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transported using both bus service and the Graham Line. Normal service was restored the next day.
The last train through Middletown ran Saturday, April 16, 1983. This was old #71, running from Hoboken to Port Jervis. Precisely on time, it left here at 6:00 PM, pulling away for the last time. A small group was on hand to say goodbye to the railroad service that began in 1843. The sky was dark and it had been raining off and on all day. It was a chilly, damp day, reflecting the mood, no doubt, of some who had gathered to watch and take pictures. Trainmen waved from the control cab at the rear of the train as the General Electric locomotive pulled the coaches around the curve and out of sight forever.
Service on the Graham line began April 18, 1983. The first train, #48, left the new Middletown station at 5:30 AM. This was a shuttle train. Number 50 left the new Middletown station at 6:06 AM. The first train from Port Jervis to use the new line was #52, leaving Port Jervis at 6:08 AM, arriving at Middletown 6:40 AM. Port Jervis and Otisville were unaffected by the switch. Middletown, of course, had a new station. New Hampton, once the site of a combination post office - railroad station, had lost its flag stop status some years before and was unaffected. The Goshen station was eliminated, as was Chester. Greycourt station was abandoned years ago and was no longer standing. Oxford Depot, although still in existence, hadn't seen a passenger train stop in years. Monroe's station had burned down and had been replaced by a shelter, which was rendered unnecessary by the line switch, and finally, the old Harriman station was abandoned as a stopping point. Up until about 1909 or 1910, Harriman had been called Turner. A new station was built after E.H. Harriman died in 1909 and named in his honor. A marker on the site notes the first telegraphic train order was made from the spot.
The new stations, besides Middletown, were at Campbell Hall (off Egberston Road, directly on the old road bed of the old Erie branch between Goshen and Montgomery), at Salisbury Mills - Cornwall (off Route 94 outside of Salisbury Mills) and a new double-shelter station at Harriman (off Route 17.)
In August, 1983, crews began ripping up the rails. This was completed by October, 1985. As a footnote, the freight station on the corner of West Main and Union Street was damaged by fire, July 25, 1983. It was then occupied as sleeping quarters for a Conrail maintenance crew. The empty building was again damaged by a suspicious fire on February 18, 1984. On March 17, 1986, the building was demolished.
THE NEW YORK, ONTARIO & WESTERN
The O&W's predecessor was the New York and Oswego Midland Railroad Company, organized in 1866. The Erie, as originally