Marcellus & Otisco Lake

New Locomotive Too Heavy, M.& O. L. R.R. Comes to Grief

Line Out of Commission Two Days After Rails Spread Ties Up Rolling Stock

The Marcellus & Otisco Lake Railroad has been out of commission nearly two days because of derailment of most of its entire rolling stock. Now the M.& O.L. is not a big railroad. Directors do not gather regularly in Manhattan and moan over statements of its annual earnings. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation does not extend it aid. But the M.& O. L. generally keeps going along its nine-and-a-half mile right of way without much ado. A big moment in its recent history was the arrival last week of a new engine to replace the old "saddle-back" dinky type that hauled freight cars for years. But the new engine weighed a bit more than the old one and therein the M.& O.L. came to grief.

Rails Give Way

The new [65,000-pound] rebuilt engine, pride of the line and its only locomotive, was chugging up around the bent-hairpin right-of-way near Marcellus Falls late Tuesday afternoon, hauling a coal car and one freight car, when the weakened rusty M.& O. L. rails just gave way. They spread under the coal car and left the train marooned on the bend along the state highway just above A.V. Smith's pearl barley mill at Marcellus Falls. Ever since then the railroad's crew has been working to get her running again. The M.& O.L. runs from Martisco station on the Auburn short line of the New York Central Railroad, down through the winding gorge to Marcellus Falls, on to Marcellus village and over to Otisco Lake. It's a privately owned inconspicuous little railroad but its tie-up has caused much comment from passing motorists.

Engine Built in 1906

Engine 12, the new power plant of the road, is an American Locomotive Company product of the year 1906. It was rebuilt and purchased from the Buffalo Creek Railroad. (Note: Built at Alco's Brooks Works C/N 41091, Nov., 1906 Cylinders 20" x 24" , Drivers 44 inches. Purchased 1933, Scrapped 1934). It trails a tender behind it and together they weigh several hundred pounds more than the old engine. Late yesterday afternoon it appeared as if the coal car and freight car will get to Marcellus by today. The locomotive and tender were back on the wobbly rails and pulled ahead some distance. New rail still had to be laid so the coal car can be put in motion again. The freight car was on the track. When the break came the coal car and tender were derailed by the split rail. The line hauls freight only though in the old days it did a bit of passenger business. At one time it connected at Marcellus with the Auburn & Syracuse electric trolley line.

This article was researched and provided by Richard Palmer.