Anyone care to mention who the new owners are??

Rich,

The new owner is Chartwell International. They are a new (2005) company owning some subsidiaries including E-Rail(?) logisitcs, one of the construction and debris shippers on the NYS&W and a mining company in Ohio. The property the mining company owns is proposed to be transformed into a landfill.

The hope it to run containerized C&D in trucks from its origin to be transfered to flat cars on the M&NJ for shipment to Ohio. If you look at the M&NJRHS Yahoo Group you will find much info about the new owners. No word yet on where the actual transfer will take place online but the Town of Middletown is raising holy he** about it already.

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Additionally the line south of Slate Hill is mearly listed as "Out of Service", not abandoned. Service between Middletown and Slate Hill was cut back on July, 2002. Not sure if that portion was placed OOS after that. I belong to the Volunteer Railroaders Association and Mr. Rassmussen allowed us to store and operate several railroad motorcars on the OOS portion of the line over the last 10 years. We kept the track clear of brush and trees to prevent intrusions onto the right of way by neighboring property owners in exchange we were allowed to run anytime we wanted.

The rail and switches on the extreme south end were removed for re-use in the new enginehouse when it was constructed in the early to mid 1980's. Some other rail would be lifted from time to time as it was needed. Rails are in place almost into Unionville, and the VRA up to early last year could run the speeders on nearly 14 miles of the 15 mile line.

In the middle of last year (2005) a new overhead power line was being installed next to the track, within the right of way. Much damage was done north of Westtown, with nearly 1,000' of track pulled loose from what remained of the ties. In Johnson, removal of an adjacent building also placed the tracks out of gauge in another 100' section. Near the interstate north of Slate Hill, the power company did additional damage near the dirt farm (borrow pit). The rails were cut here, and the extent of the damage is unknown right now. Dirt farm also typically burried the track in a foot or more of dirt at their crossing.

We are also unsure if the handshake agreement to store and run our cars on the line will survive under the new ownership. The Rassmussen's family had made the new owners aware of us and gave them our contact info.

Chris

Hi Howard,

As usual, I'm on one of my typical fact-finding searches to record tourist railroading history. Perhaps it's time to do a Middletown & Orange article in The Unionville Flyer, the M&NJRHS's newsletter. I would like to chat with you sometime about the Valley RR's early history (1969-1980), and your involvement at NH&I in the 70's.

I'm gathering M&O info for a possible future project--I've thought about doing a book on the lost steam tourist railroads of the east. But I have too many other book projects on the go that need to get completed first.

My latest project is an article on the Valley Forge Scenic RR which operated in 1968-1969 on the former Reading Company's Pickering Valley Branch. It's slated to run in the RCT&HS's Bee Line. Stay tuned.

K.R. Bell

Kurt:

While going through some old files, I came across an ESRM newsletter with more details of the equipment move:

EL moved the stuff-- O&W caboose, LNE gon, CNW combine, DLW 596 coach, DLW bunk car, Cotton Belt caboose and CNJ boxcar- in that order- from Middletown to Maybrook on April 12, 1971. PC ran the train as a special move on April 15, 1971, out of Maybrook. PC added a high and wide load to the head of the train, and a PRR N5 to the rear, and PC C-425 2453 (ex-NH) took the cars east over the Maybrook Line at 7:45 am. It arrived at Old Saybrook at 4:00 pm and was shoved up to the VRR leg of the wye.

Of the equipment in that move, the CNW combine and LNE gon were carrying passengers on the first VRR train three months (and a few days) later.

The ESRM newsletter also mentioned that 103 moved during the previous fall, not in early 1971 as I had remembered.

Howard-

Excellent information! Thank you for summarizing it; very interesting stuff indeed! I thought about writing an article in The Unionville Flyer (M&NJRHS newsletter) on the Middletown & Orange, hence my latest fact-gathering mission.

Per chance do you have a copy of "The Empire State Railroad Museum Story"? It was a 10-page pamphlet published in 1964 on the formation and growth of the M&O and written by Edgar T. Mead. My copy is missing some of the pages and I'm looking for a photocopy. If you don't have a copy, would you know of somebody who does?

Also, do you know if ESRM ever released a 33-1/3" rpm vinyl record called "The Voice of the 103"? I came across a flyer announcing in 1964 of its impending release but have never seen a copy. I wasn't sure if it was a project that died or if it was a limited edition release. It recorded the sounds of 103 running on the M&O on the M&NJRR.

Feel free to contact me through back channels or leave me a message on the site. Always appreciate your dissemination of tourist line history! :-)

all the best,
Kurt Bell