History
In 1858 the Lake Ontario Shore Rail Road was chartered from Oswego to Niagara Falls, but very little track was built or operated by the company. It wasn’t until 1875 when the Lake Ontario Shore Rail Road was merged into the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg (RW&O) Railroad that the line to Niagara Falls was completed.
In 1878 the RW&O ended up in the hands of the management of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). The DL&W’s management only cared about the DL&W and left the RW&O to die, so to speak. By 1882 the RW&O had been purchased again and the new owners built the Ontario Secondary (Beebee line) from Charlotte on the shores of Lake Ontario to Rochester. New management wasn’t enough to save the RW&O and the company was leased to the New York and Hudson River Railroad on March 14, 1891. The RWO was absorbed into the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company on April 16, 1913.
Lines
- “Hojack” Line – Suspension Bridge to Oswego
Clippings
Maps
The page for specific lines will also have maps related to that line.
System Timetables
The page for specific lines will also have maps related to that line.
City-Specific Timetables
These are timetables published in newspapers of the departures (and sometimes arrivals) of trains from a specific city of station.
Learn More
Listed below are some other good sources of information about the railroad.
- Wikipedia. “Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad“
- Hungerford, Edward. “The Story of the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg RailRoad.” Text version on Project Gutenberg. PDF on archive.org