NYS&W and the Marcal Paper fire

Unfortunately earlier today we lost Marcal paper's historic building and iconic sign to a large 7-alarm Fire.

However, I am also curious about the condition of the NYS&W line since it runs straight through the plant complex. Has anyone checked up on it? Is there any chance that it may have sustained damage from the fire?

Regardless, the loss of this old landmark is absolutely tragic and devastating for me and a lot of us. So sad to see yet another childhood relic get consumed by the flames.

They were once a meaningful shipper too. I don't know how much use they made of the NYSW recently

I though Marcal still got rail service last I knew. They apparently got service as needed from what I remember someone said on this site. Not sure if that was still the case, although I guess that’s over now. A real shame this iconic building is gone...

When Delaware Otsego was still a publicly traded company, Mr. Marcellus and at least one of the upstate New York shippers were on the Board of Directors. I know that's going back 30 years, and I seem to recall the Marcal rail freight volume had fallen off considerably since that time.

Seems like one of the forum members was employed there, or worked for a trucking company in the area that managed a lot of their motor carrier freight. There may be more information in the NYS&W forum old threads.

Looking at some aerial footage of what’s left, it appears all the railroad infrastructure is intact and unharmed. I did see what appeared to be 3 rail cars on a siding adjacent to one of the buildings still standing. Possibly boxcars? So they must’ve still been an active customer? At any rate after this all calms down I guess the NYSW will have to send a crew to retrieve those three cars.

airman00 wrote:Looking at some aerial footage of what’s left, it appears all the railroad infrastructure is intact and unharmed. I did see what appeared to be 3 rail cars on a siding adjacent to one of the buildings still standing. Possibly boxcars? So they must’ve still been an active customer? At any rate after this all calms down I guess the NYSW will have to send a crew to retrieve those three cars.

Marcal was getting roughly 8-10 cars per week. That business across the tracks is Franconia. They also get boxcars.

waldwickrailfan wrote: Marcal was getting roughly 8-10 cars per week. That business across the tracks is Franconia. They also get boxcars.

If we are talking about the building just north of the tracks (opposite the site of the fire, on the west side of River Dr, which has a siding (here is Google Streetview https://goo.gl/maps/YyrWuhnXeut" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ), on the Streetview image if you zoom in the sign on the building says "SOUNDVIEW", which is the outfit which owns/operates Marcal. Not sure if this is what you mean by Franconia or something else.

Did Marcal get deliveries on both sides of the tracks?

pumpers wrote:

waldwickrailfan wrote: Marcal was getting roughly 8-10 cars per week. That business across the tracks is Franconia. They also get boxcars.

If we are talking about the building just north of the tracks (opposite the site of the fire, on the west side of River Dr, which has a siding (here is Google Streetview https://goo.gl/maps/YyrWuhnXeut" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ), on the Streetview image if you zoom in the sign on the building says "SOUNDVIEW", which is the outfit which owns/operates Marcal. Not sure if this is what you mean by Franconia or something else.

Did Marcal get deliveries on both sides of the tracks?

Idk, the customer is called Franconia. Could be the same, idk.

Hopefully the building is insured sufficiently to pay for rebuilding [with more fireproof construction and fire prevention tools].
And hopefully NJ's anti-business politicians will have the wisdom to give them tax incentives to rebuild.

The side that burned to the ground is the Franconia switch. Last I checked the cars that were spotted there when the fire took place are no longer there. The other side that did not burn down is "10pm". That is still receiving cars.