INDUSTRIAL & OFFLINE
TERMINAL RAILROADS &
RAIL-MARINE OPERATIONS
OF BROOKLYN, QUEENS, STATEN
ISLAND, BRONX &
MANHATTAN:
WEST 36TH STREET
FREIGHT STATION
Manhattan
NEW YORK, ONTARIO & WESTERN RAILWAY / NEW YORK, WEST SHORE & BUFFALO RAILROAD
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History
Proving
once again the old adage: there is always something left to be discovered!
Coming to light in April 2026, is that the New York, Ontario & Western Railway also known as the "O&W"; occupied a small pocket terminal on the West Side of Manhattan.
Even more strangely, is that according to the 1890 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, this terminal was both "online"; by way of a direct track connection with the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad on Eleventh Avenues, as well as "offline", with rail traffic arriving / departing to/from New Jersey via a transfer bridge on the Hudson bulkhead.
This terminal was located on the block bounded by West 35th and West 36th Street and between the Hudson River and Eleventh Avenue.
While we have to come to expect the usual "suspects" involved in railroad occupancy on the West Side of Manhattan, namely the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad as well as the West Shore Railroad, it was quite surprising to this author to see New York, Ontario & Western Railway.
Initial research into this terminal was disappointing. There appears to be nothing regarding this terminal in Google Books, or even in the established published works of the New York, Ontario & Western:
It was necessary to go back (wa-a-a-y back) to located some vestige of history of operations at this particular location; specifically to Gratz Mordechai's "Port of New York Terminal Facilities", 1885:
Terminal Works of the New York, West Shore & Buffalo and the New York, Ontario & Western Railways at New York.
In New York City:
These roads have four freight stations on the Hudson River:
A flour station at Pier 1 at the Battery
A principal general freight station on Pier 5, a short distance north, half of which is used by the Pennsylvania RR,
and another at Harrison Street, near the dry-goods district, where west-bound freight is loaded on a barge.
The up-town station is at the foot of Thirty-sixth Street. This is the only station in New York City at which cars from New Jersey shore are run over transfer bridges from the car floats to tracks in the city. This enable the establishment of freight houses on city streets and allows the convenent and idrect transfer of some frieght between the cars and drays. The east-bound freight handled here is largely hay and provisions, and the west-bound freight miscellaneous manufactures.
These companies own and operate their own lighterage equipment.
So, at least we have some bit of historical information to explain the presence of this terminal.
It is now clear that the New York, Ontario & Western Railway's presence in Manhattan at this location is due in part or whole to its early association with the New York, West Shore & Buffalo Railroad, whereas the O&W and the West Shore were married to some degree in their corporate structure (in a very convoluted way); and as such accordingly, the O&W was granted trackage rights on the West Shore trackage along the west side of the Hudson River from Cornwall to Weehawken.
Because of this, it is now apparent that some history of the New York, West Shore & Buffalo Railroad needs to be covered. Backing up a few years in time, the New York, West Shore & Buffalo RR had been organized as direct competition to Vanderbilt's New York Central & Hudson River Railroad.
In 1881, the New York, West Shore & Buffalo Railroad had been
planned as but one link in a chain of a new transcontinental railroad
from New York to San Francisco. This chain was to be comprised of the
New York, West Shore & Buffalo Railroad; the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad or "Nickel
Plate Road"; the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, the Northern
Pacific Railroad; and the Oregon Navigation Company.
However, William Henry Vanderbilt (the son of Cornelius Vanderbilt
and known as "Billy", and of whom by this date owned the New York Central
Railroad); purchased the Nickel Plate Road in 1882, in effect
breaking the chain, and nullifying that plan.
Vanderbilt's
railroad holdings at this time included no less than the following:
During this same
time frame, the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad began constructing the "South
Pennsylvania Railroad" across (where else?) southern Pennsylvania. This was deep
in the Pennsylvania Railroad's territory. At
the same time, the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad then proceeded to drive
the New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railroad into bankruptcy via a
brutal rate-war, and of which the West Shore could not withstand
financially.
The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), which was and remained the New
York
Central's greatest rival (right up until 1968); watching what was
happening in South Pennsylvania, as well as recognized that the West
Shore Railroad would make a great addition to its network and also
allowing it to penetrate deep into New York Central territory as direct
competition in retaliation. So the Pennsylvania
Railroad began to make overtures to acquire the West Shore.
Obviously, this loss of revenue was not in the stockholders best
interests, and this was an anathema to J. Pierpont Morgan; of whom sat
on the board of directors of both the
New York Central & Hudson River Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Morgan was well respected
throughout the business world, and of whom was the top railroad
financier in the United States, much less among many other industries.
This rate war, which drove down stock and bond prices; was essentially killing Morgan's (and other stock holders) dividends. So, Morgan decided to personally intervene.
In July 1884, Morgan and Vanderbilt agreed to try to
negotiate a peace treaty between the Pennsylvania and New York Central
Railroads. Morgan invited George B. Roberts and Frank Thompson (president and vice-president
of the Pennsylvania Railroad) to meet with the New York Central’s
president, Chauncey Depew, on board Morgan’s yacht, "Corsair".
Morgan picked the executives up at a Jersey City pier, near the
Pennsylvania Railroad’s terminal, on a hot July morning. They
proceeded to sail north up the Hudson River 50 miles to Garrison, NY; and
then turned back south to Sandy Hook, New Jersey; located at the
entrance to New York Harbor.
Depew beseeched the Pennsylvania men to end what he called
the “ruinous” competition of building parallel lines and endless rate
wars. These tactics added nothing to the bottom line of either
railroad. A luncheon was served as the "Corsair" sailed
up and down the river. Morgan argued that this sort of competition was
not only bad for business; it was adversely affecting the flow of
European (especially British) financial capital into American railroads
as they continued their expansion across the continent. No agreement,
Morgan implied, equated to no further European investment.
While Thompson came around to Morgan’s way of reasoning, Roberts remained adamant against it. Only when "Corsair" tied
back up to the Jersey City pier at 7:00 pm; did Roberts, finally relent
and shook hands with Morgan on the dock, stating, “I will agree to your
plan and do my part.” While it took almost two more decades for the
final agreement to be signed; the West Shore Railroad, would now
be owned by the New York Central as a subsidiary, and the construction
of the South Pennsylvania Railroad would cease (sections of which were repurposed much later (1940) for use in constructing the Pennsylvania Turnpike.)
As a result of this agreement, the stock prices of both of the two railroads rose immediately and
naturally, the principals and the shareholders were pleased.
So, with the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, having purchased the New York, West
Shore and Buffalo Railway on November 24, 1885; it reorganized and renamed the new
acquisition as the "West Shore Railroad" on December 5; and leased it for
475 years from January 1, 1886.
So, what this now means and in effect; the West Shore Railroad's West 36th Street Yard, which was originally built to be "the competition" to the New York Central & Hudson River RR Freight Terminal at West 34th Street; wound up becoming a subsidiary and by proxy an expansion to the West 33rd Street Yards!
And, with corporate intermingling with the West Shore, the New York Ontario & Western Railway went along for the ride, as it was allowed to keep its trackage rights into Weehawken, and its access the New York City market.
Despite this, the freight terminal occupancy of the New York, Ontario & Western Railway in Manhattan does not appear to span very long, perhaps 10 years at most; because by the next issue of Sanborn / Bromley Property Atlases dated 1899 revised 1902; the terminal property is now marked for the West Shore Railroad. It did retain several pier stations.
The Joint Report with Recommendations by the New York and New Jersey Port and Harbor Commission, 1920; goes into greater detail regarding the early history of the New York, Ontario & Western:
Contrasting with a number of other New York railroads which had their origins in the interior and found it necessary to acquire New York terminals to handle their growing business, the New York Ontario & Western Railway originally controlled a large part of the waterfront of Weehawken and was forced through lack of funds to surrender it.
In a period of two years, the New York Ontario & Western Railway interests changed from owners of an attractive entrance into the Port District to tenants paying well for the use of what had been their property. The result is the New York Ontario & Western has trackage rights only between Weehawken and Cornwall-on-Hudson, a distance of 53 miles, and has no terminals of its own in the Port District with the exception of two coal trestles at the north end of Weehawken Yard:
In 1880, the New York, Ontario & Western Railway was organized to take over the property of the New York, & Oswego Midland RR, which was opened in 1871 from Oswego south, and extend it to New York. The same interests had been accumulating valuable waterfront and other property in Weehawken, anticipating the need for this not only by themselves, but also by the New York West Shore & Buffalo Railroad, which was also at the time being promoted.
The Ontario & Western interests also acquired the charter for the railroad to be built from Jersey City to Albany. The New York West Shore & Buffalo Railroad already had a charter for a line from Jersey City to Albany and it was apparent that the two routes would be in conflict as to right-of-way. To avoid duplication and litigation the Ontario & Western and the West Shore interests entered into an agreement whereby the Ontario & Western was to build the North River Railroad from Weehawken to Middletown by way of Cornwall, while the West Shore was to build from Cornwall north.
The Ontario & Western Railway appeared to have the upper hand, owing to the dependence of the West Shore Railroad on the stretch from Cornwall to Weehawken, including the Weehawken terminals, for its entrance into New York.
The North River Railroad was completed in 1883, six months before the West Shore was opened from Cornwall to Buffalo.
By this time however, the New York Ontario & Western Railway, in order to raise funds had been obliged to transfer the North River Railroad to the West Shore Railroad and to reorganize the holding company of the Weehawken properties as the "West Shore & Weehawken Terminal Company". The West Shore on the other hand gave the Ontario & Western a perpetual lease of the North River Railroad, and the West Shore Railroad had to pay for trackage rights from Cornwall to Weehawken. Consolidated bonds were issued covering the entire West Shore RR as well as the NYO&W as far as Middletown and the Weehawken terminals. Both guaranteed these bonds.
Financial difficulties then befell the West Shore Railroad, and in the foreclosure proceedings the New York Central Railroad acquired control of the West Shore Railroad. This left the New York Central on the one hand with part control of the Weehawken terminals and the line from Weehawken to Cornwall, and on the other hand with claims against the O&W for unpaid interest on bonds. To extricate itself from the latter difficulties the Ontario & Western Company was obliged to surrender its lease of of the North River Railroad Company, and its share in the Weehawken Terminal properties, receiving in exchange title to line from Cornwall to Middletown, trackage rights from Cornwall to Weehawken and exemption from the overdue interest payments.
This complete reversal was consummated before the end of 1885. Neither this arrangement nor the location of the O&W has been favorable to a large business, and the New York tonnage of the O&W , handled at West Shore stations except for that handled at the O&W piers at Weehawken, is small compared with that of any other railroads of the Port. The company has few feeders and a total mileage of less than 500.
It's most important branch line, extends to Scranton and the anthracite coal region. At Oswego, it connects to the Great Lakes and with a secondary line of the New York Central running to Buffalo.
No mention of a terminal within Manhattan is recorded in the Joint Report, and presumably had been forgotten about by 1920.
Some other important historical notes that bear mentioning:
Regarding the acrimony between New York, West Shore and Buffalo and the New York Central & Hudson River Railroads: one of the principal investors in the New York, West Shore & Buffalo Railroad, was none other than George M. Pullman (of Pullman Palace Car fame.) He was upset at Cornelius Vanderbilt's choice of using Wagner Palace Car for their sleeping car equipment. Pullman felt it would be a good way to get back at the Vanderbilt to invest in the competition.
The New York, Ontario & Western Railway also provided regional passenger service connecting northern Pennsylvania (Scranton & Carbondale) with southern half of New York State, northwest to Oswego on Lake Ontario (also bypassing the canal system).
Most of this passenger traffic originated at the ferry terminals in Manhattan, enabling the passengers to cross the Hudson River and board the trains in Weehawken for transport north.
But, perhaps what the New York, Ontario & Western Railway is best remembered for; is seasonal tourism passenger traffic to the "Borscht Belt" a/k/a the "Yiddish Alps". The Borscht Belt located in New York's southern Catskill Mountains emerged in the early 1900s, and peaked in the 1940s–1960s, primarily because many mainstream resorts explicitly restricted or barred Jewish guests. Faced with "No Hebrews" policies, Jewish families established their own Catskills resorts, bungalow colonies, and "kuchaleyns" (cook-it-yourself boarding houses) in Sullivan and Ulster counties, that would come to number over one thousand at one point; and of which catered specifically to American Jewish vacationers, especially residents of New York City seeking to escape the city for the summer. As passenger haulage in mostly out of the purview of this website, we will leave it at that.
The last, is that the New York Ontario & Western Railway would be the first Class 1 railroad to be abandoned, in its entirety; in 1957.
Property
The 1890 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shown below, was the discovery and impetus for the creation of this page; and at the time of the publication of this page, it the only known reference to this terminal location being under New York, Ontario & Western Railway tutelage.
Referencing the "Joint Report with Recommendations by the New York and New Jersey" (New York and New Jersey Port and Harbor Commission, 1920); as well as "The Port of New York" (Carl Condit, 1981); reflects that the New York, Ontario & Western Railway had a minuscule freight presence in New York Harbor. Its chief commodity was anthracite coal hauled in bulk from the mines in Pennsylvania for distribution in the New York City market area; and to a lesser degree, milk trains from the Southern Catskills for the New York City dairy market.
Take aways from this map plate, is the row of "produce warehouses" along the northern border of the property which appear to have rail service. This opens up a question, as the NYO&W was not by any account a major hauler of produce. The lead to the New York Central & Hudson River RR Pier 66 might explain this, which would allow for arriving vessels to furnish that commodity to these warehouses.
Also, the lack of a freight house means, in no uncertain terms; there was no less than car load freight arriving or departing from this location. This is strange as it this would be expected in order to provide a service for the New York, Ontario & Western..
1890 Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlas - Plates 93 and 96 combined
New York Public Library Digital Collection
Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division
annotated by author
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What is also interesting to view in this map, is the tiny little freight shed belonging to the Pennsylvania RR on Twelfth Avenue between Piers 66 and 67. This is their earliest operation on the West Side of Manhattan, and is discussed at length on the Pennsylvania RR West 37th Street Freight Station.
By the 1899/1902 G. W. Bromley Property Atlas, and all subsequent editions of this Atlas until 1920; the West 36th Street terminal property is listed as under the operation of the West Shore Railroad, not the NYO&W, with the West Shore Railroad by this date, having become a subsidiary operation of the New York Central & Hudson River RR, as discuss above.Locomotives
No images or documentation are known of New York Ontario & Western locomotive in Manhattan.
Also, judging by the direct track connection on Eleventh Avenue with the New York Central & Hudson River, it is entirely possible the New York Central & Hudson River RR switched out the freight at this terminal.
Reinforcing this hypothesis, is that in all the steam locomotive rosters compiled for the NYO&W, the only locomotives small enough and reflected in those rosters, and that could be suitable for terminal switching were 0-6-0 camelbacks (which had tenders); built in 1910; which is some 20 years after the above map shows NYO&W occupancy.
Furthermore, even those 0-6-0 switchers were quite large with their tender, were not suited for small terminal use.
All other steam locomotives operated by the O&W in the rosters were road locomotives with lead trucks: 4-4-0, 2-6-0, 2-8-0, 2-10-2 or the 4-8-2 wheel arrangements; none of which would have been suitable for pocket terminal operation.
Due
to the early and limited nature of operation, it is extremely doubtful
any images exist of New York, Ontario & Western Railway locomotives
in Manhattan, and this terminal in all likelihood utilized West Shore locomotives.
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Marine Equipment
The NYO&W had two tugboats operating in New York Harbor, commencing in 1908: the "Ontario" and the "Western" (The Black Diamond, May 1908) to service the O&W's coal service from their docks just North of Weehawken. This coal was wholesale and retail distribution in the New York area, as well as for bunkerage of steamships.
Dimensions of these vessels: 150' 6" length, 27' beam, 16' 9" molded depth. Steel hull, steam triple expansion, built by John H. Dialogue & Son, Camden.
As construction of these two vessels post-date the Manhattan Terminal operation, it is doubtful they drew carfloats for the West 36th Street Manhattan terminal. Therefore, it is assumed that the West Shore provided tow boats and the majority of floating equipment.
The NYO&W did provide a rather significant passenger ferry service from Weehawken to Manhattan, encompassing the ferries: "Roslyn", "Midland", "Albany", "Kingston", "Newburgh" & "Oswego"; but as this service is concerned with passenger ferryage; coverage is out of the scope of this website.
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