Thanks for the info, Scot. What I had in mind is more when the NYC integrated the actual operations. As late as the turn of the century, West Shore operations such as passenger excursions were advertised as "West Shore".
In particular, I was curious as to the freight operations on the West Shore between Syracuse and Buffalo from, say, 1900-1930. As I said, sometime during that period, the NYC referred to the WS as Tracks 5 & 6. We moved to Pittsford in 1928 and the West Shore was pretty busy then. During the depression, the WS became single track from Syracuse to Buffalo and signals set for one direction. From Wayneport west, almost all trains except wayfreights were westbound and were exclusively 130- car empties. From Wayneport east, the trains were eastbound for a way, anyhow, but I don't know what they were.
Another thing that may or may not have affected operations were grades. From Fairport to Pittsford, it was a bit of a climb to get up over the canal although the grade was evened out somewhat in 1920 or so. (If you look under the bridge over Marsh Road, you will see two dates, one for the original bridge and a second showing when they raised it and by how much.) Beyond Pittsford, it was pretty flat. The WS had no Byron Hill to deal with. Ted