The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway , also referred to as the Susie-Q or the Susquehanna ( ; Lenape: ), and formerly the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad, is an American Class II freight railway operating over of trackage in the states of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
The NYS&W was formed in 1881 out of a merger of six smaller railroads. After formation, the new NYS&W's primary business concern was transporting anthracite coal out of Pennsylvania's Wyoming Valley coal region, a business that would last into the twentieth century. From 1898 to 1940, the NYS&W operated as a subsidiary of the Erie Railroad after J. P. Morgan purchased a majority stake on the Erie's behalf. The Susquehanna emerged from the Erie's control in 1940 as part of a bankruptcy reorganization begun in 1937. Around this time the railroad began winding down its coal operations until finally discontinuing them completely in 1951. This followed years of declines in coal usage due to the rapid growth of the petroleum industry. The railroad had also proclaimed itself completely dieselized by 1945.
By the early 1950s, the NYS&W changed their primary source of income to their commuter trains. Running as far west as Butler, the railroad advertised a bus connection to New York City via Susquehanna Transfer beginning in late 1939, taking advantage of the recently opened Lincoln Tunnel. By 1955 however, passenger services were losing money for the company. All of their commuter services were discontinued in 1966, and by that time, the railroad experienced additional financial troubles from a loss of freight customers and interchange partners. The seventies spelled out even harder times for the railroad and it fell into its second bankruptcy by 1976.
Nearly abandoned by 1980, the NYS&W was purchased that year by the New York state based Delaware Otsego Corporation (DO). DO reorganized and expanded the railway's operations and finances through the 1980s. The Susquehanna benefited from DO's market shrewdness and Conrail's monopoly in the northeastern U.S., by operating competing intermodal trains until 1999, when Conrail was split between Norfolk Southern (NS) and CSX.
Since just after the DO takeover, the NYS&W has consisted of a southern division and a northern division. The southern division runs between Jersey City, New Jersey and Binghamton, New York, and contains what is left of the original NYS&W mainline in New Jersey. The northern division, formed by two branches north of Binghamton, serves Utica and Syracuse and was purchased in 1982. The two divisions are connected via trackage rights over a segment of the Southern Tier Line operated as the Central New York Railroad.
History
Pre-company beginnings The earliest origins of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway trace back to 1828, when John Langdon Sullivan surveyed the first route across northern New Jersey with the intent of transporting Pennsylvania coal by rail to industrial Paterson, New Jersey. While New Jersey industry had supply of iron ore, it needed local sources of coal to smelt it following shortages of British coal after the War of 1812. The Morris Canal had begun operation for this purpose by 1831, but was seasonal and slow; industry demanded better. Nothing was done with Sullivan's plans until the New Jersey, Hudson and Delaware Railroad (NJH&D) was chartered by a group of Paterson, New Jersey businessmen in 1832. Due to financial difficulties incurred during the Panic of 1837, the company did not construct anything until 1867, but its charter remained active. Further set back by the Panic of 1857, the railroad sold its charter to the Pennsylvania Coal Company. Following the events of the Civil War though, canals became disused, and a major railroad boom began throughout the United States.
By the mid-1860s, several companies were formed to create railroads across northern New Jersey. The earliest of these, the Hoboken, Ridgefield and Paterson Railroad (HR&P), was chartered in March of 1866 to connect Paterson with the ports along the Hudson River waterfront; various logistical issues ensured this company would not actually build anything. The most successful attempt was by the New Jersey Western Railroad (NJW), which was founded by Cornelius Wortendyke in 1867. That railroad began laying track at Hawthorne the following year. They soon completed a line between Hawthorne and Butler.
In 1866, the New York and Oswego Midland Railroad (NY&OM) was incorporated in New York State under the leadership of DeWitt Clinton Littlejohn. His plan was to provide a connection from New York City to the port city of Oswego, New York on Lake Ontario. Construction on their trackage began at Oswego two years later. However, Wortendyke had no charter to build in New Jersey, a necessity in reaching New York City.
The NJW quickly decided to shift its focus towards connecting their route with the NY&OM to benefit both railroads. Cornelius Wortendyke signed an agreement with DeWitt Littlejohn, where the two companies would lease and access each other's routes. By 1870, the NJW expanded westward from Hackensack to Hanford, but in doing so, they encountered the NJH&D and the Sussex Valley Railroad, which had already obtained resources and begun work. The Sussex Valley had been chartered in 1867 to build south from the New Jersey-New York state line to the Delaware Water Gap.
By 1870, all four railroads decided it would be convenient to consolidate the work that had already been completed, so they merged together to create the New Jersey Midland Railway (NJM or Midland). Concurrently, the NY&OM expanded to Middletown, New York, and they leased the Middletown, Unionville and Water Gap Railroad (MU&WG), since it had provided a connection between the NY&OM at Middletown and the NJM at Hanford. The first Midland train to Butler ran on April 27, 1871, with the first train between Jersey City and Middletown running May 1, 1872, having completed construction on their final stretch of trackage from Hackensack to Jersey City, using trackage rights over the Pennsylvania Railroad's New Jersey Rail Road and Transportation Company.
In 1872, the NJM formally became leased by the NY&OM. On July 9, 1873, the first train over the NY&OM and NJM was operated from Oswego to Jersey City. With the inaugural run, the two railroads created the third trunk railroad line to connect New York City and the Great Lakes region, but the ongoing Panic of 1873 quickly affected the finances of both companies, with the NY&OM falling under receivership.
The NY&OM suspended all lease payments, and their partnership with the NJM was quickly put to an end. The NY&OM was later reorganized as the New York, Ontario and Western Railway (NYO&W) in 1879, and they began forming a separate partnership with the West Shore Railroad (later the New York Central Railroad (NYC) to access New York City. The NJM took over the lease of the MU&WG, but in 1875, the NJM was also put into receivership from the after affects of the Panic, and James McCulloh and Garret Hobart served as the NJM's receivers.
Formation and expansion
In 1880, investors from the original NJM regrouped and reorganized the company as the Midland Railroad of New Jersey, with Hobart serving as their president. The company regained their finances by serving New Jersey industrial firms. The investors decided to profit from hauling anthracite out of Pennsylvania as originally envisioned, and they chartered the New York and Scranton Construction Company to that end. That company in turn chartered four other small companies to lay down portions of the NJM route from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.
On June 17, 1881, the Midland Railroad of New Jersey was consolidated with five other companies to form the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad (NYS&W); "Susquehanna" was incorporated in the name, since one of the company's goals was to reach the Susquehanna River.
In 1882, the new NYS&W railroad extended westward to Gravel Place, Pennsylvania, but they were originally reluctant to extend through the Pocono Mountains. They began to outsource their coal traffic to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W, interchanging with them at Stroudsburg. To reach the Hudson River waterfront ports, the NYS&W would transfer their coal traffic to the Pennsylvania Railroad at Marion Junction via the Hudson Connecting Railway.
The NYS&W also began operating passenger trains. By the late 1880s, the NYS&W's profitability boomed from their coal-hauling business and from their industrial and farm customers. In 1887, the railroad laid down a double-track route from Paterson to Jersey City to accommodate their rising traffic.
In 1892, the Susquehanna ended their transfer partnerships with the DL&W and the PRR, when they extended their own line eastward from their Little Ferry Yard to a new coal terminal at Edgewater. The railroad also began leasing their own newly chartered Wilkes-Barre and Eastern Railroad (WB&E) between Stroudsburg and Wilkes-Barre in late 1893. This railroad was chartered for the NYS&W to have direct coal mine access. In 1896, the NYS&W chartered the Susquehanna Connecting Railroad to further access the Wyoming Valley as a branch line from the WB&E north to Minooka
The Lehigh and New England Railroad (L&NE) was formed in 1895 as a bridge line between eastern Pennsylvania and New England. Its route through the Great Appalachian Valley in New Jersey was finally negotiated with trackage rights over the Susquehanna between Hainesburg Junction, near the Paulinskill Viaduct, and Swartswood Junction, near Newton. This provided a source of revenue for the railroad until the L&NE folded in 1961.
Erie Railroad control
The NYS&W's prosperity caught the attention of influential financer J. P. Morgan, who used his Erie Railroad as a means to control the Susquehanna. The Erie already had access to coal mines north of Scranton, but they also desired access to the mines south of the area, and they believed the Susquehanna provided the best route there via its Wilkes Barre and Eastern.
On behalf of the Erie, Morgan quietly purchased the NYS&W's stock until he obtained the majority of their shares. By July 1898, the Erie Railroad took over control of all of the Susquehanna's operations, making the NYS&W their subsidiary.
In 1908, the Susquehanna purchased their final new steam locomotive, No. 140, from the Baldwin Locomotive Works; all of their subsequent steam locomotives were either leased or purchased second-hand from the Erie.
In 1911, the Susquehanna's Jersey City passenger terminus was moved from the PRR's Exchange Place Station to the Erie's Pavonia Terminal, and their freight terminus was moved from the PRR's Marion yards to the Erie's Croxton yards. By 1923, the Susquehanna's total gross income peaked at $5.5 million.
The Erie subsequently invested in rebuilding and upgrading the NYS&W's trackage and bridges. During the 1920s, the Erie began operating under the control of the Van Sweringen brothers, and they installed a new president for the Erie, John J. Bernet. During Bernet's tenure for the Erie, he initiated a major modernization program for the Susquehanna; most of the railroad's original steam locomotives and wooden passenger cars were scrapped and replaced with newer Erie equipment.
Throughout the 1930s, the NYS&W experienced some major financial problems from the Great Depression, and the Erie began to neglect them. The general demand for anthracite coal was declining, and while other anthracite-hauling railroads were able to change their freight priorities, the NYS&W struggled to follow suit.