Rochester and State Line Railroad - Construction

Construction

Schmidt says of the line (referring to Scottsville):

"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 Salamanca 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 directors had labored faithfully and given their time and money, and this was to be their only reward. The first locomotive was built by Brooks 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 stock consisted of one engine and a boxcar 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 Railroad station in Rush, 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 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:

"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.

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