Walter G. Rich, CEO of the Delaware Otsego Corporation: 1946 - 2007

It is with considerable sadness we note the passing of Walter G. Rich, CEO of the Delaware Otsego Corporation and ELHS member. Mr. Rich died at approximately 2:00 AM EDT after a long and painful battle with pancreatic cancer.

Mr. Rich's New York, Susquehanna & Western operates over tackage of the former NYS&W, Erie/EL Delaware Division and the former Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Syracuse & Utica Division. The Delaware Otsego had its beginnings providing service over the tracks of the former Delaware, Lackawanna & Western's Richfield Springs Branch.

The ELHS would like to express its condolences to Mr. Rich's wife and two children for their loss.

Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad to Lease/Operate Meadville Yard, Former Erie/EL Oil City Branch and Former Pennsylvania Railroad Oil Creek Trackage From Norfolk Southern

From the Meadville Tribune 12/22/05

Meadville will be a railroad town again: Railroad companies expanding operations through Meadville
Keith Gushard - 12/22/05

Meadville’s rail yard will get upgrades and new track worth about $1.5 million as rail traffic through town has increased to as many as 40 coal trains a month passing to and from New York and New England power plants.

The current traffic flow is a far cry from the spring of 2003 when locally-based railroad operations were all but dead as the last Meadville-based employee locked up the Meadville train yard control tower and left. Meadville only served as a dropping-off point for freight cars.

It was a dramatic moment for a community that served as a regional railroad hub for generations. At points in Meadville’s history, the railroad had employed hundreds — from train crews and freight handlers to locomotive builders and freight car repairmen.

The announcement of the rail yard upgrade come as Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad expands its operations through Meadville and into Venango County.

The railroad, which operates 186.5 miles of track from Hornell, N.Y., to Meadville, is leasing 45.25 miles of track from Norfolk Southern Railroad from Meadville to Rouseville in Venango County, according to William Burt, its president and chief operating officer. The lease is effective Dec. 28, but financial terms weren’t disclosed.

“It gives us better level of (operating) efficiencies,” said Rudy Husband, spokesman for Norfolk Southern.

The lease includes three miles of track from where the WNY&P and Norfolk Southern connect near the Spring Street Bridge through the Meadville train yard and then southeast into Venango County including industrial service tracks in Franklin, Oil City and Titusville.

“We’ll be responsible for maintenance and operations,” Burt said. “We’ll be making some changes to the Meadville yard, adding track.”

Additional track in the train yard is needed to accommodate 100-car coal trains that Norfolk Southern has been running from southwestern Pennsylvania to power plants in New York state and New England.

Currently, coal trains have to be split to fit into sidings in the yard.

Adding track in the yard will be done in 2006, though details still have to be worked out, he said. The project is estimated at between $1 million and $1.5 million.

In March 2004, Norfolk Southern was granted operating rights on the WNY&P’s tracks by the federal Surface Transportation Board. It started out with less than two dozen trains per month.

“It’s the corridor for coal,” Burt said of the route through Meadville. “They’re running about 30 to 40 trains a month.”

With the lease, Norfolk Southern still retains the right to run on the three miles of line through Meadville to Norfolk Southern’s connection at French Creek, southeast of the train yard.

Norfolk Southern will keep its terminal building in the yard to accommodate train crews, Burt said. The WNY&P will add a building in the yard for its own crews and will base locomotives in Meadville to provide service to local customers along the line.

“We’ve been a growing business the last couple of years,” he said. “It gives us the opportunity to concentrate resources in Meadville.”

In addition to the work in Meadville, the WNY&P plans to do track surface improvements on the line to Rouseville. Much of that line has a 10-miles-per-hour speed restriction now.

The WNY&P will invest its own funds and will seek some state grants for the work as well, Burt said.