The Hayts Corners, Ovid and Willard Railroad
Old Lehigh Valley depot at Willard.
By Peter Allen
The Hayts Corners, Ovid & Willard Railroad was a five-mile long branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad built to serve the Willard Insane Asylum. The site of the asylum was originally used by New York State as the site of an Agricultural College which opened in 1860. The college closed in 1861 with the outbreak of the Civil War leaving New York State holding a $40,000 mortgage.
The site was, in 1869, used by the State as a Asylum for the Insane; a more humane alternative to the county poor houses. The first building used was the Agricultural building known as Branch located at the top of the hill east of Seneca Lake. The Asylum grew in size with more buildings constructed covering the 475 acre site. There was a farm that supplied most of the needs of the asylum. By 1877 the Willard Asylum was the largest in the country with over 1500 patients. In 1890 a nursing school was established and the Asylum was upgraded to that of a State Hospital for which Willard was known from this date on.
Moving coal and supplies to the various building necessitated the construction, in 1877, of a 2.5 mile narrow gauge railroad known as the Asylum Railroad. New York State gave $10,000 for the construction but no funds were allocated for an engine or rolling stock. The next year the State furnished $53,000 for an engine, one passenger car, six coal cars, two swill cars and one lumber car, ballast, switches and a turntable. A 0-6-0T No. 1 named "Willard" was delivered from Baldwin. A brick engine house, ash pit, coal bin and water tap were built down by the lake. Coal was received at a dock at Willard Landing by lake barges. In the morning a train would pick up coal at the lake making the rounds of the various buildings delivering coal, picking up requisitions for supplies and removing garbage and dirty laundry. The garbage would be dropped off at the Asylum pig farm. In the afternoon the train would drop off the supplies requisitioned and clean laundry. The supply of coal by lake barges was problematic. Coal was transported by the Chemung canal between Elmira and Watkins Glen on Seneca Lake and then to Willard by lake barge. The canal was built on the cheap and was unprofitable. The Trustees of the Asylum looked to the Geneva, Ithaca & Sayre RR at Hayts Corners. This line connected with and was under the control of the Lehigh Valley RR.
On Sept. 15, 1882 the Hayts Corners, Ovid & Willard RR was incorporated to run between Hayts Corners and the boundary of the asylum. G. W. Jones of Ovid was named President. Construction actually started in August before incorporation using volunteer inmates . The line was leased, on Dec. 29, 1882, to the G. I. & S. for 999 years. Rent was one dollar plus operating and maintenance expenses. The track and structures were owned by the G., I. & S. while the grading and culverts were owned by the H.C., O. & W. The line was extended to the Asylum boundary. A new narrow gauge 0-6-0T No. 14, built by Baldwin and a standard gauge combination car were purchased for the H. C., O. & W. A dispute over the rate to charge passengers delayed the opening of the line until May 14, 1883. Between three and five trains were run each day to connect with the trains on the G., I. & S. and L. V. at Hayts Corners.
A coal trestle and lumber yard were built in Ovid. In 1884 a coal trestle was built by Branch, the original Agricultural College building. The same year the iron rail in the Asylum was replaced with 40 lb steel rail. For the first few years the line did a brisk freight business along with the passenger traffic between the Asylum and Hayts Corners. The HC., O. & W. RR was duel gauge at least until 1885 while the Asylum RR continued to be duel gauge until 1895. At that time the third rail was taken up and engines No. 1 and 14 were sold off, replaced by a standard gauge Baldwin 0-4-0T No. 2. At the same time heavier rail were purchased and the track layout at Willard was altered. Soon a new engine house, coal bin and water crane was built SSW of the Laundry. Through a series of corporate machinations the G., I. & S. and the HC., O. & W. became part of the Lehigh Valley system in the early 1890s and were known as the Ithaca Branch and Willard Branch respectively.
The grade on the G., I. & S. in and out of Ithaca was a serious hindrance to freight operations to the Lehigh Valley. Starting in 1892 the Lehigh Valley railroad constructed the Seneca Lake bypass, a 2 track freight main line between Van Etten on the G., I. & S. and Geneva where it rejoined the G., I. & S. This new line passed just east of the Willard Hospital through a deep cut known as the Gilbert cut. The H.C., O. & W. passed over this line on a bridge.
Two spurs were laid from this new freight line to join the Willard Branch, one to the east and one to the west. Most of the freight traffic to the Hospital used this new connection. A large combination station was constructed on the Seneca Lake bypass about 1 mile south of the Willard Hospital and known as "Willard". In 1898 a new station was built at the north end of the Hospital named "Asylum" based on the design of the Hemlock Lake Depot. Passengers from outside the Hospital could enter the station through a one way revolving gate.
Two years later the station was renamed "Willard" and the station on the Freight Main renamed "Gilbert", after the long time steward of the Asylum, in order to avoid confusion to visitors from outside the area. A spur was laid to the new station and the combination car was kept at the station.
In the morning the engine would back into the station and couple the combination car. The train would proceed to Ovid and Hayts Corners.
After returning the train would perform operations in on the Hospital. The Lehigh Valley ran 3 local trains each day on the Ithaca Branch. For a few years the Black Diamond Express stopped at Hayts Corners. The Willard Branch trains made connections with as many of these trains as possible. A 'bus met the trains at the Ovid Depot to transport passengers up to the village.
Engine No. 2 proved to be unsatisfactory and was replaced by a new Baldwin built 0-6-0 No. 3 in 1903. This engine was also called Willard. It lasted till 1926 when it was replaced by engine No.4 a 0-6-0 built by Baldwin. When the engines had mechanical problems the Willard branch was often left without service as the Lehigh Valley had only two engines that could handle the tight curves within the hospital grounds. There were numerous minor derailments due to the deteriorating condition of the roadbed. A number of employees were injured.
There was one fatality. On November 19, 1900 James Martin, an employee of the hospital was working in the power plant when a flat car got away from the train crew at the farm. The car picked up speed as it rolled down grade toward the lake and crashed into the plant doors and then out through the opposite side of the building. A well known accident occurred in 1912. According to Dr. Doran a car loaded with ash broke away from the train well above the power plant. There were 8 patients and an attendant on the car. Six patients jumped, the other two were pushed off. The car gained speed rapidly; at least 9 turnouts were set the right way and the car flew to the end of the line, the coal trestle at "Edgemere". The car shot off the trestle few 60 feet and embedded itself in an 8 bed dormitory which was fortunately empty. For some reason no record of this incident has been found in the local papers.
Perhaps the most unusual incident occurred at 2:00 A. M. on Thursday December 13, 1934. The Willard engine had made it last trip between Willard and Hayts Corners and had been put to bed. The fire men and engineer were rudely awaken, at 2 a.m. to find the doors of the engine house open and the engine missing. Somehow it had built up 90 pounds of pressure in order to climb the hill past Grand View. At Hayts Corners the engine ran through the derailers and onto the Ithaca Branch. The engine was found 2 miles north of MacDougal and taken to Geneva where the train crew picked it up and returned to Willard.
Ovid continued to received freight at the Ovid Station. Ford cars and Fordson tractors for N R Boyce were shipped to Ovid by rail. Farm supplies and live stock were shipped in and out of Ovid. Standard Oil had tanks at the station . An evaporator was located SW of the station offering seasonal work. There was a grain elevator that still stands. The station saw the arrival and departure of seasonal tours such as the Redpath Co.'s Chautauqua and numerous excursions, both local to Geneva or Ithaca and to New York, Philadelphia and Niagara Falls. During this period the rise of the automobile spelled the end of local passenger service. In the early 1930s New York State decided to convert the Hospital to centralized steam heat. Trucks would be able to handle moving supplies around the grounds more efficiently. Formal application to the Public Service Commission for the abandonment of the line followed in 1936. Passenger revenue for 1935 amounted to $77.37 and $9.93 for the first six months of 1936. Freight service would be handled the Gilbert station which had been closed for two years and Ovid freight at Hayts Corners. The Asylum RR was abandoned on June 30, 1936 and most of the rail was removed.
The Lehigh Valley RR laid a new spur to the power plant with heavier rail and gentler curves. At the same time the Willard Branch was abandoned between the Hospital boundary and Ovid. Passenger service between Hayts Corners and Ovid ended the following year. Ovid continued to see occasional freight service until 1959 when the rest of the Willard Branch was abandoned. A small part of the west connector remained in place long after the Freight bypass was abandoned by Conrail in 1976. It was finally bulldozed in the late 1990s.
Charlie Beach, conductor, Hayts Corners, Ovid and Willard Railroad.
Early freight train on the line.
Topographic map showing location of the railroad in 1903.
This combine coach appears to have originated on the Geneva, Ithaca & Sayre Railroad (later Lehigh Valley. The coach was standard gauge and could bed coupled on to any train. The original standard gauge trucks may have been replaced with narrow gauge trucks, judging from the awkward appearance of the car.
Another view of the Hayts Corners, Ovid & Willard Railroad train on the Willard Asylum grounds.
Sketch of Hayts Corners, Ovid & Willard Railroad at Willard Psychiatric Center. Each building had a name: A-Edgemere; B-Pines; C-Main Building, or “Chapin House”; D - Engine House; E-Laundry; F-Willard Station; G - Maples; H - Power House; I - “Sunnycroft”; J - Hermitage; K-“Grandview”; L- Farm buildings.
