Hello all,

I came across this photo with the following caption:




SUMMITV.JPG, Benjamin Waranowitz
NYO&W Summitville NY Station
March 1985, New York, Ontario & Western station at Summitville, NY. This was in sad shape 28 years after abandonment. A start of a museum with the addition of an old boxcar and coach. Anyone know of this? The station was within a wye, the connector behind it. The Line from Port Jervis to Kingston was built mostly along the old D&H canal. Summitville was the highest elevation of the canal. Kodachrome to 3R print which was scanned. C.1985, 1999.

http://www.trainnet.org/Libraries/catalog005.htm

What became of this effort? Does anything remain at this site today? What was the origin of the wood coach and boxcar?

Tom Cornillie

When I first saw this photo, I became confused and had to make a few phone calls. First of all, everything in that photo is gone today. There is nothing left but an open area, and if you look closely, you may be able to find the concrete sidewalk of the station.

The cars in the photo are not indicative of the O&W. The O&W only left a few pieces along the RR after the abandonement, and none in this area.

According to a friend of mine from the O&W Historical Society, those cars were the result of a failed venture from the late 1960's or thereabouts. He believed that an educator from the area attempted to form some kind of tourist operation utilizing narrow-gauge equipment. They brought some equipment in and stored it on the station property without permission of the owner. Things got muddled, and the operation went nowhere and several local business people did invest in this venture and never realized anything from it. The box car appears to be a 4 wheel item, and the coach's heritage is unknown. Maybe someone else on this list can add more, but as I said, this equipment is long gone.

If anything else is learned, I will report back. Hope this helps!

I seem to recall being told by Steve Bogen that the equipment was 3-foot gage stuff from Central America or Mexico. I also recall that Marv Cohen, long-time editor/producer of the Steam Passenger Service Directory for Empire State Rwy Museum, had some knowledge and perhaps some limited involvement. The time frame was 1969-72 as I remember.

Way too bad that the station was not preserved. Wasn't there significant highway constrcution/realignment in this area after the O&W was gone?

Are there any NYO&W depots still in existance? If so, have any of them been restored?

Les

Yes- here's a NY source, not too sure about ones in PA tho.

http://ny.existingstations.com/

Joshua

From the NYO&W email list-

"Yes, this was a proposal for this area, back to the early 1970's; -- that there be some sort of museum and operating tourist line. The two cars were imported from South America, and were narrow gauge cars.
Originally the abandoned station was in fair shape, though the locals had begun stripping it of anything of value, including "mining" the slates from the roof top. By the time of this photo it's been pretty well stripped; notice no windows or doors, all the interior fittings are gone and the platform canopy has collapsed (ca. 1978-1980).
The vandalism to the building proceeded further with a fury and finally only a few planks were left. The shell of the building was control burned by the local volunteer fire company within a few years after this photo was taken. The two cars were burned at the same time as the station.
These show an even worse condition than your 1985 picture.................and very close to the end. What was left has been gone for at least fifteen years............!
Today there's only a few ties left embedded in the dirt, and a large mound of dirt has been piled up at the end of Firehouse Road, to prevent an easy access into the location of the former South Yard. There's so little left that you cannot tell there was ever once a station there, and very little evidence of any railroad activity. The reconstruction of Route 209 obliterated the D&H Canal crossing and bridge location. The ROW, north to Red Hill can be picked up on the other side of Rte. 209, and the ROW remains to the South, towards Mamakating, but is inhospitably inaccessible from the former SV station site.

Mal Houck"

I have a photo from April of 1986 taken of the east side of the station showing just the box car on the right side of the image. The passenger car was also there. Both had link and pin couplers at the time. A visit a few years latter, the couplers had been removed and one of the cars was turned on its side.

My father ended up driving by the day after the station was burned. The remains were still smoldering and the FD was still there to watch over things. I don't think he took any photos though.

Chris

I know we can't save them all but it is still very sad to see that disappear into the past. Looks like it would have been a beautiful place.

Later!
Mr. Ed