by Marty Feldner
It wasn't easy. but I dug out my paper topos (most of the trolley line, and all of the completed grading that I'm aware of is on the Monticello quad- mine is 1966). No markings for the ROW, and no way to tell from the contour lines; they followed the contours. The section visible from Rt. 42 is on the north side of 'Hill 16', between Kiamesha Lake and South Fallsburgh- it's just south of a high tension power line crossing 42, on the east side of the road; it only extends about 1000 feet. Another remnant is a little further north, where approaches to a bridge over the extreme north end of Pleasure Lake are visible. Both can be seen on Bing Maps, Bird's Eye View (Bird's eye views, where available, were taken when the foliage was down so much more can be seen; they are oblique views that can be rotated- much easier to follow ROW's). Also in South Fallsburgh just south of the former O&W station is a short street, Trolley Road, that leads to the bridge location. (In 1977 Ed Crist and I spent a long day at the Sullivan County Museum in Hurleyville making copy negatives of a large bunch of railroad construction photos- presumably O&W, but nothing was labelled so there could even be some of the trolley line. I have the negatives; they've never been printed beyond contact sheets- there are almost 600 images. Not sure, but the photos may have gone to the O&W archives in Middletown some years later. I may have seen an old map in the museum that showed the proposed line- it was years ago.)
In Wakefield's book, the flown aerial view of the Pleasure Lake bridge approaches is on page 94; the one for the Rt. 42 crossing is page 113, and the info he gathered on the whole endeavor is pages 104-109. Try a google search for 'Fallsburgh Monticello Trolley' (with the 'h'); it brought up several book and newspaper references.
In Wakefield's book, the flown aerial view of the Pleasure Lake bridge approaches is on page 94; the one for the Rt. 42 crossing is page 113, and the info he gathered on the whole endeavor is pages 104-109. Try a google search for 'Fallsburgh Monticello Trolley' (with the 'h'); it brought up several book and newspaper references.