RAILS ALONG THE ORISKANY
A HISTORY OF THE NEW YORK, ONTARIO & WESTERN'S UTICA DIVISION AND ROME BRANCHby John Taibi
From Chapter 9
The O&W and the Oriskany Valley: Perfect Together"With high expectations for a prosperous future on the leased lines, the "Ontario & Western nevertheless got off to a slow start impressing the communities along these lines. This was somewhat understandable since human nature dictates enjoying the known and fearing the unknown. The O&W didn't help matters by moving the machinery out of the Clinton shop and reducing the employment there from forty to five men. Cutting the section men's wages from $1.15 to $1.10 (per day!) didn't help in forming a positive opinion of the O&W either. `If this indicates the policy to be pursued by the O&W Co. it will not take long to run the road down to the condition it was in when the Midland Co. managed it. Clinton people have formed a very good opinion of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, and regret exceedingly that they found it for their interest to lease the roads, which they have built up in such good shape. Good-bye D. & H.,' proclaimed the Clinton Courier. It didn't mean much, therefore, when the paper added a whispered, `Welcome, N.Y. O.&W.' This, after only one week of Ontario & Western operations. Opinion of the Ontario & Western's service began to change the following week when passengers began to take notice that the new railroad's passenger cars were cleaner, nicer, and superior in appointments when compared to the previously beloved D&HCCo. cars.
Then, when General Manager Childs announced that it was the intention of the O&W to develop passenger service from Utica to southern points on the railroad (with convenient connections with the Lackawanna at Norwich, the D&HCCo. at Sidney, as well as the O&W's own New Berlin branch) the communities lying along the leased lines suddenly realized that they weren't just a part of an unconnected railroad. They were now a part of a mainstream, trunk line railroad that had direct ties to New York City, Oswego, Canada, and the western territories.
Following up on his promise of new service, the general manager (along with General Passenger Agent James C. Anderson and Northern Division superintendent Charles W. Lanpher) paid a visit to Hamilton, Clinton, and Utica to finalize plans for new train service. While the scheduling of trains on the UC&B and R&C remained somewhat similar to the now forgotten D&HCCo. (isn't human nature funny?) it was the addition of one new round-trip train that endeared the O&W to the Oriskany Valley. These trains, #13 (north) and #14 (south), were to be operated from Delhi (at the end of that namesake O&W Branch) to Utica via Walton, Sidney, and Norwich. Number 13 would depart Delhi at 7:00 am, arriving at Utica at 11:59 am. Returning, train #14 would depart the Oneida County seat at 4:35 pm and brake to a stop at the Delaware County seat at 9:25 pm.
The timing of these trains made it possible for business to be transacted during the day with the added advantage that business people and shoppers could return home the same day! Because of the timeliness of their schedules, the trains were officially named the Delhi Express and the Utica Express, but were more commonly referred to as the Delhi Flyer and Utica Flyer. The birth of these two trains brought about a never-ending appreciation of the Ontario & Western by Oriskany Valley folks and forever ended their concerns for a long lasting operator of their UC&B and R&C Railroads."
This is a well-illustrated, in-depth historical account of the New York, Ontario & Western Railway's operations to Utica and Rome, New York, through the valley of the Oriskany Creek. The association of the creek and a railroad goes back to post-Civil War years when railroad fever was raging across central New York State. The Utica, Clinton & Binghamton and Rome & Clinton railroads were built to satisfy the demands for continued prosperity; these were the lines that the NYO&W began to operate when a lease was arranged in 1886. Rails Along the Oriskany is the story of a railroad and the communities it served. The New York, Ontario & Western Railway was born out of a need to develop the interior sections of New York State. It met an untimely death on March 29, 1957, when it became the first Class One railroad to be abandoned. Yet, today, it is still fondly remembered by legions of ordinary people who were touched by its life. Rails Along the Oriskany helps to explain, through historically accurate text and a wonderful collection of photographs, why people today are still enamored by a railroad that is no more.
John Taibi is the author of six previous railroad histories. This book was written in the Munnsville railroad station, where he lives.
296 pages, 210 illustrations, 8.5 x 11, index, 2003
$25.00 paperback
$39.00 hardcover, limited to 500 copies, each signed by the author
A Purple Mountain Press original
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