The Elmira and Lake Ontario Railroad was a subsidiary of the Northern Central Railway and later the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

, formed to give the Northern Central an outlet for

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

traffic on

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

Predecessors

Horseheads–Canandaigua

The Canandaigua and Corning Railroad Company was incorporated by a special act of the New York Legislature on May 14, 1845, to build between the two points named, and the Chemung Railroad was incorporated on the same date. The Chemung RR was the first to finish its line, from

Horseheads Horseheads is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Chemung County, New York, Chemung County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 19,412 at the 2020 census. The name of the town is derived from the number o ...

, on the New York and Erie Railroad, to Watkins Glen (then known as Jefferson), on Seneca Lake, in 1850. It was operated as a branch of the Erie, and accordingly used

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union ( C ...

. On March 8, 1850, another act authorized the Canandaigua & Corning to change its name to the Canandaigua & Elmira and connect with the Chemung RR. It opened a line between the Chemung RR at Jefferson and Canandaigua on September 15, 1851, and was also operated by the Erie. On September 14, 1852, it was renamed the Canandaigua and Elmira Railroad Company. On January 1, 1853, the Erie ceased to operate the two railroads, and the Chemung RR was run as part of the Canandaigua & Elmira, now an independent operation. On July 1, 1853, the

Canandaigua and Niagara Falls Railroad The Elmira and Lake Ontario Railroad was a subsidiary of the Northern Central Railway and later the Pennsylvania Railroad, formed to give the Northern Central an outlet for coal traffic on Lake Ontario. Predecessors Horseheads–Canandaigua Th ...

opened between Canandaigua and

North Tonawanda North Tonawanda is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 31,568 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is named after Tonawanda Creek, its south bo ...

. It was also broad gauge, and was leased by the Canandaigua & Elmira RR, giving it access to the

Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge The Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge stood from 1855 to 1897 across the Niagara River and was the world's first working railway suspension bridge. It spanned and stood downstream of Niagara Falls, where it connected Niagara Falls, Ontario t ...

. The Canandaigua & Elmira RR was sold at

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan. Formally, a mort ...

on April 23, 1857, to George B. Holmes and was reorganized on May 2, 1857, as the Elmira, Canandaigua and Niagara Falls Rail Road Company, continuing to operate the Chemung RR. On November 6, 1857, the Canandaigua & Niagara Falls RR was also sold under foreclosure. The Elmira, Canandaigua & Niagara Falls RR went bankrupt, and a receiver was appointed on July 1, 1858; the Chemung RR reverting to Erie operation. The bankrupt railroad was sold at foreclosure on July 23, 1858, to Charles Congdon and Robert B. Potter. On August 25, 1858, the foreclosed Canandaigua and Niagara Falls RR was reorganized as the

Niagara Bridge and Canandaigua Railroad Niagara may refer to: Geography Niagara Falls and nearby places In both the United States and Canada * Niagara Falls, the famous waterfalls in the Niagara River * Niagara River, part of the U.S.–Canada border * Niagara Escarpment, the cliff ...

, which was leased to the

New York Central 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 ...

on September 1, 1858. It was regauged to , depriving the Erie of a broad gauge connection to Niagara Falls. The foreclosed Elmira, Canandaigua and Niagara Falls RR was reorganized on February 18, 1859, as the Elmira, Jefferson and Canandaigua Railroad Company. The Erie continued to operate the Elmira, Jefferson & Canandaigua RR, which in turn operated the Chemung RR, until January 19, 1866. The two lines were then leased to the Northern Central Railway to replace an unsatisfactory joint routing over the Buffalo, New York and Erie Railroad; the line to be given a

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hi ...

(

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in E ...

) rail by May 1, when the lease was to take effect.

Stanley–Sodus Point

The Sodus Point and Southern Rail Road Company was incorporated on March 19, 1852, under the general law of

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. sta ...

. The railroad was not finished until January 16, 1873, when it opened between Sodus Point and Gorham. It became apparent that a connection at Gorham would not soon be forthcoming, and the line between Gorham and the Elmira, Jefferson & Canandaigua RR connection at Stanley was abandoned on February 16, 1873. The Sodus Point & Southern RR was sold at foreclosure on September 21, 1875, and reorganized on November 30, 1875, as the Ontario Southern Railroad Company. The Geneva and Southwestern Railway Company was incorporated in New York on May 29, 1871, to build a line from

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

(at the head of Seneca Lake and on the New York Central) to Wayland. The

Rochester, Hornellsville, and Pine Creek Railroad Company The Rochester, Hornellsville, and Pine Creek Railroad (RH&PC) was a railroad company organized in New York state in the 1870s. It did some grading but never laid track nor opened its line. Its articles of association were filed on March 30, 1871 i ...

was incorporated in New York on March 30, 1872, to build from Olean east to Hornellsville; then south to the Pennsylvania state line to connect with the Jersey Shore, Pine Creek and State Line Railroad. The Geneva Southwestern and Hornellsville Railway Company was incorporated in New York on November 29, 1872, to extend the Geneva & Southwestern Ry. to Hornellsville and connect it with the Rochester, Hornellsville & Pine Creek Ry. Some grading was done by the Geneva & Southwestern Ry. between Geneva and

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

, which was later used by the Lehigh Valley Naples Branch, and by the RH&PC between Canisteo and Rexville, which was later used by the New York and Pennsylvania Railroad. However, the Panic of 1873 brought work on these railroads to a halt, never to resume. The Gaines and State Line Rail Road Company was incorporated on November 4, 1875, in Pennsylvania. It was intended as another outlet for the RH&PC, to run from a connection at the state line through Potter and Tioga Counties to West Branch Township, Pennsylvania. On November 12, 1875, the Geneva & Southwestern Ry. was consolidated with the Geneva, Southwestern & Hornellsville Ry. to form The Geneva and Hornellsville Railway. The Geneva & Hornellsville Ry., Gaines & State Line RR and Rochester, Hornellsville & Pine Creek RR were consolidated on January 13, 1876, to form The Geneva, Hornellsville and Pine Creek Railway Company. The Geneva, Hornellsville & Pine Creek Ry. was merged with the Ontario Southern RR on December 17, 1879, to form The Lake Ontario Southern Railway Company. One of the backers of the Sodus Point & Southern RR was E. H. Harriman, who hoped to sell it to the Erie or the Northern Central. It was sold at foreclosure on September 4, 1882, and reorganized as the Sodus Bay and Southern Railway Company on November 5, 1882. In 1884, it became a subsidiary of the Northern Central, which built a coal trestle at the terminus at Sodus Bay.

Consolidation and Operation

The Chemung RR, Elmira, Jefferson & Canandaigua RR, and Sodus Bay & Southern Ry. were consolidated on December 31, 1886, to form the Elmira and Lake Ontario Railroad Company, a continuous line from the Erie interchange at Horseheads to Sodus Point, with a branch from Stanley to Canandaigua. It was leased and operated by the Northern Central, which reached it via the

Elmira and Williamsport Railroad The Elmira and Williamsport Railroad (earlier Williamsport and Elmira Railroad) is a historic railroad that operated in Pennsylvania. The W&E was organized in 1832 and ran between Williamsport, Pennsylvania and Elmira, New York. It was reorganize ...

, another subsidiary, and trackage rights over the Erie from Elmira to Horseheads. The lease was transferred to the PRR, which controlled the Northern Central, on January 1, 1911. A short line from Canandaigua to a pier on Canandaigua Lake was built by the Canandaigua Lake Railroad Company, incorporated July 21, 1887, which was merged into the Elmira & Lake Ontario on December 27, 1888. The principal purpose of the railroad was to serve as an outlet for coal shipments from the mines tapped by the Northern Central, using the coal pier at Sodus Bay to ship to markets on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

. Parent Pennsylvania Railroad acquired control of the connecting Newark and Marion Railway on May 4, 1930, and merged it into the Elmira & Lake Ontario a year later. On January 31, 1956, the Elmira & Lake Ontario was merged into the Northern Central Railway.

References

External links