GREATER ROCHESTER SHORTLINE RAILROADS
ONTARIO MIDLAND RAILROAD, CORP.
ADDRESS & PHONE: 48 Beldon Avenue, Sodus, NY 14551 - 315-483-6914
OWNERSHIP: Fixed property: Wayne and Monroe Counties; Operating Company: Shipper controlled.
REPORTING MARK: OMID
RADIO FREQUENCIES: 161.370
PRIMARY BUSINESS
- Food products
- Lumber
- Fertilizer
- Pulpboard
- Chemicals
ANNUAL TRAFFIC: 850 cars
INFRASTRUCTURE: 56 miles of track, 80-136 lb rail
- Former Conrail Ontario Secondary Track - MP 34.2 to 84.8
- Former Conrail Sodus Bay Secondary Track - MP 1.3 to MP 16.6 (track north of the PRR/NYC diamond in Wallington placed out of service in the 80's, and much of the track was abandoned in place).
- Former Conrail Main Industrial Track - Newark to Marion (since abandonded)
ONLINE CUSTOMERS:
- Unknown new future customer at Webster Lumber site, Webster
Xerox Corporation, Webster (offline for more than 10 years - switches and sidings still there but paved over)- Williamson Lumber, Williamson
- Thatcher Chemical, Williamson
- Cadbury Beverages, Williamson
- Seneca Foods, Williamson
- Plassche Lumber, Williamson
- Golden State Foods (Sodus Cold Storage), Sodus
- Nikano Foods, Wallington (unconfirmed)
- Benchmark Quarry, Wallington (unconfirmed)
- Reckitt Benckiser, Wolcott
Folopak Corporation, Newark (closed Nov 2001)SCHEDULE OF OPERATIONS:
- Monday-Friday, 8-4, weekends and other hours as needed.
TRAINSPOTTING LOCATIONS:
- PRR diamond at Rt. 104, Wallington
- CSX Interchange in Newark
- Enginehouse in Sodus
INTERCHANGE POINT & RAILROAD: Newark with CSX
LOCOMOTIVE ROSTER: Enginehouse located in Sodus, pictures from http://www.railroad.net and http://gelwood.railfan.net
#
TYPE
YEAR
BUILDER'S #
HERITAGE / NOTES
3 ALCO S-4 1953 80941 ex Conn Central 36 exx G&W 36 and 1776, exxx NYC 8655, exxxx P&LE 8655 - recently restored by OMID and repainted in Dale Earnhardt inspired style. 35 ALCO S-4 1959 82008 ex Conn Central 35 exx G&W 35, privately owned 36 ALCO RS-11 1957 82638 ex N&W 361 - currently at the LAL shops for work, 8/02 408 ALCO RS-36 1962 84108 ex OMID 40, exx N&W 408 The OMID serves fruit and vegetable processors, as well as a chemical company in Wayne County on the former NYC Hojack and Penn RR lines with a connection to Conrail in Newark. The line runs east-west from Wolcott to Webster, and north-south from Sodus to Newark. At this time, Xerox does not use rail for shipping/receiving, as all the grade crossings on all the sidings in Xerox's property have been paved over (there has been talk that Xerox may resume rail service in the near future - when they were on-line, traffic to Xerox was sporadic and there has not been any since the 70's). Most of the rail in Monroe County is light 80 pound stuff. The line running north-south from Rt. 104 in Sodus to Sodus Point, while still in place - but the grade crossing over Rt. 104 was pulled up years ago, is for all intents and purposes abandoned as there are no potential customers north of Rt. 104 (at one point, there was a coal rail float operation from Sodus Point to Ontario, Canada... the operation ceased in the 50's due to problems with the lake levels preventing access from Sodus Bay to Lake Ontario). The Ontario Midland also runs very popular fall foliage passenger excursions in September and October (this year sold out quicky as I found out the hard way, so reserve early!). The 34 mile trip in vintage NYC stainless steel cars takes passengers from Sodus to Newark and back in 2 hours.
HISTORY: The Sodus Point line was built by the Sodus Point & Southern Railroad, which was chartered in 1852 but not opened until 1872. In 1875 ut was reorganized as the Ontario Southern, and seven years later as the Sodus Bay & Southern. In 1884 it was sold to the Northern Central Railroad (Pennsylvania RR). The Webster line was built by the Lake Ontario Shore Railroad, which was chartered in 1858. That line was sold to the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg in 1875, and the following year it became part of a through route from Lewiston, near Niagara Falls, to Oswego. RW&O became part of the New York Central and this line earned the nickname "The Hojack Line". OMID service started October 1, 1979. Most of the Hojack was abandoned west of Webster by Conrail in 1979.
LINKS:
- More history for the Newark - Sodus Point line can be found here: http://kc.pennsyrr.com/guide/soduspt.html
- The Hojack Line Story: http://www.ggw.org/webstertrails/hojack.htm
- Mileposts and abandonments: http://www.railroad.net/prr/sodus.html
- Some SP&S stuff from the Library of Congress: Click here
- Train wreck from 1901: http://www.cgazette.com/towns/Newark/history/901821812625.htm
CREDITS: John Stewart's railroad.net and the American Shortline Railway Guide, 5th ed. by Edward A. Lewis
Hits since 11/18/99
UPDATED: February 20, 2005
Copyright 2002 by Les Wilson - all rights reserved