The Ossining Electric Railway was a streetcar transit line that operated in northern

Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...

. Chartered in 1892 as the Ossining Street Railway, the first section of the line opened in 1893, starting at the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

station at Ossining, and terminating at the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

Meeting Grounds (later Camp Woo

1.8 miles away. There was also a short branch off Main Street to Sparta Hill. The town purchased the company in 1897 for unpaid taxes and continued operation until 1902 when the Westchester Traction Company took control. The new company announced an ambitious project to build a new line to White Plains, New York, White Plains as well as a route to

Port Chester Port Chester is a village in the U.S. state of New York and the largest part of the town of Rye in Westchester County by population. At the 2010 U.S. census, the village of Port Chester had a population of 28,967 and was the fifth-most populou ...

, but the only extension built was from Sparta Hill to Ossining Hospital. Westchester Traction Company took control of the

Danbury and Harlem Traction Company The Danbury and Harlem Traction Company was an unfinished electric rapid-transit interurban railroad connecting Danbury, Connecticut, with the New York Central Railroad station at Goldens Bridge, New York, on the Harlem Line. History The company ...

project, which was only partially constructed between Danbury, Connecticut and North Salem, New York, and never put into operation. The ''Industrial Contracting Company'' was hired to construct the Danbury and Harlem line as well as the extension of the Ossining Electric Railway. Considerable grading and some track construction took place on the Danbury line, but no evidence of construction on the Ossining line could be found. In July 1906, the railroad suspended service while it made repairs to its powerhouse and other properties, but quickly determined by August that they could not afford to complete the work. The line was abandoned on October 20 and the rails were removed and scrapped by the town. The affiliated Danbury and Harlem Traction Co. had not seen any construction progress beyond roadbed grading from North Salem to Goldens Bridge. Its rails were removed sometime between 1910–1915. Established in February 1906, the Hudson River and Eastern Traction Company began construction of a new line over the same route in 1907. The new railway included a branch on Spring Street. Permission was secured in 1911 to construct a 17-mile extension running through

Briarcliff Manor Briarcliff Manor () is a suburban village in Westchester County, New York, north of New York City. It is on of land on the east bank of the Hudson River, geographically shared by the towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining. Briarcliff Manor inc ...

, Pleasantville, Sherman Park, and White Plains, but construction never began. Revenues declined through the 1920s until the railway was purchased by the Westchester Coach Co. in 1926. All trolley service was converted to bus operation immediately after.

References

{{NYC streetcar transit Streetcars in New York (state) Streetcar lines in Westchester County, New York Defunct New York (state) railroads