Minisink Valley Express : A History of the Port Jervis, Monticello & New York Railroad

Beverly Hills, California, USA: Gerald M Best, 1956. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Good/Fair. 93 pages b/w photos - The New York & Erie Railroad was first chartered in April of 1832 to run from Piermont, N.Y. through Port Jervis and on to the shores of Lake Erie. It was to be of a broad six foot gauge. Even though ground was broken in 1835, construction began several years later in 1838 due to a financial panic that gripped the country. It was finally completed in 1851 with the first passenger train passing through Port Jervis on May 14 of that year. On board was President Millard Fillmore and Senator Daniel Webster. In 1859 the name was changed to the Erie Railway and in 1874 to the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad. In 1880 the railroad was changed to standard gauge (4 feet 8 1/2 inches). In 1897 the name was changed again, this time to the Erie Railroad which remained until 1960. In 1868 a new railroad came to town. The Port Jervis and Monticello Railroad built north out of town and in 1895 was leased to the New York Ontario and Western Railway (O&W). The O&W added a branch that ran off of the Port Jervis and Monticello and up to Kingston. At Summitville, it crossed the main line from New York City (Weehawken, N.J.) and points west. Railroads began to decline as the twentieth century progressed and after the more lucrative World War II years the bottom fell out of things. On March 29, 1957 the O&W became the first Class I railroad to be abandoned . The tracks were torn up shortly thereafter. Then in 1960, because of financial difficulties, the Erie Railroad merged with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad to form the Erie-Lackawanna. This was a shaky union for the next 16 years and on April 1, 1976 the Erie-Lackawanna was merged into the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail).