Livonia,
Avon and Lakeville Railroad - (en)
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.
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.
