Welcome to Vintage Railroad Postcards!

Thank you for stopping by! This is the blog for the Russell P. Panecki Collection of vintage railroad-related postcards. The entire collection consists of nearly one thousand so far with images dating from circa 1904 to the 1950s. To leave a comment, ask a question, to contribute or correct historical information, a comment box is located to the left for your convenience.

Each page, including this homepage, has an index located in the lower portion of the page. In addition to the index, posts were updated with historical information, new postcards added from storage files, while some posts were completely rewritten or edited for corrections. Three articles have been added and are worth reading. They include how vintage postcards were made, the history of Pennsylvania Station, and the history of Grand Central Terminal.

My apologies, but the postcards in my collection and on this blog are not available for sale, copying, or for contribution to projects. Please keep in mind that I reserve all rights to the images and content of this blog.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Remembering the Old and Weary

Just what exactly was the New York, Ontario & Western Railroad? Well, it had passenger service and milk business that extended up into the Catskill Mountain resort areas and up into northern and western New York state. It's southern terminus was at Weehawken, NJ where it had access to the New York City market and Lower Hudson River waterfront. It also hauled coal, a main source of freight revenue. But it wasn't enough to compete with such competition as the New York State Thruway, the shift away from small manufacturing towns, and the decreasing use of coal as a heating source. All passenger service stopped in 1953 and the road shut down for good in 1957. Here is a look back at the NYO&W in postcards coving a span of 50 years. Let's start with the earliest postcard in my collection and the only one that I know of that was issued by the railroad itself. This is a view of the short Haverstraw tunnel on the west side of the Hudson River, circa 1905. Note the 'W in O' herald on the bottom of the card and the interesting artistic effect of the layout of the image.
 

Middletown, New York was the center of the railroad's activity with yards, shops, and a large station. Here are two circa 1909 and 1906 views of the station. From what I understand, the station is still there, but is in pretty sad shape.
 

 
This view of the yards at Middletown shows the large coal storage facility and the arched coal distribution machines in the background. Note the cabooses in the foreground.
 

Here is a great circa 1909 view of the Kingston, NY station with the Catskill Mountains in the background. Note the gem of a camelback loco!


It's train time in Roscoe, NY! Roscoe is located halfway between Kingston, on the Hudson River, and Binghamton to the West. This circa 1919 view gives the station a real 'down home' feel.
 

This last look at the O&W is of a set of freight diesels taken in the mid-50s not long before the end of the line.

 

For more information on this interesting railroad, click here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York,_Ontario_and_Western_Railway

2 comments:

aislinn said...

i must thank you for the efforts you've put in penning this blog. excellent blog post .

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Russ Panecki said...

Thank you for your kind words....I appreciate it!