A fire of yet-unknown origin destroyed the former shops building of the New York, Ontario & Western Railway in Middletown, Orange County, N.Y. on Nov. 19th.

The Middletown Fire Department reported a call came in at 11:23 local time for the fire at the complex along Midland Ave. in Middletown. The large fire sent sparks and embers soaring, which set off a few brush fires in the area behind the building, according to authorities. News updates indicates the structures were a total loss.

The shops were abandoned in 1957 along with the entire railroad in 1957; since then the building had been adapted for other uses, including a movie production soundstage, warehouse, and more recently an Amazon warehouse.

The shops were not the only NYO&W structure in town to be fire-damaged. As described in a thread here years ago, the former NYO&W station and company headquarters building downtown was damaged by fire in Feb. 2004; formerly a nightclub, it survives partially used as a restaurant supply warehouse today. Elsewhere in town, a wooden 1871 depot survives on the Middletown & New Jersey trackage, and the former Erie 1897 stone and brick passenger station is now part of the much expanded town library.

Earlier station thread:
viewtopic.php?t=20336



Photo from a recent commercial realty listing.


News coverage (more likely to come later):
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2020/11/19 ... cial-fire/

Video from the scene: https://www.pscp.tv/w/1OwxWVlpgQwJQ

The building was fully involved upon FD arrival.

Site had been a soundstage, but recently was leased out for warehousing. Reportedly, a forklift associated with the warehousing hit a gas line:
https://www.michelsonstudio2.com/

Sandy,

Your posting made the Trainsmag Newswire for 11-20-2020.

Here's video from NY Chanel No. 2's helo:

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2020/11/19 ... cial-fire/

Phil Mulligan

My fellow retired firefighter Bob Smith took this photo of the fire aftermath and gave me permission to post it,