see section from 1895 journey from Elmira to Cleveland
The Railroad Comes to Town (1867) The Utica, Chenango and Susuehanna Valley Railroad reaches Waterville from Utica, November of 1867. Later to be DL&W, Utica Branch
History of Chenango and Madison Counties, New York
By James Smith, 1880, Page 96
The Utica, Chenango and Susquehanna Valley Railroad Company was formed January 11, 1866, and received aid from Utica to the amount of half a million dollars and considerable sums from towns along the line, under provisions of chapter 50 of the laws of 1866. The road was constructed to a point on the Midland near Sherburne Four Corners in 1868-’9; and in 1870, under the provisions of an act passed April 21, 1868, was extended to Chenango Forks, where it connects with the Syracuse and Bighamton Railroad, which is operated by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The right of way from Greene to Chenango Forks was transferred to this company by the Greene Railroad Company. The road enters the county of Madison in the north-west corner of Brookfield, crosses the south-east corner of Madison, extends diagonally across Hamilton, the western part of Sherbourne, the north-east part of Plymouth, running parallel with the Midland from North Norwich to Norwich, from which point it deflects to the west, following the Chenango Valley through the west part of Norwich and diagonally across the towns of Oxford and Greene.
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of 395 miles (636 km). Incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1853 primarily for the purpose of providing a connection between the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania's Coal Region and the large markets for coal in New York City. The railroad gradually expanded both East and West, eventually linking Buffalo with New York City.
Like most coal-focused railroads in Northeastern Pennsylvania (e.g., Lehigh Valley Railroad, New York, Ontario and Western Railroad and the Lehigh & New England Railroad), the DL&W was profitable during the first half of the twentieth century, but its margins were gradually hurt by declining Pennsylvania coal traffic, especially following the 1959 Knox Mine Disaster and competition from trucks following the expansion of the Interstate Highway System in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1960, the DL&W merged with rival Erie Railroad to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad that would be taken over by Conrail in 1976.