Rochester and State Line Railroad
Encyclopedia
The Rochester and State Line Railroad typifies those transportation companies of the 19th century which arose from more than the customary desire to amass great amounts of money
. It was intended to fill an immediate, local need, and, for a while, it succeeded.
or the small local railroads that had been combined into the two major companies: the New York Central, with the Tonawanda
, the Attica and Buffalo, and the Auburn and Rochester
, and the Erie, with the Cohocton Valley and the Rochester and Genesee Valley lines.
The actual purpose of the new railroad sought by the Rochester industrial and commercial interests was plain - provision of cheap and reliable transport of Pennsylvania coal to the city of Rochester. During the mid-1860s, the price of coal in Rochester had tripled. However, since the financial support of outlying farm and commercial interests was vital to the project, in one of the lesser deceptions of the railroad building era, it was intimated to the public in the towns and villages of the Genesee Valley that the road would be built through western New York in order to carry agricultural products to city markets. While Rochester came up with $600,000 by means of municipal bond
s, rural communities raised nearly as much on their own.
The organization of the new rail line, the Rochester and State Line Railroad, occurred on 8 April 1869.
at this time came from Pennsylvania coal
, and the existing railroads were the sole means of getting it to the Rochester
area. The railroads knew this, and their pricing reflected it. In 1863, a ton of coal cost approximately six dollars. Two years later, it was seventeen dollars. Talk of conspiracies
between the coal and the railroad companies and calls for a new railroad generated ample enthusiasm. For some ten years, coal customers, and others, from Rochester and villages as far south as the Pennsylvania line sought to raise interest in a new railroad to the level at which something could actually be accomplished.
Numerous meetings in both Rochester and the boonies led to many proposals, at least one of which came to fruition. Oliver Allen II and Donald McNaughton, both of Mumford
, as well as Rochester attorney, D D S Brown, led a group of both business and government officials in promoting the project. In 1869, the Rochester and State Line Railroad was incorporated, chartered on 6 October to construct a railroad from Rochester
to the Pennsylvania state line. Allen was elected vice-president of the new company. In the same year, the first surveys were made, by William Wallace, who had done the same thing for the Scottsville and LeRoy Railroad
thirty-five years earlier.
George Slocum writes in 1906:
Although the initial state charter set the southern terminus at Wellsville, new coalfield discoveries in Pennsylvania spurred the organizers to move the route west, running through Warsaw
and Ellicottville
to Salamanca. This would facilitate an easier connection in Carrollton
to the Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Railroad
, and thus the coalfields of northern Pennsylvania.
The anxiety with which small communities (in the days before a reliable highway network) sought rail connections may be inferred from the actions of Perry
. Upon learning of the R & S L plans not to connect with their village, local interests on 1 October 1868 set up their own railroad company for a line from Perry to East Gainesville
, where the Erie Railroad
had a station. In the event, when the R & S L was actually set up, Perry was on the route. However, when the route was shifted westward, Perry was off the route. Since interests along the original eastern route were now irate, yet another line, the Rochester and Pine Creek Railroad, was proposed to run from Caledonia to Castile, through Perry. Perry was unimpressed and decided to maintain their original intention. Barely a few years later, the Silver Lake Railroad merged into the Rochester and Pine Creek and, on 1 February 1872, opened a short line between East Gainesville and Perry. Five years later, this company renamed itself the Silver Lake Railway.
and the New York Central and Hudson River
contended, often in dramatic terms, against Fisk
, Gould
, and Drew
's Erie Railroad
. The tie between the New York Central and the R & S L can be inferred from the presence of George J Whitney on the boards of both companies. Vanderbilt had reason to want railroad access to the rich coal resources of Pennsylvania as well as wanting to acquire the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad
, which had a terminus at Salamanca. In 1872, Whitney started a two-year term as president of the R S & L, strengthening the unwritten alliance with Vanderbilt.
):
In the fine tradition of economizing on capital investment, the R & S L chose to use existing railbeds wherever practicable, such as the never-built Cattaraugus
Railroad between Machias
and Salamanca
. In any event, the route lay-out was done by mid-1872.
The official start occurred on 21 August 1872. As Allen was the driving force, he did the first-shovel thing in Mumford. Actual construction work began in 1873 (or 1874, depending upon which version of history one selects). By a year later, most of the route grading
had been done.
Up to the summer of 1873, work progressed rapidly, with the bed ready for rail-laying by mid-May, but the Panic of 1873
brought the suspension of work on the line until the corporation's directors were able to arrange with Waterman & Beaver of Philadelphia for enough iron rails to complete the line from Rochester to LeRoy. Rails
at that time were selling for $88.00 a ton. 7 October 1873 saw the first rail spiked to the cross-ties
in a ceremony at Lincoln Park, the line reaching Scottsville
by November, Garbuttsville
shortly thereafter, and Le Roy by year's end. The Rochester
to Le Roy
segment of the road was opened in May 1874.
On 15 September 1874, the first regular train
on the Rochester and State Line Railroad reached Le Roy. Unfortunately, little or no work was done in the following two years, as the company's financial resources had been exhausted. By the end of 1876, the railroad line had been taken as far as Pearl Creek. In June 1877, the line reached Warsaw
.
In an early example of the appropriately-named fast-track construction technique, a second crew built the southern part of the road, south out of Machias to Salamanca and north to the line built by the first crew. The south-bound work from Machias reached Salamanca on 28 January 1878; on 9 January, the line north from Machias and south from Rochester met in the town of Eagle
. Now a respectable 108 miles long, the Rochester and State Line Railroad began revenue service along its full length on 16 May 1878.
The cowboy atmosphere of 19th century railroading was reflected in an incident involving the Erie Railroad
. When the R S & L construction crew needed to cross the Erie's tracks in Le Roy
, they simply built a level junction
and kept going. The Erie took exception to this and tore up the crossing. While cooler heads prevailed in May 1877, the construction crew cared little, as they were already south of the Erie's line.
The end of 1876 took the line as far as Pearl Creek, with Warsaw reached in June 1877. Completion occurred in very early 1878. The Salamanca Republican wrote:
The official opening of the full line, after all the finishing touches were applied, occurred on 16 May 1878.
The northern terminus of the route was Lincoln Park, in southwest Rochester. To this day, it has a rail yard and junction and has figured prominently in the area's rail history.
(top of page)
and Le Roy
, although little traffic came to or from many small agricultural and industrial villages, thanks to the Great Depression
of 1873-1879. Near the end of the depression, in 1878, the railroad had reached Salamanca
, but the return to prosperity eluded many.
The freight carried by the new line varied. Initially, farm produce and lumber comprised the revenue loads, and this did not materially change until the line reached Salamanca. Then, crude oil became the dominant load, with solid trains of tankers running north to Rochester. In the end, it did not carry significant quantities of coal, and this figured in its economic failure when the oil business declined.
Unlike the standardization prevalent today, the lines of the 1870s used a number of gauges, necessitating some means of allowing interchange of rolling stock. The Rochester and State Line Railroad faced this in Salamanca at its interchange with the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad
, with its six-foot gauge. The Ramsey car transfer device
solved the problem, although it did little for the inconvenience until the A & G W saw the light of reason and adopted the standard 4'-8½" gauge
.
Like a great many rail companies, the R&SL experienced fiscal embarrassment from time to time. During the construction of the Salamanca line, management devised a means of protecting the locomotives and cars from the tax collectors when back taxes began to accumulate. They sold the rolling stock to themselves, removing it from the tax collectors' reach, eventually selling the equipment back to the railroad when the pressure eased.
s, purchased from Brooks Locomotive Works
in 1873. The two brightly decorated 4-4-0
engines weighed some thirty tons each and were named the "Rochester" and the "Salamanca". Additionally, the company utilized twenty-five flatcar
s, a boxcar
, a baggage car
, and two passenger cars.
All subsequent locomotives were named in honour of company founders and management. They, too, were Brooks 4-4-0 engines and were kept looking sharp. The company acquired Numbers 3 and 4 in 1876, Number 5 in 1877, and 6 through 11 in the following year.
Matters were different at the end. When the R & S L was folded up and sold off, it had eleven deteriorated locomotives, two hundred sixty-eight tired cars, and shops that were barely usable. The trackage was worn, and the bridges were not much better.
s never have accidents
, and the Rochester and State Line Railroad was no paper tiger
. Some of the accident accounts surviving to this day leave much unsaid, such as the 13 June 1878 report that Locomotive No 7 ran over two cows between Salamanca
and Gainesville on its very first trip. Others are frighteningly graphic (by today's tame standards) and could have been taken from cheap Hollywood scripts. Case in point: on or about 29 January 1879, Train No 2 departed Salamanca headed for Ellicottville
when its encounter with a washout
tossed the locomotive into the water. The fireman
managed to escape the wreckage, but the engineer
was caught by one foot trapped between the reversing lever
and the firebox. He desperately struggled to keep his head above water and to avoid a stream of very hot water coming from a burst pipe in the cab. By the time he was rescued hours later, the water had risen to his chin.
In another story that might have come from the Keystone Kops
, had it not taken the ex-cop's life, a policeman-turned-brakeman
fell off a train in 1879 and was found only after the crew discovered him missing and went back along the line to find him. 1879 proved a costly year for three carriage
riders in Mumford
who strayed in front of an on-coming train at the Brown Cut, west of the hamlet. The driver of the carriage claimed not to have seen the train until too late; when he whipped the horse ahead to avoid it, the horse cleared the tracks but the carriage did not. He suffered serious injury; one young woman was caught on the pilot
and carried halfway to the Spring Creek bridge before the train stopped. She survived, essentially uninjured. The second young woman was thrown seven yards by the impact of the 20 mile an hour train and died in minutes from massive head trauma
.
In the days of primitive signals
, or none at all, collisions
often occurred. The heavy fog
s of Cattaraugus Valley
frequently overcame the feeble lights on caboose
s, and faster trains ran into slower ones. On 26 August 1879, a coupler
failed on an oil train three miles north of Salamanca, breaking the train in two. The latter half rolled to a stop, shortly whereafter the next train smashed into it. The brakeman
on the stopped cars died, and the engineer of the second train escaped with serious injuries.
On bad days, the collisions were head-on, when one train would take a single track
from which another had not yet cleared. The structural weaknesses of the rolling stock
of the day led to trains breaking in two. A coupler
might fail on a car in the middle of the train, and - as this was before the automatic brakes used today - one half of the train would chart its own course. Given the wrong terrain, this sometimes sent a string of cars rolling backward downhill out of control, with predictable results.
owned most of its stock, and several other Vanderbilts served on its board. Thus, it was a de facto if not a de jure branch of the New York Central Railroad
. In a painful irony, the shipment of coal never amounted to much, and even the temporarily lucrative transportation of oil soon ended, due to competition by the Erie.
The company was not financially successful. Revenue was inadequate; even debt service could not be maintained. The Vanderbilts no longer found the R & S L particularly attractive, their attention being occupied elsewhere. It went into oblivion when it defaulted on its bonds. Foreclosure proceedings began on 6 February 1880, with receivership
on 21 February. In November, the entire equity of the railroad, including the stock owned by the Vanderbilts, was acquired by a syndicate in New York City. Headed by Walston H Brown, it paid $600,000 on 20 January 1881.
One commentator has attributed the failure of this company not to a bad idea or an inadequate market demand for its services but to insufficient capitalization and backers who did not greatly care. If anything, he has characterized the R & S L as the seed for a much better attempt, one which, with a false start, eventually succeeded.
On 29 January 1881, the Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad was created from the remains of the Rochester and State Line Railroad. Four years later, that line succumbed to bankruptcy and was acquired by Adrian Iselin, at one time a director of the Rochester and Pittsburgh. He broke the company into two, the Pennsylvania operations as the Pittsburgh and State Line Railroad Company, and the New York part as the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad. The BR&P would go on to be one of the more successful and useful of the region's railroads.
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
. It was intended to fill an immediate, local need, and, for a while, it succeeded.
Background
In the middle of the 19th century, Rochester's need for transportation had not adequately been met by either the Genesee Valley CanalGenesee Valley Canal
- History :On 6 May 1836, an act was passed in the New York Legislature authorizing the construction of the Genesee Valley Canal. It was to run from the Erie Canal on the south side of Rochester south-southwest along the Genesee River valley to Mount Morris, Portageville, and Belfast, and then...
or the small local railroads that had been combined into the two major companies: the New York Central, with the Tonawanda
Tonawanda Railroad
Yet another of the bewildering array of small and impermanent rail companies of the nineteenth century, the Tonawanda Railroad was Rochester's first...
, the Attica and Buffalo, and the Auburn and Rochester
Rochester and Syracuse Railroad
The Rochester and Syracuse Railroad was incorporated on August 1, 1850 authorizing the consolidation of the Auburn and Rochester Railroad Company and the Auburn and Syracuse Railroad Company...
, and the Erie, with the Cohocton Valley and the Rochester and Genesee Valley lines.
The actual purpose of the new railroad sought by the Rochester industrial and commercial interests was plain - provision of cheap and reliable transport of Pennsylvania coal to the city of Rochester. During the mid-1860s, the price of coal in Rochester had tripled. However, since the financial support of outlying farm and commercial interests was vital to the project, in one of the lesser deceptions of the railroad building era, it was intimated to the public in the towns and villages of the Genesee Valley that the road would be built through western New York in order to carry agricultural products to city markets. While Rochester came up with $600,000 by means of municipal bond
Municipal bond
A municipal bond is a bond issued by a city or other local government, or their agencies. Potential issuers of municipal bonds includes cities, counties, redevelopment agencies, special-purpose districts, school districts, public utility districts, publicly owned airports and seaports, and any...
s, rural communities raised nearly as much on their own.
The organization of the new rail line, the Rochester and State Line Railroad, occurred on 8 April 1869.
Purpose
Energy for industry in western New YorkWestern New York
Western New York is the westernmost region of the state of New York. It includes the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Niagara Falls, the surrounding suburbs, as well as the outlying rural areas of the Great Lakes lowlands, the Genesee Valley, and the Southern Tier. Some historians, scholars and others...
at this time came from Pennsylvania coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, and the existing railroads were the sole means of getting it to the Rochester
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
area. The railroads knew this, and their pricing reflected it. In 1863, a ton of coal cost approximately six dollars. Two years later, it was seventeen dollars. Talk of conspiracies
Conspiracy (civil)
A civil conspiracy or collusion is an agreement between two or more parties to deprive a third party of legal rights or deceive a third party to obtain an illegal objective....
between the coal and the railroad companies and calls for a new railroad generated ample enthusiasm. For some ten years, coal customers, and others, from Rochester and villages as far south as the Pennsylvania line sought to raise interest in a new railroad to the level at which something could actually be accomplished.
Genesis
Mumford, New York
The hamlet of Mumford lies on the west side of the Town of Wheatland, south of Oatka Creek on NY 36 and south of the terminus of NY 383.-History:The story of Mumford has been written by several local historians...
, as well as Rochester attorney, D D S Brown, led a group of both business and government officials in promoting the project. In 1869, the Rochester and State Line Railroad was incorporated, chartered on 6 October to construct a railroad from Rochester
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
to the Pennsylvania state line. Allen was elected vice-president of the new company. In the same year, the first surveys were made, by William Wallace, who had done the same thing for the Scottsville and LeRoy Railroad
Scottsville and LeRoy Railroad
The Scottsville and LeRoy Railroad proved, as many short-lines do, short in life as well as in length. In one historian's words:"Horse cars were used upon this road for two seasons, principally to bring flour and plaster from the mills upon its line to Scottsville for shipment. Forty thousand...
thirty-five years earlier.
George Slocum writes in 1906:
"The Rochester and State Line Railroad in its inception was a WheatlandWheatland, New YorkWheatland is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States. The population was 4,775 at the 2010 census. The town is home to Genesee Country Village and Museum.The Town of Wheatland is located in the southwest part of the county....
institution. At one period in its early history its officers, the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and four of the nine directors, were residents of Wheatland.
D. D. S. Brown, Oliver Allen and Donald McNaughton were active and energetic in pushing this enterprise.
This road was opened for business from Rochester to Le Roy in 1874; to Salamanca in 1878, and completed to Pittsburg at a later date. In 1872 the town of Wheatland issued its bondsMunicipal bondA municipal bond is a bond issued by a city or other local government, or their agencies. Potential issuers of municipal bonds includes cities, counties, redevelopment agencies, special-purpose districts, school districts, public utility districts, publicly owned airports and seaports, and any...
to the amount of $70,000.00 to aid in its construction, $53,000.00 of which has been paid. In 1860 the control of this road passed from the hands of those who had managed it and its name was changed to the Rochester and Pittsburg R. R. Company. Later on it was again changed to the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg R. R. Co. which name it now bears."
Although the initial state charter set the southern terminus at Wellsville, new coalfield discoveries in Pennsylvania spurred the organizers to move the route west, running through Warsaw
Warsaw, New York
Warsaw, New York is the name of two locations in Wyoming County, New York:*Warsaw , New York*Warsaw , New York...
and Ellicottville
Ellicottville, New York
Ellicottville, New York is the name of two places in Cattaraugus County, New York:*Ellicottville , New York*Ellicottville , New YorkBoth locations are named after Joseph Ellicott, an agent for the Holland Land Company....
to Salamanca. This would facilitate an easier connection in Carrollton
Carrollton, New York
Carrollton is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 1,410 at the 2000 census. The name comes from an early settler.The Town of Carrollton is on the south border of Cattaraugus County...
to the Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Railroad
Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Railroad
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 Railroad. The Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Railroad was leased to the Erie Railroad on January 6, 1866, for period of 499 years...
, and thus the coalfields of northern Pennsylvania.
The anxiety with which small communities (in the days before a reliable highway network) sought rail connections may be inferred from the actions of Perry
Perry, New York
Perry, New York is the name of two locations in Wyoming County, New York.*Perry , New York*Perry , New York...
. Upon learning of the R & S L plans not to connect with their village, local interests on 1 October 1868 set up their own railroad company for a line from Perry to East Gainesville
Silver Springs, New York
Silver Springs is a village in Wyoming County, New York, United States. The population was 844 at the 2000 census.The Village of Silver Springs is within the Town of Gainesville...
, where the Erie Railroad
Erie Railroad
The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, originally connecting New York City with Lake Erie...
had a station. In the event, when the R & S L was actually set up, Perry was on the route. However, when the route was shifted westward, Perry was off the route. Since interests along the original eastern route were now irate, yet another line, the Rochester and Pine Creek Railroad, was proposed to run from Caledonia to Castile, through Perry. Perry was unimpressed and decided to maintain their original intention. Barely a few years later, the Silver Lake Railroad merged into the Rochester and Pine Creek and, on 1 February 1872, opened a short line between East Gainesville and Perry. Five years later, this company renamed itself the Silver Lake Railway.
A lamb between the wolves
In the middle of the 19th century, two interests had essentially divided up the rail industry in New York State. VanderbiltWilliam Henry Vanderbilt
William Henry Vanderbilt I was an American businessman and a member of the prominent Vanderbilt family.-Childhood:William Vanderbilt was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1821...
and the New York Central and Hudson River
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
contended, often in dramatic terms, against Fisk
James Fisk (financier)
James Fisk, Jr. —known variously as "Big Jim," "Diamond Jim," and "Jubilee Jim"—was an American stock broker and corporate executive.-Early life and career:...
, Gould
Jay Gould
Jason "Jay" Gould was a leading American railroad developer and speculator. He has long been vilified as an archetypal robber baron, whose successes made him the ninth richest American in history. Condé Nast Portfolio ranked Gould as the 8th worst American CEO of all time...
, and Drew
Daniel Drew
-Biography:He was born in Carmel, New York.Drew was poorly educated. His father died when Daniel was fifteen years old. Drew enlisted and drilled, but because he enlisted too late, never fought in the War of 1812. After the war, he started a successful cattle-driving business. In 1823, he married...
's Erie Railroad
Erie Railroad
The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, originally connecting New York City with Lake Erie...
. The tie between the New York Central and the R & S L can be inferred from the presence of George J Whitney on the boards of both companies. Vanderbilt had reason to want railroad access to the rich coal resources of Pennsylvania as well as wanting to acquire the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad
Atlantic and Great Western Railroad
The Atlantic and Great Western Railroad began as three separate railroads: the Erie and New York City Railroad based in Jamestown, New York; the Meadville Railroad based in Meadville, Pennsylvania ; and the Franklin and Warren Railroad based in Franklin Mills, Ohio...
, which had a terminus at Salamanca. In 1872, Whitney started a two-year term as president of the R S & L, strengthening the unwritten alliance with Vanderbilt.
Construction
Schmidt says of the line (referring to ScottsvilleScottsville, New York
Scottsville is a village in southwestern Monroe County, New York, United States, and is in the northeastern part of the Town of Wheatland. The population was 2,128 at the 2000 census. The village is named after an early settler, Isaac Scott...
):
"Soon after the war promoters proposed a railroad to extend south of Rochester to the coal fields in Pennsylvania. In 1872 the town of Wheatland issued bonds to the amount of $70,000.00 to aid in its construction. D. D. S. Brown, Oliver Allen, and Donald McNaughton were again active in promoting the railroad. Mr. Allen was vice-president from 1869 to 1876 when he was elected president, and served in that capacity until the reorganization in 1880.
Work on the railroad was begun in 1873 and progressed rapidly since there were no great engineering difficulties to overcome until the foot-hills of the Alleghany Mountains near Warsaw were reached. In spite of the financial panic of 1873 the Rochester and State Line Railroad was opened from Rochester to LeRoy in 1874. For the next two years little work was done because railroad bonds and stocks were unsalable at any price. But as industry revived and railroads were showing increased earnings, work was resumed in 1876 and the railroad completed to SalamancaSalamanca (city), New YorkSalamanca is a city in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States, located inside the Allegany Indian Reservation. The population was 6,097 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
in 1878. On May 15th there was a big excursion to Salamanca and large crowds attended the festivities. Ten years of work saw the completion of the railroad. The board of directorsBoard of directorsA board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
had labored faithfully and given their time and money, and this was to be their only reward.
The first locomotive was built by BrooksBrooks Locomotive WorksThe Brooks Locomotive Works manufactured steam railroad locomotives and freight cars from 1869 through its merger into the American Locomotive Company until 1934.-History:...
of Dunkirk, N. Y., it was named "Oliver Allen" after the man who had worked zealously in the interest of the railroad.
In 1874 the rolling stockRolling stockRolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...
consisted of one engineLocomotiveA locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
and a boxcarBoxcarA boxcar is a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry general freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is probably the most versatile, since it can carry most loads...
to operate. When necessary, chairs were placed in the boxcar for passengers. Cars were often borrowed from other railroads. At one time when the railroad was being sued, all the real property the sheriff could obtain was the engine, which he locked up with chains.
Many miles of the State Line Railroad bed were built up with gravel from the old John C. McVean farm. The farm at that time extended west of the railroad between North Road and Scottsville-Chili Road. After the cars began operating from Rochester to LeRoy, the mail, which had previously been taken to the Erie RailroadErie RailroadThe Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, originally connecting New York City with Lake Erie...
stationTrain stationA train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
in RushRush, New YorkRush is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States. The population was 3,478 at the 2010 census.The Town of Rush is a suburb of Rochester located in the southwest part of the county.-Geography:...
, was carried by the Rochester and State Line Railroad. A new street, Maple Street, was opened up from Browns Avenue to the station to make the station more accessible to the village. The old station was located about three hundred feet north of the present one."
In the fine tradition of economizing on capital investment, the R & S L chose to use existing railbeds wherever practicable, such as the never-built Cattaraugus
Cattaraugus, New York
Cattaraugus is a village in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 1,075 at the 2000 census.The Village of Cattaraugus lies in the northeast part of the Town of New Albion, north of Salamanca, New York.- History :...
Railroad between Machias
Machias, New York
Machias is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 2,482 at the 2000 census.The Town of Machias is an interior town in the northeast quadrant of the county. It is northeast of the city of Salamanca.-History:...
and Salamanca
Salamanca (city), New York
Salamanca is a city in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States, located inside the Allegany Indian Reservation. The population was 6,097 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
. In any event, the route lay-out was done by mid-1872.
The official start occurred on 21 August 1872. As Allen was the driving force, he did the first-shovel thing in Mumford. Actual construction work began in 1873 (or 1874, depending upon which version of history one selects). By a year later, most of the route grading
Land grading
Grading in civil engineering and construction is the work of ensuring a level base, or one with a specified slope, for a construction work such as a foundation, the base course for a road or a railway, or landscape and garden improvements, or surface drainage...
had been done.
Up to the summer of 1873, work progressed rapidly, with the bed ready for rail-laying by mid-May, but the Panic of 1873
Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 triggered a severe international economic depression in both Europe and the United States that lasted until 1879, and even longer in some countries. The depression was known as the Great Depression until the 1930s, but is now known as the Long Depression...
brought the suspension of work on the line until the corporation's directors were able to arrange with Waterman & Beaver of Philadelphia for enough iron rails to complete the line from Rochester to LeRoy. Rails
Rail profile
The rail profile is the cross sectional shape of a railway rail, perpendicular to the length of the rail.In all but very early cast iron rails, a rail is hot rolled steel of a specific cross sectional profile designed for use as the fundamental component of railway track.Unlike some other uses of...
at that time were selling for $88.00 a ton. 7 October 1873 saw the first rail spiked to the cross-ties
Railroad tie
A railroad tie/railway tie , or railway sleeper is a rectangular item used to support the rails in railroad tracks...
in a ceremony at Lincoln Park, the line reaching Scottsville
Scottsville, New York
Scottsville is a village in southwestern Monroe County, New York, United States, and is in the northeastern part of the Town of Wheatland. The population was 2,128 at the 2000 census. The village is named after an early settler, Isaac Scott...
by November, Garbuttsville
Garbutt, New York
Garbutt, New York is a hamlet located between the village of Scottsville and the hamlet of Mumford. It sits at the intersection of Scottsville-Mumford Road and Union Street in the Town of Wheatland in Monroe County...
shortly thereafter, and Le Roy by year's end. The Rochester
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
to Le Roy
Le Roy (village), New York
Le Roy is a village in Genesee County, New York, United States. The population was 4,462 at the 2000 census.The Village of Le Roy lies in the center of the Town of Le Roy at the intersection of Routes 5 and 19.- History :...
segment of the road was opened in May 1874.
On 15 September 1874, the first regular train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
on the Rochester and State Line Railroad reached Le Roy. Unfortunately, little or no work was done in the following two years, as the company's financial resources had been exhausted. By the end of 1876, the railroad line had been taken as far as Pearl Creek. In June 1877, the line reached Warsaw
Warsaw (village), New York
Warsaw is a village in Wyoming County, New York in the USA. It is the county seat of Wyoming County and lies inside the Town of Warsaw. The village of Warsaw is near the center of the town in a valley. The population was 3,814 at the 2000 census. A branch of Genesee Community College is in Warsaw.-...
.
In an early example of the appropriately-named fast-track construction technique, a second crew built the southern part of the road, south out of Machias to Salamanca and north to the line built by the first crew. The south-bound work from Machias reached Salamanca on 28 January 1878; on 9 January, the line north from Machias and south from Rochester met in the town of Eagle
Eagle, New York
Eagle is a town in Wyoming County, New York, United States. The population was 1,194 at the 2000 census.The Town of Eagle is on the south border of the county.- History :...
. Now a respectable 108 miles long, the Rochester and State Line Railroad began revenue service along its full length on 16 May 1878.
The cowboy atmosphere of 19th century railroading was reflected in an incident involving the Erie Railroad
Erie Railroad
The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, originally connecting New York City with Lake Erie...
. When the R S & L construction crew needed to cross the Erie's tracks in Le Roy
Le Roy (town), New York
Le Roy, or more commonly LeRoy, is a town in Genesee County, New York, United States. The population was 7,790 at the 2000 census. The town is named after one of the original land owners, Herman Le Roy....
, they simply built a level junction
Level junction
In U.S. railroad practice, a level junction is a railway junction that has a track configuration in which merging or crossing railroad lines provide track connections with each other that require trains to cross over in front of opposing traffic at grade In U.S. railroad practice, a level junction...
and kept going. The Erie took exception to this and tore up the crossing. While cooler heads prevailed in May 1877, the construction crew cared little, as they were already south of the Erie's line.
The end of 1876 took the line as far as Pearl Creek, with Warsaw reached in June 1877. Completion occurred in very early 1878. The Salamanca Republican wrote:
"It is with feelings of no little gratification that we are enabled to announce that the last rail of the Rochester and State Line Railway has been laid and that another important artery of trade and commerce has been completed through Cattaraugus county. On Saturday last (January 26) the tracklayers on the R.&S.L. came in sight east of the village. By nightfall the track was laid to within 80 rods of the Main street crossing. Work was continued Sunday and the gap was filled with the exception of 10 or a dozen rods. Monday forenoon it was rumored about town that the officers of the company were on their way over the road on a tour of inspection and would arrive at Salamanca in the afternoon. An informal meeting of citizens was held at Ansley & Vreeland's office and it was resolved that an impromptu reception should be given them . . . At 4:30 a volley from the brass six pounder announced that the first railroad train from Rochester to Salamanca was in sight. Before the echoes of the gun died away the shrill whistles of a dozen locomotives raised such a din as was never before heard in Salamanca . . . The railroad party was then invited to the Krieger House where an impromptu entertainment had been prepared."
The official opening of the full line, after all the finishing touches were applied, occurred on 16 May 1878.
The northern terminus of the route was Lincoln Park, in southwest Rochester. To this day, it has a rail yard and junction and has figured prominently in the area's rail history.
(top of page)
Operation
In 1874, the Rochester and State Line Railroad connected RochesterRochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
and Le Roy
Le Roy (village), New York
Le Roy is a village in Genesee County, New York, United States. The population was 4,462 at the 2000 census.The Village of Le Roy lies in the center of the Town of Le Roy at the intersection of Routes 5 and 19.- History :...
, although little traffic came to or from many small agricultural and industrial villages, thanks to the Great Depression
Long Depression
The Long Depression was a worldwide economic crisis, felt most heavily in Europe and the United States, which had been experiencing strong economic growth fueled by the Second Industrial Revolution in the decade following the American Civil War. At the time, the episode was labeled the Great...
of 1873-1879. Near the end of the depression, in 1878, the railroad had reached Salamanca
Salamanca (city), New York
Salamanca is a city in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States, located inside the Allegany Indian Reservation. The population was 6,097 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
, but the return to prosperity eluded many.
The freight carried by the new line varied. Initially, farm produce and lumber comprised the revenue loads, and this did not materially change until the line reached Salamanca. Then, crude oil became the dominant load, with solid trains of tankers running north to Rochester. In the end, it did not carry significant quantities of coal, and this figured in its economic failure when the oil business declined.
Unlike the standardization prevalent today, the lines of the 1870s used a number of gauges, necessitating some means of allowing interchange of rolling stock. The Rochester and State Line Railroad faced this in Salamanca at its interchange with the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad
Atlantic and Great Western Railroad
The Atlantic and Great Western Railroad began as three separate railroads: the Erie and New York City Railroad based in Jamestown, New York; the Meadville Railroad based in Meadville, Pennsylvania ; and the Franklin and Warren Railroad based in Franklin Mills, Ohio...
, with its six-foot gauge. The Ramsey car transfer device
Ramsey Car Transfer Apparatus
In railroad industry, the Ramsey Car Transfer Apparatus was a proposed device to replace bogies on railroad cars to permit transfer of a train between railroad lines with different gauge....
solved the problem, although it did little for the inconvenience until the A & G W saw the light of reason and adopted the standard 4'-8½" gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
.
Like a great many rail companies, the R&SL experienced fiscal embarrassment from time to time. During the construction of the Salamanca line, management devised a means of protecting the locomotives and cars from the tax collectors when back taxes began to accumulate. They sold the rolling stock to themselves, removing it from the tax collectors' reach, eventually selling the equipment back to the railroad when the pressure eased.
Rolling stock
At the inception of operations, the R & S L had two locomotiveLocomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s, purchased from Brooks Locomotive Works
Brooks Locomotive Works
The Brooks Locomotive Works manufactured steam railroad locomotives and freight cars from 1869 through its merger into the American Locomotive Company until 1934.-History:...
in 1873. The two brightly decorated 4-4-0
4-4-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-4-0 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and no trailing wheels...
engines weighed some thirty tons each and were named the "Rochester" and the "Salamanca". Additionally, the company utilized twenty-five flatcar
Flatcar
A flatcar is a piece of railroad or railway rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck on four or six wheels or a pair of trucks or bogies . The deck of the car can be wood or steel, and the sides of the deck can include pockets for stakes or tie-down points to secure loads...
s, a boxcar
Boxcar
A boxcar is a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry general freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is probably the most versatile, since it can carry most loads...
, a baggage car
Baggage car
A baggage car or luggage van is a type of railway vehicle often forming part of the composition of passenger trains and used to carry passengers' checked baggage, as well as parcels . Being typically coupled at the front of the train behind the locomotive, this type of car is sometimes described...
, and two passenger cars.
All subsequent locomotives were named in honour of company founders and management. They, too, were Brooks 4-4-0 engines and were kept looking sharp. The company acquired Numbers 3 and 4 in 1876, Number 5 in 1877, and 6 through 11 in the following year.
Matters were different at the end. When the R & S L was folded up and sold off, it had eleven deteriorated locomotives, two hundred sixty-eight tired cars, and shops that were barely usable. The trackage was worn, and the bridges were not much better.
Accidents
Only paper railroadPaper railroad
In the United States, a paper railroad is a company in the railroad business which exists "on paper only": as a legal entity which does not own any track, locomotives, or rolling stock. Frequently, paper railroads were set up as subsidiaries by larger parent railroads, or formerly existed and...
s never have accidents
Train wreck
A train wreck or train crash is a type of disaster involving one or more trains. Train wrecks often occur as a result of miscommunication, as when a moving train meets another train on the same track; or an accident, such as when a train wheel jumps off a track in a derailment; or when a boiler...
, and the Rochester and State Line Railroad was no paper tiger
Paper tiger
Paper tiger is a literal English translation of the Chinese phrase zhǐlǎohǔ , meaning something that seems as threatening as a tiger, but is really harmless. This Chinese colloquialism is similar to the English phrase "its bark is worse than its bite"....
. Some of the accident accounts surviving to this day leave much unsaid, such as the 13 June 1878 report that Locomotive No 7 ran over two cows between Salamanca
Salamanca (city), New York
Salamanca is a city in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States, located inside the Allegany Indian Reservation. The population was 6,097 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
and Gainesville on its very first trip. Others are frighteningly graphic (by today's tame standards) and could have been taken from cheap Hollywood scripts. Case in point: on or about 29 January 1879, Train No 2 departed Salamanca headed for Ellicottville
Ellicottville (village), New York
Ellicottville is a village in Cattaraugus County, New York, USA. The population was 472 at the 2000 census. The village is named after Joseph Ellicott, principal land agent of the Holland Land Company...
when its encounter with a washout
Washout
A washout is the sudden erosion of soft soil or other support surfaces by a gush of water, usually occurring during a heavy downpour of rain or other stream flooding. These downpours may occur locally in a thunderstorm , or over a large area, such as following the landfall of a tropical cyclone...
tossed the locomotive into the water. The fireman
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
managed to escape the wreckage, but the engineer
Railroad engineer
A railroad engineer, locomotive engineer, train operator, train driver or engine driver is a person who drives a train on a railroad...
was caught by one foot trapped between the reversing lever
Stephenson valve gear
The Stephenson valve gear or Stephenson link or shifting link is a simple design of valve gear that was widely used throughout the world for all kinds of steam engine. It is named after Robert Stephenson but was actually invented by his employees....
and the firebox. He desperately struggled to keep his head above water and to avoid a stream of very hot water coming from a burst pipe in the cab. By the time he was rescued hours later, the water had risen to his chin.
In another story that might have come from the Keystone Kops
Keystone Kops
The Keystone Kops were incompetent fictional policemen, featured in silent film comedies in the early 20th century. The movies were produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917. The idea came from Hank Mann who also played police chief Tehiezel in the first film...
, had it not taken the ex-cop's life, a policeman-turned-brakeman
Brakeman
A brakeman is a rail transport worker whose original job it was to assist the braking of a train by applying brakes on individual wagons. The advent of through brakes on trains made this role redundant, although the name lives on in the United States where brakemen carry out a variety of functions...
fell off a train in 1879 and was found only after the crew discovered him missing and went back along the line to find him. 1879 proved a costly year for three carriage
Carriage
A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...
riders in Mumford
Mumford, New York
The hamlet of Mumford lies on the west side of the Town of Wheatland, south of Oatka Creek on NY 36 and south of the terminus of NY 383.-History:The story of Mumford has been written by several local historians...
who strayed in front of an on-coming train at the Brown Cut, west of the hamlet. The driver of the carriage claimed not to have seen the train until too late; when he whipped the horse ahead to avoid it, the horse cleared the tracks but the carriage did not. He suffered serious injury; one young woman was caught on the pilot
Pilot (locomotive)
In railroading, the pilot is the device mounted at the front of a locomotive to deflect obstacles from the track that might otherwise derail the train. In some countries it is also called cowcatcher or cattle catcher....
and carried halfway to the Spring Creek bridge before the train stopped. She survived, essentially uninjured. The second young woman was thrown seven yards by the impact of the 20 mile an hour train and died in minutes from massive head trauma
Head injury
Head injury refers to trauma of the head. This may or may not include injury to the brain. However, the terms traumatic brain injury and head injury are often used interchangeably in medical literature....
.
In the days of primitive signals
Railway signal
A signal is a mechanical or electrical device erected beside a railway line to pass information relating to the state of the line ahead to train/engine drivers. The driver interprets the signal's indication and acts accordingly...
, or none at all, collisions
Train wreck
A train wreck or train crash is a type of disaster involving one or more trains. Train wrecks often occur as a result of miscommunication, as when a moving train meets another train on the same track; or an accident, such as when a train wheel jumps off a track in a derailment; or when a boiler...
often occurred. The heavy fog
Fog
Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated...
s of Cattaraugus Valley
Cattaraugus, New York
Cattaraugus is a village in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 1,075 at the 2000 census.The Village of Cattaraugus lies in the northeast part of the Town of New Albion, north of Salamanca, New York.- History :...
frequently overcame the feeble lights on caboose
Caboose
A caboose is a manned North American rail transport vehicle coupled at the end of a freight train. Although cabooses were once used on nearly every freight train, their use has declined and they are seldom seen on trains, except on locals and smaller railroads.-Function:The caboose provided the...
s, and faster trains ran into slower ones. On 26 August 1879, a coupler
Coupling (railway)
A coupling is a mechanism for connecting rolling stock in a train. The design of the coupler is standard, and is almost as important as the railway gauge, since flexibility and convenience are maximised if all rolling stock can be coupled together.The equipment that connects the couplings to the...
failed on an oil train three miles north of Salamanca, breaking the train in two. The latter half rolled to a stop, shortly whereafter the next train smashed into it. The brakeman
Brakeman
A brakeman is a rail transport worker whose original job it was to assist the braking of a train by applying brakes on individual wagons. The advent of through brakes on trains made this role redundant, although the name lives on in the United States where brakemen carry out a variety of functions...
on the stopped cars died, and the engineer of the second train escaped with serious injuries.
On bad days, the collisions were head-on, when one train would take a single track
Single track (rail)
A single track railway is where trains in both directions share the same track. Single track is normally used on lesser used rail lines, often branch lines, where the traffic density is not high enough to justify the cost of building double tracks....
from which another had not yet cleared. The structural weaknesses of the rolling stock
Rolling stock
Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...
of the day led to trains breaking in two. A coupler
Coupling (railway)
A coupling is a mechanism for connecting rolling stock in a train. The design of the coupler is standard, and is almost as important as the railway gauge, since flexibility and convenience are maximised if all rolling stock can be coupled together.The equipment that connects the couplings to the...
might fail on a car in the middle of the train, and - as this was before the automatic brakes used today - one half of the train would chart its own course. Given the wrong terrain, this sometimes sent a string of cars rolling backward downhill out of control, with predictable results.
Demise
The entertaining fictions that the railroad had been built to serve the rural communities along its route and existed to carry coals to Rochester could not hide the fact that it was a pawn of the Vanderbilts. By 1879, William H VanderbiltWilliam Henry Vanderbilt
William Henry Vanderbilt I was an American businessman and a member of the prominent Vanderbilt family.-Childhood:William Vanderbilt was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1821...
owned most of its stock, and several other Vanderbilts served on its board. Thus, it was a de facto if not a de jure branch of the New York Central Railroad
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
. In a painful irony, the shipment of coal never amounted to much, and even the temporarily lucrative transportation of oil soon ended, due to competition by the Erie.
The company was not financially successful. Revenue was inadequate; even debt service could not be maintained. The Vanderbilts no longer found the R & S L particularly attractive, their attention being occupied elsewhere. It went into oblivion when it defaulted on its bonds. Foreclosure proceedings began on 6 February 1880, with receivership
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
on 21 February. In November, the entire equity of the railroad, including the stock owned by the Vanderbilts, was acquired by a syndicate in New York City. Headed by Walston H Brown, it paid $600,000 on 20 January 1881.
One commentator has attributed the failure of this company not to a bad idea or an inadequate market demand for its services but to insufficient capitalization and backers who did not greatly care. If anything, he has characterized the R & S L as the seed for a much better attempt, one which, with a false start, eventually succeeded.
On 29 January 1881, the Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad was created from the remains of the Rochester and State Line Railroad. Four years later, that line succumbed to bankruptcy and was acquired by Adrian Iselin, at one time a director of the Rochester and Pittsburgh. He broke the company into two, the Pennsylvania operations as the Pittsburgh and State Line Railroad Company, and the New York part as the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad. The BR&P would go on to be one of the more successful and useful of the region's railroads.