The Ontario and Western Railroad bike and Hike trail (Rails to trails)- Roscoe to Liberty

My recent trip upstate on the 14th of December.

So last week  the 14th of December i had to go upstate by bus to take a New York State test called "Dignity for all Students". It is a new anti-bullying workshop for New York State teachers. 

Driving up I-86 past Middletown all these little towns that used to be served by the Ontario and Western Railroad were left or right of the Highway. After Middletown  the first town that used to be a railroad station is a town called Wurtsboro. I would like to note that I know Hikers who hiked on part of the rail roadbed in and around Wurtsboro.  If this part of the trail interests you here is a link to Ralph's blog. He is an avid hiker and describes how to get to the Wurtsboro O and W trail




I am quite sure you can also take the bus to Wurtsboro and then  take the trail from the town. The pictures are from Ralp's blog, from when he hiked in Wurtsboro. When spring comes I will write in a new blog about the Middletown-Wurtsboro- Summitville Corridor, because I haven't done this route by mountain bike yet.

Just to remind the reader in the 40ies and 50ies Passenger Service with the Railroad continued to Wurtsboro after Middletown and then went to Summitville, passed Philipsport on the right then went to Fallsburg, Mountain Dale, Woodridge, Hurleyville, Ferndale,Liberty, Parksvile, Livingston Manor and ended in Roscoe. Everything after Roscoe was just Freight Services.


Trip 1: Liberty High school to Livingston Manor 11 Miles


In my first  blog i stated that Liberty High School had been built over the old trackbed of the Ontario and Western Railroad. So i looked at a satellite image and it clearly showed how the railroad bed continued. You can clearly visible see it starting again just behind the Fields of Liberty High school. There are continued efforts going on to connect the Liberty and Parksville O and W Trails, but funding is an issue at the moment and it's halting the trail Project.

The old trackbed then continues to North End Avenue and passes Sullivan County Oil, which used to be a depot for coal in the 50ies, when the Ontario and Western Railroad still existed. Eventually the track was going right of Parksville Road and then the small road right of 17, which is also called Parksville Road. It should be called "Little Parksville Road".




Parksville Road is paved. It stops being paved after a mile. The stretch after the paved part looks very overgrown, but apparently the railroad went through the Forest passing Weiss Road and  Kurpill road.

Anyway, you will hit to the left the road again. It is the main road to Parksville called Parksville Road. You cross the Highway eventually and go left on Main Street. Follow Main Street and access the trail. Googe finds the trail under "Old railroad grade".

The other side of the trail is Fox Mountain Road. The sign below is at the start of Main Street.

How exactly the railroad went after the trail ends and you are on

Fox Mountain Road is just partially clearly visible when i look at the Satellite Images.

I can tell that the Railroad continued close to Route 17, but it seems that it made a shortcut going right at Route 17 and went close to the Mountain and then went  close to Dahlia Road again.



There's something intriguing about the abandoned Ontario and Western Railroad and about its remnants like those wooden planks over the swamp in Wurtsboro, bridge abutments in rivers and elevated railroad beds with a thick layer of snow on it when you are going on I-86 from Livingston Manor to Hancock.

Trip 3: Livingston Manor to Roscoe 7 Miles

The Train station of Livingston Manor was next to the Fire House. Nowadays Carnivals take place at the empty lot where the Station has been demolished in 1958. The Train crossed over the river from the Station. A likely route is right next to Route 17, but it could also be that the railroad went on the left side of the Valley to Roscoe.


I will have to visit Roscoe in the Future and look at bridge abatements on the left side to determine where the Ontario and Western actually crossed. For now I have made two lines on the aerial map, - one in red and blue. It is more likely the red one is the old trackage but I  i am really not sure, were the railroad crossed  the Willowemec river.

Short before Roscoe the Ontario and Western Railroad crossed Willowemoc Creek twice.


The strangest name for a town just after Roscoe- East Branch, where the Brach branched eastwards. East Branch has the O and W Road going right through  its city center. Of course O and W Road is the the stretch the rail went on. The O and W road  goes all the way up to Hancock. That's where i lost the old and weary OW Stretch and got of the Highway.


When I was a kid I liked old castles from the medieval age or roman amphitheaters. Something that we have in abundance in Germany. When i was an elementary student I would go an rare occasions to my school by bike on a so called "trail to rail" bike path. In German it was called the "Radwanderweg". This bike path used to be a railroad that transported milk and eggs and other farm goods from the villages like the Ontario and Western Railroad.

On the side of the rail was an old building,  where i went right to get to school which i was told had been the railroad station. It has now been demolished and made way for another "Autobahnzubringer" or in english a motorway feeder road.

The strangest name for a town just after Roscoe- East Branch.  East Branch has the O and W Road going right through  its city center. Of course O and W Road is the the stretch the rail went on. The O and W road  goes all the way up to Hancock. That's where i lost the old and weary OW Stretch and got of the Highway.

My japanese friend Yukari read both blogs and asked how I know all these things about railroads. So, I explained to her that the last week August at Camp Shane on our day off we went shopping in Middletown at Walmart, Shop Rite and Gander Mountain, it was going out of business. But I took it upon myself to walk around Downtown Middletown and checked out the Ontario and Western Railroad and the Eerie Railroad Station and then I bought a book on the history of the Ontario and Western Railroad and the other Railroads of the Region. Honestly, while others have a cup of coffee in a nice little cafe socializing I am looking at railroad station and buy a Railroad book.  

All together four railroads in the region went into demise- the Lackawana RR, the Eerie RR, the Delware and Hudson RR and the Ontario and Western Railroad. The Ontario and Western Railroad gained some notority as it went bankrupt in its entirety and was completely dismantled. In US  railroad history it was the first time to ever happen to a Tier 1 railroad. 

For more info on the Ontario and Western Railroad www.nyow.org