Interurban paralleling Erie RR South of Rochester?

Just south of the U of R, there is the old Erie Railroad bridge spanning the canal and I390, but just west of it is a parallel old interurban right-of-way. Who ran this road, where did it go, and when was it active? Also, was the Lehigh Valley also using the Erie bridge?

I always thought the west bridge was Erie and the east bridge was LV.

Correct. Maybe the confusion was the Erie was like an interurban pre-WWII.

RailKevin wrote:I always thought the west bridge was Erie and the east bridge was LV.

D Alex wrote:Just south of the U of R, there is the old Erie Railroad bridge spanning the canal and I390, but just west of it is a parallel old interurban right-of-way. Who ran this road, where did it go, and when was it active? Also, was the Lehigh Valley also using the Erie bridge?

The Erie and the Lehigh Valley ran side by side through campus. The Erie was electrified from 1907 to 1931.

You can see the Erie and LV tracks marked plainly in the 1935 plat map view:

https://maps.cityofrochester.gov/historic/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

-otto-

A short stretch of the by then EL was abandoned to use the LV but that was south of the West Shore and NY-252, the jog is fairly obvious on the map. That's the only shared trackage between the two. I don't recall why that was done, perhaps to eliminate the need to maintain the crossing over the PC.

There was a proposed interurban from Rochester to Elmira. It was turned down by a 3-2 vote by the NY State PUC in 1906.



https://books.google.com/books?id=zkhNA ... nd&f=false" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

i remember seeing the LV line from my dorm room at UR in the early 70s,but never knew the EL had been there as well, hauling coal to the UR powerplant. Sometimes the LV would leave an RS3 on the spur on campus running all night--no crew in evidence. Always wondered how it never just "wandered off" in the hands of fraternity types.

twinship wrote:i remember seeing the LV line from my dorm room at UR in the early 70s,but never knew the EL had been there as well, hauling coal to the UR powerplant.

Powerplant was served by LV. There was a tragic collision in that general area, I believe a bit farther north. An EMD switcher with cars for the U of R and a doodlebug came together with the loss of...2 lives? in the ....late 1940's? Both those points are from recall and subject to correction if I'm wrong.

EDIT: From a 10-year old thread on here, the following posted courtesy of JR - "The LV doodlebug / switcher was on Jan 27th, 1940, resulting in two crew fatalities." That thread is viewtopic.php?f=128&t=47977" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

twinship wrote:.......Always wondered how it never just "wandered off" in the hands of fraternity types.

That's really a good question. I'm drawing on my own memory here, but some years back a member here related how
some of the loaded coal hoppers in the 70's were moved up the track powered manually by brave souls fueled by copious
amounts of Genesee Beer.

Charlie

The Erie-Lackawanna began utilizing the Lehigh Valley Rochester Branch between Crittenden Road and River Jct. effective 10:01 A.M. Wednesday, October 7, 1970.

This agreement allowed the E-L to abandon their track between those two points thereby eliminating one grade crossing of the West Shore line at Mortimer.

The Erie Railroad electrified their line between Rochester and Mount Morris in 1907 and service began on May 12 of that year. Electric service was replaced by gas-electric cars on November 29, 1934.

Information from Lehigh Valley Railroad ETT NO. 9 effective October 27, 1968, Zone E General Order No. 913 and ERIE RAILROAD (ROCHESTER DIVISION) by Bill Gordon.

TB Diamond wrote:The Erie-Lackawanna began utilizing the Lehigh Valley Rochester Branch between Crittenden Road and River Jct. effective 10:01 A.M. Wednesday, October 7, 1970.

Where's River Jct?

LV timetable says 2 miles north of Crittenden Road. I would expect that puts it just below where the Erie bridge across the river is by the UofR campus.

The only problem is the EL connection to the LV is below Crittenden Road, it's just below West Jefferson Road. Crittenden Road is even north of the West Shore branch.

The LV and the EL had a connection on (or next to) the UofR campus. It is evident on the historical maps Otto linked to above. I believe that's it.

Otto Vondrak wrote:

D Alex wrote:Just south of the U of R, there is the old Erie Railroad bridge spanning the canal and I390, but just west of it is a parallel old interurban right-of-way. Who ran this road, where did it go, and when was it active? Also, was the Lehigh Valley also using the Erie bridge?

The Erie and the Lehigh Valley ran side by side through campus. The Erie was electrified from 1907 to 1931.

You can see the Erie and LV tracks marked plainly in the 1935 plat map view:

https://maps.cityofrochester.gov/historic/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

-otto-

Thanks for the link! It also cleared up questions I had on just where the Pennsylvania RR went, at least within city limits. I wish the county had a site like this!

Here's the Erie (top) and the LV (bottom) crossing Elmwood next to the UofR, during the construction of the "new" Elmwood bridge over the river. The view is to the west. The 19th Ward is on the other side.