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The New York Ontario & Western arrived at Burnside during the construction of the single-track branch from Middletown, NY., to Cornwall between 1881 and 1883, mostly for local dairy business.
The Lehigh & Hudson River Ry. came along in 1889, in the form of the subsidiary Orange County RR which negotiated to cross the O&W at Burnside to reach the Poughkeepsie Bridge (across the Hudson River, which became the L&HR's connection to New England). The Orange County RR was formerly merged in to the L&HR in 1907.
It is difficult to say what sort of crossing protection was in place during the 1890's. Semaphore signals were used, but there is no record of a tower and they may have been controlled from either the station or a small signal cabin. Burnside is listed on the L&HR tables of this period as a day and night telegraph station, but there is no record of whether the key was handled by the O&W or the L&HR.
I suspect that the tower was installed when the O&W was double-tracked in 1903 and 1904. Since the O&W was the prior railroad, its trains legally had priority at the crossing. In practice, eastbound L&HR trains were generally given the preference because they were climbing the steep grade from Farmingdale up to Maybrook.
The tower at the L&HR crossing at Burnside had only four windows on its longest sides, but at the other locations the O&W used the same standard design for larger towers as shown in the drawing. The station was a standard design too, which the O&W used at Meadow Brook, Stoney Ford, Crystal Run, and Mechanicstown besides Burnside.
I have no record of exactly when the Burnside station disappeared. The station is visible in a 1942 photo by Bob Collins, but I assume it was torn down in the late 1940's, when several other nearby O&W stations were removed or demolished.
During 1945 and 1946 the L&HR replaced its upper-quadrant semaphores with general Railway Signal Co. searchlight signals. Photos show the interlocking rodding removed at Burnside at this time, so I'd guess that the tower was closed and torn down about this time.
The methods that Paul Lubliner used to model the station in this article could be used for both buildings. Of the two, the tower is obviously the simpler modeling project, a snap for any scratchbuilder who can handle the station.
Thanks are due to the O&WRHS for providing the background material for these MR drawings. - Harold Russell
This is the O&W's Mechanicstown, NY station which was built to the same design as the one at Burnside.
The upper stories were living quarters for the agent and his family - see the flowerpots in the second floor window.
Drawing No. 1 - Drawing No. 2 - Drawing No. 3 - Drawing No. 4
Ratio 1:87
HO scale
The O&W interlocking tower follows the same standard design as the one at Burnside, but in the longer, five window version.
Drawn for Model Railroader Magazine by
Harold W. Russell & L. Lammes
Prints and photocopies made be made locally as an aid for personal or commercial model making or tool designing,
but you do not have the right to distribute copies of these drawings to others.
This article was reprinted by permission of Model Railroader. It originally appeared in the
July, 1984 issue, Volume 51, Number 7 , starting on page 76.
