There was a problem, though; there was another railroad that was about to be charted, called the Middleburgh and Schoharie. It would go from Middleburgh, New York, to Grand Gorge, New York, where it would meet the Ulster and Delaware Railroad, and continue on to Scranton, Pennsylvania. That would mean that it would serve practically the same purpose as the Delaware and Eastern. So the future crew of the D&E and the future crew of the M&S had a meeting in Albany, New York, to see which railroad would be chartered. It was eventually decided that the D&E would be chartered. So another person, J.J. Searing, became president of the D&E, and had taken on the task of charting. Construction began at East Branch, New York in 1906, with two subsidiaries helping with the construction; the Hancock and East Branch and the Schenectady and Margaretville, which were soon incorporated into the D&E. Service started later that year. The D&E's first locomotive, an ex-Delaware, Lackawanna and Western locomotive that arrived at Downsville, New York, the D&E's headquarters. The branch to Andes, which was planned to reach Bovina, was constructed the same year, and was called the Andes Branch. Service didn't begin on the branch until 1907, however, and when it first opened, the station at the end of the branch, the Andes Station, was just being completed.