Goshen, Orange Co., N.Y.

Goshen, in the center of Orange County, became a major focal point of the nation's railroad infrastructure. Builders of the New York & Erie Railroad envisioned a line across New York from Piermont on the Hudson River to Dunkirk on Lake Erie, but when the rails reached Goshen in 1841 the company had run out of funds, making Goshen the western terminal for two years until residents of Middletown raised money in 1843 to extend the line seven more miles. When the railroad was completed in 1851, it was the longest railroad in the world. In 1868, the Goshen & Deckertown Railway was built south from Goshen to Pine Island and later became the Erie Railroad's Pine Island Branch, while another line was built north to Montgomery and Campbell Hall. By 1895, the Lehigh & New England Railroad had secured rights to run trains from Pine Island to Campbell Hall, linking Pennsylvania coal fields with the Erie at Pine Island Junction and helping move coal and cement to Maybrook for shipment across the Hudson River on the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge. By the 1950s, freight and passenger rail travel had sharply declined as interstate highways displaced railroads and the coal industry faltered; the Lehigh & New England Railroad ceased operations on October 31, 1961, much of the Pine Island and Montgomery branches were abandoned, the station agent in Goshen was relocated by 1966, and after Orange County approved abandoning the Erie Mainline in favor of the Graham Line in 1983, the rails were removed by 1984, ending more than 140 years of trains through Goshen.

Goshen, New York · United States