The
Rochester Division of the Erie Railroad (now the Erie-Lackawanna
Railroad) was hung with catenary in 1907 from Rochester to Mt. Morris.
Until 1934 a group of heavy, pantographed cars ran over its 34 miles of
rails from the village of Mount Morris northeastward to a terminal on
Court Street in the heart of Rochester. Built in 1854 as the Rochester
& Genesee Valley Railroad, the southern terminal was initially at
Avon where a connection was made for Buffalo via the Buffalo, Corning
& New York Railroad. (This company later became the New York, Lake
Erie & Western Railroad and still later the Erie Railroad.) East
from Avon, the BC & NY's wide-gauge tracks wound through the hills
and river valleys to Painted Post, Corning, Elmira and the east. By 1859
the Genesee Valley had built to Mount Morris, but its capital had been
exhausted and the line was reformed under the name of the Avon, Geneseo
& Mount Morris Railroad. (Note the three-rail system at Avon in the
photograph on page 66.) The AG & MM was leased to the Erie until the
Avon-Mount Morris section was torn out in 1940.
The
Dansville & Mount Morris Railroad, which connected until 1940 with
the Erie at Mount Morris, was formed under its present name at the time
of the failure of the Erie and Genesee Valley Railroad. Active today,
the D & MM provides the only rail service to the town of Dansville,
15 miles southeast of Mount Morris, since the scrapping of the main line
of the Lackawanna between Wayland and Groveland Station where the D
& MM connects.
In
1951 the Erie abandoned its 13 mile line between Livonia and Wayland
and by 1964 has asked for abandonment of the entire remaining 13 miles
from Avon to Livonia. A group of businessmen in Livonia, however, raised
sufficient capital to purchase a 45-ton diesel, refurbish buildings,
and buy the trackage from the Erie. Thus was born the newest shortline
in the nation, the Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad. Plans of the
company include passenger excursions behind steam.
