Middletown and New Jersey Railway

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Middletown & New Jersey Railway

Locale	New York
Dates of operation	–
Track gauge	4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge)
Headquarters

The Middletown & New Jersey Railroad is the only railway left in the City of Middletown, New York. In addition to its own trackage it uses some of the old trackage of the Erie Railroad and the old NYO&W right of ways. The railroad operates one diesel locomotive, and has only one customer on the line to provide service to; the product delivered is plastic pellets for injection moulding at a plastic container manufacturing plant.

The railway does have several miles of trackage but most of it is in need of maintenance, and the short line is supplied by Norfolk Southern. The Old Passenger Depot is located on Main St. in the City of Middletown, and the engine house is located behind the depot. There is an old caboose on display in the yard outside the depot.

Middletown also contains the restored Erie Railroad station which is now the city library, and the N.Y.O.& W. Station.

In December 2005, a company called Chartwell International, with offices in West Virginia, signed an agreement with the estate of Pierre Rasmussen of Middletown to purchase the Middletown & New Jersey Railway. Chartwell is interested in developing the property to haul containerized trash. Presently, both the city of Middletown and Orange County are seeking to block this development.