Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad
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| Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad | |
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| Reporting marks | LAL, WNYP, BH, ONCT |
| Locale | New York |
| Dates of operation | 1964 – Present |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge) |
| Headquarters | Lakeville, New York |
The Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad (AAR reporting marks LAL) is a Class III short line railroad that operates in Livingston County and Monroe County in New York, United States. The railroad interchanges with CSX at Genesee Junction in Henrietta, New York, the Rochester and Southern Railroad (R&S) at Genesee Junction and the R&S's Brooks Avenue Yard, and with the Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad Museum in Industry. In 1997, the Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad was selected as Short Line Railroad of the Year by industry trade journal Railway Age.
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[edit] History
The Livonia Avon & Lakeville Railroad was born when members of the Livonia community decided to rescue the railroad after news came that the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad was to abandon its line from Lakeville to Livonia, NY. In 1964, members of the community, led by Chester A. Haak, began a campaign to purchase the soon to be abandoned line from the Erie-Lackawanna for $13,000. After its incorporation in May of that year, passenger excursions began with the use of GE 45-Tonner #97. This engine is later replaced by GE 44-tonner #10. The next year, after acquiring #17, a 2-8-2 steam locomotive, the LA&L used this engine for all passenger excursion operations with the old Erie depot in Livonia as excursion headquarters.
In 1968, after #17 began to develop mechanical issues, it was replaced with #38, a 2-8-0 steam locomotive. Four years later, the railroad acquired #20, an ALCO RS-1. Three years after this, in 1975, #38 was stored out of service in need of major boiler repairs.
After the re-organization of six major railroads in the northeast United States, Conrail became the LA&L's only interchange point in Avon, NY. Despite the LA&L's desire to operate the Avon-Caledonia branch, the line was excluded from Conrail and later abandoned. In 1977, growing insurance costs forced the LA&L to discontinue passenger excursions.
A year later, after acquiring #72, an ALCO S2, the LA&L sold #10. In 1981, the line to Livonia was abandoned due to a lack of support from the state of New York to repair an aging bridge. After the abandonment, the LA&L built a team track in Lakeville to service its customers. In this year, the LA&L also acquired another ALCO locomotive, this time a C-425, numbered 425. When 1982 rolled around it was decided that a classification yard was needed in Lakeville to handle the growing amount of traffic that the railroad was receiving. Later in 1988, this five track yard was completed. Two years later, an engine shop and office building were built next to the yard.
In 1995, the LA&L acquired yet another engine, an ALCO C-420 numbered 420. The shop was extended to hold two coupled road engines. In 1996, after acquiring Conrail's "Rochester South Cluster", the railroad launched a $1.4 million rehabilitation effort. Later, the LA&L began operation of the former Champagne Railroad, previously owned and operated by the Steuben County Industrial Development Agency. With this deal, the LA&L inherited the use of the railroad's two remaining ALCO S1 engines, numbers 4 and 5, to service the newly acquired railroad. With this acquisition, the railroad grew to 65 route miles. Also, four ALCO C-424m locomotives were purchased. The LA&L was also named "Industry of the Year" by the Livingston County Chamber of Commerce.
After CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway applied to split Conrail, the LA&L filed an application to remove the paper barrier that had kept the railroad from interchanging with the Rochester & Southern at Genesee Junction. With fierce opposition from CSX, the STB granted the LA&L trackage rights across the Genesee Junction Yard, trackage rights into the R&S and its yard at Brooks Avenue, and haulage rights on the R&S to Silver Springs, New York. This gave the LA&L access to three Class I railroads including CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Canadian Pacific Railway.
At the conclusion of several infrastructure rehabilitation projects in 1998, the ex-Conrail trackage from Avon to Genesee Junction had 17,940 ties replaced and 11,400 tons of new ballast installed and tamped. This project increased the maximum allowed speeds on much of the line from a 5-10 mph to 25 mph. The Lakeville to Avon section was refitted with 4,123 new replacement ties and 5,600 tons of ballast. The ballast shoulder was widened for future installation of welded rail. Last but not least, the Bath to Cohocton section had 7,704 ties replaced and the Cohocton Industrial Track was replaced with all new track. On the Cohocton Valley Rail Corp. line, ten miles of previously unused rail between Cohocton and Wayland was reopened. New track was also built to serve a new road de-icer processing facility. Also in this year, the LA&L gained a controlling interest in the Ontario Central Railroad (ONCT). Due to the Conrail split, the ONCT finally receives competitive connections to CSX and NS.
During 1999, the bridge on Pole Bridge Road was upgraded to handle 286,000 pound railroad cars. Avon Yard was also rebuilt into its current configuration. The Lakeville shop was expanded to accommodate three coupled road engines with additional floor space in a separate bay to facilitate locomotive repair. Two of the ALCO C-424m locomotives purchased in 1995 were repaired and reactivated. They emerged as numbers 423 and 424.
In 2001, the LA&L began operations on the former Erie-Lackawanna mainline between Hornell, New York, and Corry, Pennsylvania, as the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad (WNYP). The railroad initially provided rail service between Olean and Jamestown, New York, but eventually extended to more of the line as out-of-service sections were reactivated. In October of that year, the Cohocton Valley Rail Corp. was renamed as the Bath & Hammondsport Rail Corp.
Towards the end of 2005, the WNYP, leased more trackage from Norfolk Southern in Pennsylvania and continued to service more of the line. As of 2007, the line extends from Hornell, New York, to Oil City, Pennsylvania.[1]
[edit] Locomotive Roster
The Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad has a roster made up of primarily ALCO locomotives. The LA&L rosters an S2 (#72) built in 1941, an RS-1 (#20) built in 1949, two S1s (#4 and 5), one C-420 (#420), seven C-424s (#421, 422, 423, 424, 426, 427, 428), four of which are of the C-424m rebuilt variant, one C-425 (#425), four C-430s (#430, 431, 432, 433), one C-630 (#630), one M-630 (#631), and an RS-36 (#418). The only non-ALCO engine on the roster is a leased EMD SW9 from the Golden Spike Railway (GRSX).
Before the road became an all-ALCO road, their roster consisted of a Baldwin 2-8-2 (#17), a GE 45 Tonner with side rods (#97), and in later years, one GE 44 Tonner (#10) and one 2-8-0 (#38). Number 17 was scrapped in Lakeville after being sold to a Rochester area business-man. Number 38 survives on the Knox and Kane Railroad. Number 97 spends it days as RG&E 1941 at the Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, a customer of the Livonia Avon & Lakeville Railroad.
[edit] Trackage
The LAL's trackage technically begins at the west end of CSX's Genesee Junction Yard, on which it has trackage rights, allowing the LAL to interchange with the Rochester and Southern Railroad as well as CSX. LAL ownership continues along the former Conrail non-controlled siding that runs parallel to the West Shore Branch from Genesee Junction Yard to MP 360, then south onto what was once Erie-Lackawanna Railroad and Lehigh Valley Railroad trackage. Shortly after crossing Jefferson Road (NY-252), the track splits, with one track, the ex-LV Rochester Branch, heading southeast to a pair of online businesses on Lehigh Station Road (NY-253) before coming to an end, while the other track, ex-EL trackage, continues south/southwest towards Avon and eventually hits the Lakeville terminus.
The LAL has a three-track yard in the town of Avon, as well as a five-track yard and a four-track engine house in the town of Lakeville further south. The LAL's southern terminus is at the tip of Conesus Lake just across NY Route 15 and US Route 20A in the heart of Lakeville.
Recently, the LAL reactivated a spur to a grain elevator on Bronson Hill Road. This spur was formerly part of the Livonia Branch of the LAL.
[edit] References
- ^ LAL Railfan Network
[edit] External links
- Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad
- Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad
- Bath & Hammondsport Railroad
- Ontario Central Railroad
- LA&L locomotive roster
| Short Line Railroad of the Year 1997 |
