The correspondence documents a portion of the business relationship between railroads and the Orange and Rockland (New York) Utility Company. Specifically, the correspondence deals with easements, real estate, construction, modifications, safety, rights of way, rent, and other matters relating to the utility company's use of railroad property. For example, a railroad might write a letter to the utility company to specify how deep a gas line must be buried under its tracks and how it must be maintained. Only the incoming correspondence, from railroads to the utility company, is present in this file. Material is arranged first by the name of the railroad, and then, chronologically within that file.

Correspondence files for some railroads are large; others consist of only a few letters. Dates range from the early 20th century, but most correspondence is concentrated from the 1940s through the 1980s.