As long as we are thinking about the last days of the O & W I will relate to a little adventure some friends and I took maybe a month or two after that fateful day of the shutdown. We drove from Connecticut over to Middletown to look around a little bit and we found a lot to look at. The station was active with employees (a few of them) wrapping up stuff, storing stuff, closing out files and doing whatever else it took to effect a complete shutdown. We talked to a couple of them around the station and one of them gave me a copy of the last employee timetable. It was suggested that we would find more activity around the shop so we took a run over there and there were a few folks working inside the shop. Turned out they were a master mechanic and several foremen who were watching and baby sitting the stored diesels some of which were inside the shop. They had the diesel engines running on several of them and it was somewhat smoky inside the shop but everybody was very friendly to us both there and at the offices. It was very interesting but also very sad to see. We used another transportation facility that is long gone, the Newburgh-Beacon Ferry both ways to cross the Hudson. The ferry lasted until the bridge opened up later on, I also used it in 1961 when I was working out of Maybrook for a few months. On our way back to Waterbury we also did another attraction that is no longer with us the incline up Mount Beacon and that was another great experience. One car was closed and the other one open air. They had a pavilion at the top with light food and drinks. I would sure like to re-live those days.
Noel Weaver
