The Genesee Valley Canal Railroad was a part of 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 ...

system in western

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. It was built on the former

Genesee Valley Canal The Genesee Valley Canal is a former canal that operated in central New York between 1840 and 1878. It ran for a length of 124 miles, passing through 106 locks. Its course was later used by the Genesee Valley Canal Railroad and today comprises po ...

alignment.

History

Genesee Valley Canal: 1836-1878

On May 6, 1836 an act was passed in New York authorizing the construction of the

, running from the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

southwest along the

Genesee River The Genesee River is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York in the United States. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides h ...

valley to Mount Morris, Portageville, and Belfast, and then cross-country to the

Allegheny River The Allegheny River ( ) is a long headwater stream of the Ohio River in western Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York. The Allegheny River runs from its headwaters just below the middle of Pennsylvania's northern border northwesterly into ...

at Olean, with a branch from Mount Morris paralleling the

Canaseraga Creek Canaseraga Creek is a stream that flows through Livingston, Steuben, and Allegany Counties in western and central New York. It is a tributary of the Genesee River, and its watershed is the largest sub-watershed of that river. The creek's name ...

to Dansville. On September 1, 1840 the canal was opened to navigation from Rochester to Mount Morris. The extension to Dansville opened in fall 1841, and by then the split between the Dansville branch and the main line was set at Sonyea, southeast of Mount Morris. After some partial openings, the full line was opened at the beginning of navigation in 1862, running to Olean on the

and beyond to

Mill Grove Mill Grove is a historic house and estate on Pawlings Road in Audubon, Pennsylvania. Built in the 1760s, it is notable as the first home in America of painter and naturalist John James Audubon (1785-1851), for whom the community is named. The ...

, on the river just north of the

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

state line. However, by then, the

Main Line of Public Works The Main Line of Public Works was a package of legislation passed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1826 to establish a means of transporting freight between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. It funded the construction of various long-proposed can ...

and

had been completed, opening up the interior of Pennsylvania without depending on New York, and there was no interest in improving the Allegheny River. Instead, the

Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Railroad Share of the Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Rail Road Company, issued 31 March 1860 The Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Railroad was formed on February 26, 1859, by the merger of the Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad and the Buffalo and Bradford ...

, connecting to the river at Carrollton, west of Olean, was used as a reason to continue building the canal. On June 4, 1877 the legislature approved an abandonment of the canal on or after September 30, 1878. The canal was sold on November 6, 1880 to the Genesee Valley Canal Railroad, which had been chartered July 15 of that year.

Genesee Valley Canal Railroad: 1880-1990s

The railroad began construction, and opened its line in 1882 from

to Hinsdale. At Hinsdale it connected to the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railway, and the rest of the canal south to and through Olean was not used as it closely paralleled the BNY&P. The Genesee Valley Canal Railroad was immediately leased to the BNY&P. The branch of the canal to Dansville was not used for a railroad, but two railroads already served that corridor - the Erie and Genesee Valley Railroad and the

Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...

New York, Lackawanna and Western Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...

. The Rochester, Nunda and Pennsylvania Railroad had built a line roughly parallel to the canal between Mount Morris and Nunda, turning southeast there to Swain. In 1881 the part north of Nunda was abandoned, and on July 11 of that year, the company was consolidated into the Rochester, New York and Pennsylvania Railroad. That company opened a new line in 1882 from Nunda northeast to the new Genesee Valley Canal Railroad at Nunda Junction, and the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railway leased it that year. The Genesee Valley Terminal Railroad was incorporated August 14, 1882, and in 1883 opened a branch from the Genesee Valley Railroad southwest of

north to a junction with the

New York Central Railroad 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 Midw ...

main line at

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...

. In September 1887 the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad acquired the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railroad and with it the Genesee Valley Canal Railroad. In 1900 the

leased the WNYP. A short branch from Scottsville west to Garbutt on the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

Rochester and State Line Railroad The Rochester and State Line Railroad was a 19th-century railroad company in New York state. Background In the middle of the 19th century, Rochester, New York's need for transportationMonroe and Livingston Counties were, at the time, the nation's ...

opened on September 16, 1907. This three mile section of track was abandoned in 1944, and no trace of it exists today. On November 15, 1912 the Genesee Valley Canal Railroad and Genesee Valley Terminal Railroad merged to form the Pennsylvania and Rochester Railroad. That company was absorbed on February 28, 1916 into the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railway, still leased by the

. In 1968 the PRR merged into

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

, and in 1976 became part of

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

. The full line from Rochester to Hinsdale (minus a short spur immediately south of Rochester) was abandoned in 1963.

Genesee Valley Canal: 1991-present

In 1991, the

Genesee Valley Greenway The Genesee Valley Greenway is a rail trail in western New York's Genesee River valley. The trail stretches for along a former Pennsylvania Railroad right-of-way as well as adjacent land from the Genesee Valley Canal. The low grade path is a m ...

project was begun. This project is to transform the abandoned canal and railroad routes into a recreational pathway.

External links

Interactive map of the Genesee Valley Canal Railroad.

References

*Nobel E. Whitford

(1906) * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20151104155926/http://www.earlpleasants.com/search_1.asp Railroad History Databasebr>Corporate Genealogy - Western New York & Pennsylvania

by Richard Palmer {{DEFAULTSORT:Genesee Valley Canal Railroad Predecessors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Defunct New York (state) railroads Canals in New York (state) Genesee River Railway companies established in 1880 Railway companies disestablished in 1912 1880 establishments in New York (state)