Rochester area electric/trolley lines.

This is an off-shoot of another thread:
http://64.78.30.219/forums/viewtopic.ph ... 20fbcdc14b

We got to talking about abandoned ROWs of Rochester electric lines, and how many there were.
Im up to 7 different lines:


1. Rochester & Eastern Rapid Railway
2. Rochester, Syracuse, and Eastern Rapid Railroad
3. Rochester & Sodus Bay Electric
4. the Erie's Mount Morris line.
5. little line from University ave to Irondequoit bay.
6. Rochester, Charlotte & Manitou Beach Railway
----(originally Grandview Beach trolley system)
7. Rochester Industrial & Rapid Transit Railway (the Subway)

anyone know any more?
what about the streetcar lines downtown?
how many seperate systems/companys were there?

anyone know any artifacts still remaining from these lines?

We have a bridge in Victor. (from 1)
concrete bridge abutments over the canal at Bushnell's basin. (1)
reports of some cantenary poles still standing in the Victor-Farmington area. need to check those out! (1)
Trolley Car 157 (1)
Pittsford station (1)

The Erie's concrete arch bridge still stands in Avon. (4)

a mile marker in Pittsford, (or is it a whistle post? I dont remember)
off of Allens Creek road in Pittsford.
(1 or 2? im not sure which)
its next to an office park, the road into the office park doesnt seem to have a name.
you are at Pittsford Plaza.
head east on Monroe ave toward the city.
cross under 590
turn right onto Allens Creek Road.
cross under 590 again.
take the first left after crossing under 590.
the marker is along the edge of the parking lot.

The subway tunnel. (7)
Broad street bridge. (7)
Court street station. (7)
Subway car #60 (7)

Trolley car 437
also at the NYMofT
from which line??

apparently several lines were consolidated to form "New York State Railways"
(which ones in Rochester were consolidated?
"On March 22, 1909, the Rochester & Eastern Rapid Railway was consolidated with several other electric railways in Rochester to form New York State Railways. This was a corporate consolidation that grew to include other electric railways in central New York. New York State Railways was controlled by the New York Central railroad."from: http://www.nymtmuseum.org/NYMTPict1.php ... ey_Car_157


lets update this list with more information!
Scot

Neat thread!

I know it's not Rochester, but there was a streetcar line that ran from Geneva eastward through Seneca Falls down to Cayuga Lake SP. I can recall street trackage still evident in Geneva into the early '70s.

Chuck

I don't know of any specific R&E artifacts but looking at current USGS maps and the New York State satellite photo website indicates that some fair stretches of the R&E ROW are still visible crossing the farmland and marshes between Geneva and Canandaigua. While care needs to be taken to distiguish the R&E remnants from the Pennsy line (particularly east of Flint) it looks as though some artifacts like bridge abutments, fill, or even pilings might still be found.

Absolutly. Last year I worked in victor and every day after work would drive around for 45 minutes - 1 hour to look at former R&E ROWs.... I have most of the line traced from Brighton to Canandaguia on my map....its quite easy to see in most places, even in the developed parts

The Sodus Bay line is fairly visible- the right of way was used for a utility pole line, and is easily trace-able through the city and up towards the Bay.

-otto-

The current RTS bus facility on East Main used to be where the car barns were located for NYS Railways, and also the terminus for the line to Sodus Bay.

A few more pieces of rolling stock:

(3) - car 113 at Seashore Trolley Museum

(Rochester city lines) - cars 0243, 394 and 1402 are also at NYMT along with 437, and car 1213 is at Seashore

...and structures:

(4) - I don't know much about the Mount Morris line, so forgive me if I'm off on my locations! The Industry depot still exists and is used by the R&GVRR Museum. There is also a wooden batten-board depot in Geneseo which MAY be ex-Erie; unfortunately it has been relocated to a park so I don't know where it was originally. There's a photo of it at http://gelwood.railfan.net/el/bldg/erie-gendep-afh.jpg - anyone know for sure?

Frank Hicks

http://www.trolleymuseum.org/restore_1213.html

Rochester 1213, a Peter Witt car, was an active restoration project at Seashore. Don't know what happened to it lately. I dream about STM someday loaning the car to NYMT for a "victory lap" in home territory.

Let's also remember Car 60, the last remaning car from the Rochester Subway. It returned to Rochester (to the R&GVRRM at Industry) in 1996, and Rochester Chapter NRHS has been working to restore this car ever since for joint operation with NYMT. This project is in need of serious donations to complete the metal repair work.

-otto-

Not that I would ever encourage anybody to trespass, but in the case of the R&E, who owns those long-abandoned ROWs, in case anybody wanted to hike them? I know the New York Central owned the system at its demise, so I'd suspect they became part of that whole Penn Central real estate holding mess. But it's been over 75 years since the railroad left and in many cases the property looks to just have been plowed over. I realize this kind of subject has been covered before in other threads but I was wondering about the owner in this specific case. Beg pardon if this is hijacking the thread a little!

As far as I know, Penn Central Corp. and its successor had nothing to do with the trolley lines. New York State Railways, NYC's trolley subsidiary, was largely dissolved by the 1940s. Most of the city streetcar lines had been sold off to private companies by that time (not sure when Rochester Railways became the private Rochester Transit Corp, but it was sometime around 1938 or so)...

Erie Rochester branch stations extant include Industry, Geneseo (you are correct on the one in the park) and Mt. Morris. See my site for photos and other details (Monroe and Livingston Counties):

http://ny.existingstations.com

Additionally, this will tell you the trolley stations and shelters still extant.

My last counts from my site include (RR # of stations). Numbers are a bit old but give you a good starting point:

Rochester & Sodus Bay 2
Rochester, Lockport & Buffalo 4
Rochester & Eastern 7
Rochester, Syracuse & Eastern 10

The Rochester Lockport and Buffalo ROW from the Monroe County line going east is owned by Monroe County to an apartment complex, then SUNY Brockport, public streets in Brockport. Between Brockport and Adams Basin is owned by Monroe County and is overgrown in most places. From Adams Basin to Spencerport, it's pretty much a public roadway or owned by the Village. Going east it once again is owned by the County to Long Pond Road where it turns into Trolley Blvd... then crosses the canal and turns into Ferrano St.

As I said earlier, the East Main St car barns is now the present RTS facility. The Sodus Bay ROW out the back of the RTS property to Culver Road has long since reverted to private ownership (read: people's back yards).

Reference relics along the old Rochester & Eastern Rapid Railway: On a hike of the R&E r/o/w in April, 1974 the following was noted: Between Victor and the Lehigh Valley RR overpass site: Several downed concrete catenary poles, some with insulators still intact. At the LVRR overpass site: Concrete abutments, the west one still showing the bridge builder's imprint. NYS Thruway-west: One short bridge with steel stringers and concrete abutments. More downed concrete catenary poles. At least two upright catenary poles in a cut. Signal base a few miles east of Bushnells Basin. Additionally, as late as the early 1970s, there was a almost totally intact catenary pole complete with most of the insulators in a person's back yard east of Victor at either the Brace or Mertensia Road R&E crossing ( I apologize as proper recall fails in this instance). Between Mertensia and Hathaways in a cow pasture in 1969 stood two catenary poles. A housing development now spans the area, so it is doubtful that these two poles are still extant. This location is between Mertensia Road and Beards Creek north of Boughton Hill Road. A catenary pole stood near the old Canandaigua dump along the upper end of Saltonstall Street in the early 1970s, just past city limits. West of Seneca Castle and east of the R&E Ottley Road crossing, in the cut that lead to the PRR underpass stood another catenary pole. A fill had replaced the PRR bridge, but the PRR/R&E transfer was easily traceable, this in the late 1970s.

Where is the LV Overpass site in Victor?
Is there any abutment(s) left there today?

The site where the R&E bridge over the Lehigh Valley MT was located is approximately .5 miles west of the NY Route 251 crossing. In the 1970s the R&E abutments were plainly visible. However, the last time I visited the site in 1992 heavy poplar tree and brush growth had all but obscured the abutments. The abutments were still is fairly good condition and the bridge builder information imprinted in the east abutment was very readable (COMSTOCK.HAIGH.WALKER CO. 1903 ENGINEERS). There is a photograph of the bridge on page 15 of the book THE ROUTE OF THE ORANGE LIMITED by William R. Gordon (1953).