binghamton Railroad) in November of 1867, the Deansboro
(then Deansville) depot has been purchased by the Brothertown Association for
$15,000. The purchase price includes not only the elderly depot, but
also another building on a large tract of the old right-of-way.
The Brothertown Association (who get their name from the Brothertown
Indians who at one time occupied the area), Earl Waterman, President and CEO,
intend to restore the building in a similar fashion to the Munns depot.
While
the Deansboro depot was not built by the Oswego Midland or the Ontario &
Western, both railroads leased and operated the UC&B as their Utica
Division. The Midland ran over the
line from 1872 to 1875, and the O&W operated the line from June 1, 1886
until abandonment on March 29, 1957. In
1942 the O&W purchased the line from the UC&B and the D&H thereby
becoming the owner of the property. It
is this long history of operation by the O&W and its predecessor that this
board and batten structure, 24x72 in size, should be considered the oldest
surviving O&W depot.
The
central New York area is alive with surviving ex-O&W depots.
Besides Munns and Deansboro, there are still stations at Oriskany Falls,
Bouckville, Hamilton (2) and Eaton. By
expanding the radius in our search for existing depots the following can also be
added to the list: Mt. Upton, New
Berlin, New Berlin Junction, Parkers, Maywood, Truxton, Cuyler, Venice Center,
Earlville and Central Square.
The
O&W’s Addicting Appeal
by
Doug Barberio
In
the January MOUNTAINEER I discussed how I became interested in the O&W in
1985. It is a curious question as
to why does the O&W hold a special fascination for us?
I
was reminded of some of the reasons on March 18th during the Kingston
railroad show at the Kingston Armory. It
started when I went to see J. R. Quinn who is a vendor with a large collection
of railroad photographs. While
looking for his collection of O&W prints I was miffed to find someone had
beat me to it! I found myself being
annoyed and caught myself thinking of how to give this individual a hip check
into the boards. Well, good thing I
kept this as a thought, for the person ahead of me was none other than my good
friend and well-known O&W RHS member, Carl Ohlson.
I indicated that I was about to lower the boom on him prior to
recognizing him when it occurred to me that the O&W has become a “personal
property” of mine. In some ways
the high you can experience from finding and understanding information about one
of your favorite railroads at times can be viewed as an addiction.
How did this happen?
Well,
many of the reasons came to light at the next vendor’s table.
At Bob’s Photos I met another person going over the O&W
photographs. I became annoyed again
by having to wait. I have been
spoiled for the last four or five years as there has been no competition for the
box of O&W photographs at either of these fine vendors.
How did I get so spoiled to take this as a personal affront?
The person looking over the photographs happened to be someone who I
always wanted to meet. It was Wayne
Sittner, O&W HO model maker and modeler of the O&W Scranton Division.
We introduced ourselves and began to discuss why the O&W is so
interesting to both of us.
Listening
to Wayne describe why the O&W was so special to him was quite similar to my
experience chasing the ghost of the O&W.
The reasons for my strong emotional attachment to a railroad long since
past became clear during our conversation, providing me with the steam to write
this article. Wayne stated that the
amount of information concerning the O&W is quite impressive when compared
to other area railroads. I
immediately thought of my filing cabinet that has two of the three drawers
filled with O&W information. In
my collection, that is more than the Erie and the DL&W combined!
The Erie system has to be close to four times larger than the O&W.
The Erie from Jersey City to Chicago alone was 998 miles versus 550 miles
for the O&W’s entire system. The
DL&W was almost twice the size of the O&W.
So what is it about the O&W that is so appealing?
Hold onto your hats for we are going to highball through a list.
First
and foremost is that there is a tremendous amount of published information
available on the O&W. I wrote
in the last MOUNTAINEER about the other railroads I follow but the amount of
information I have on the O&W dwarfs the other railroads.
Granted, I consider myself a relative newcomer to railroad history, but
my bookshelf tells the tale quite well. There
are the classic books by Helmer and Wakefield, Bob Mohowski’s diesel and milk
books and the last three Northern Division Observers done by John Taibi.
Don’t forget “The Final Years” by Krause and Crist, “Minisink
Valley Express” by Gerald Best or “O&W Power” by Paul Carleton.
Since the middle 1980s count the Observer issues such as The Wood
Chemical Industry in the Delaware Valley, The Scranton Division, Mayfield,
Middletown, and the Marine Line. There is also the Observer Motive Power Series on the FTs, Y2s
and the W & W2 class. I am not
counting calendars either! What
about all the Observers that were published prior to my O&WRHS membership in
1985? I have collected or have
photocopies of most of them. That
includes the Observers from the O&WTHS and the O&WRHS.
The O&WTHS merged into the O&WRHS in the 1970s and some of the
articles and drawings are showing up on our web page.
What
about the magazine articles on the O&W?
Our web site has a thorough list but some require special mentioning.
Locomotive Quarterly alone has at least eight O&W articles all
published in the 1990s! Trains
Magazine has published two relatively recent articles on the O&W:
the “Flying Diesel Corps” article in the February 1998 issue as well
as an excellent article on operations on “The Scranton Division March 17,
1933” in the March 1987 issue by Robert Malinoski.
Both are still available if you missed them. Modeling articles have appeared in print during the 1990s in
Model Railroader and Railroad Model Craftsman to mention just two publications.
Most
important is all the paperwork that many O&W RHS members have had the good
fortune to find or receive copies of. My
good friend Peter Brill has sent me stacks of photocopies of O&W paperwork
from the M&NJRHS and other sources. Bob Mohowski wrote an article for his Personal View column on
our web page just concerning O&W paperwork from one day’s mailing from
Pete! Throw in the archives and the
information and knowledge you can get by just one visit!
If
photographs are your interest go to any railroad show and there are vendors such
as J. R. Quinn, Bill Caloroso, Bob Pastorky and Bob’s Photos who have O&W
photographs for sale. Railroad
Avenue Enterprises and Harold Vollrath also sell O&W photos but only via the
mail. Look carefully and you will
find some vendors still selling O&W public and employee timetables!
What
about the O&W RHS Web page by webmaster Ron Vassallo?
There are many contributors and the result is the best historical
railroad web site filled with great articles, photographs and general O&W
information. That includes a fair
number of articles by Bob Mohowski and John Taibi that you will not find
anywhere else. Then there are the
chat groups where O&W information is exchanged and discussed.
Those of you on-line know that it appears that the O&W Railway is
alive and running! Hardware
collectors such as George Shammas, Carl Ohlson, and James Parrella would argue
that their extensive O&W collections indicate that the Old Woman is alive
and well.
A
key to the O&W appeal and my personal O&W addiction is obvious:
information. The vast quantity and
quality of O&W information is quite amazing for a 44-year-old ghost that was
rumored to have started nowhere, went nowhere and ended nowhere.
Always being an underdog does not hurt the reputation of the O&W
either. Most people root for the
underdog. I am sure the valiant
efforts to keep her going in the 1880s until the opening of the Scranton
Division as well as dealing with the 1937 bankruptcy and the long death only add
to the O&W mystique that appeals to all of us.
The O&W’s smaller size and meandering right-of-way in mountainous
rural settings that hurt her in life add to the nostalgic memory of her.
What model railroader would not want pusher districts for coal drags and
symbol freights along with bridges and curves everywhere?
Modeling the O&W is much easier today thanks to Stewart Hobbies and
Al Seebach’s Old and Weary Car Shop. (By
the way, Al has just opened the Old and Weary Car Shop's retail store on Route
303 in Tappan, NY.)
When
all of these factors are combined with the variety of information available it
allows each of us to get a better understanding of the O&W’s daily
operations along with the communities and businesses that were served.
Years
ago, a friend gave me some advice that puts this into the proper perspective.
His words were “No one dies as long as someone remembers.”
All of the O&W fans and former employees that contributed in any way
to preserving anything about the O&W have given her a chance at new life.
This has allowed many of us to study and enjoy the history of a seemingly
vanished railroad that leads us to get the O&W spirit into our hearts and
minds. It is in our hearts and
minds that O&W trains can run forever.
The only requirement for this to occur is a regular infusion of O&W
lore to service the locomotive in our minds with enough coal and water to fuel
our O&W addiction.
Board
of Trustees Election
The
Board of Trustees’ annual reorganizational meeting took place on February 16,
and the following were elected:
CHAIRMAN
OF THE BOARD:
Joseph J. Bux, Jr.
VICE
CHAIRMAN:
Allan F. Seebach Jr.
