Watertown Daily Times, Sept. 4, 1908
In another month the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg division of the New York Central will no longer officially be known as such. The main line, running from Suspension Bridge on the west, along the shore of Lake Ontario to Massena Springs on the north, with its numerous branches, will then be known as the Ontario division and the St. Lawrence division: the point of bisection being at the west end of the Watertown yards.
It will, however, be many a day before the public will forget the road as the "R., W. & O." That is an euphonious name and, while it does not fittingly locate the line, there being other and larger cities touched by it than those enumerated in its corporate title, people will be prone to hang on to it.
In the old days, when railroads were sometimes given nom-de-plumes, the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg Railroad was referred to throughout its serpentine length as "Rotten Wood and Old Rusty Rails." That was in a time when the appellation was most fitting. The past decade or two, however, has seen much improvement in conditions on the line, and the rather unpleasant (to officials) reference has not been heard in that time to any extent.
Then, too, there is the "Hojack," a name given to the line by some one, no one knows who. Where the name originated no one knows either. Even the "stovepipe committee" says it has no knowledge of its origin and what the "stovepipe committee" does not know is hardly worth while. One old railroader, however, says "Hojack" is a western word and means "two streaks of rust and the right of way." Be this as it may, one thing is certain, the officials of the R., W. & O. hate the word "Hojack," and wax warm and sore whenever they hear it used.
It would seem that in the selection of names for the new divisions, the selector has exercised pretty fair judgment. At least no better name for that portion of the road from the Bridge to Watertown could be chosen. "Ontario" division at once suggests the lake and it is along the lake's south shore that the road runs.
So, too, in the other name, St. Lawrence, a fitting title was selected. the portion of the line to carry that name is the road that leads to the big river and its Thousand Islands and, too, much of it within the county of St. Lawrence.
But, as we said in the first place, the people will be a long time forgetting to call the line the "R., W. & O."
