Rochester
and Southern Railroad - (en)
The Rochester and Southern Railroad (AAR reporting mark RSR), a
subsidiary of Genesee and Wyoming, Inc., is a class III shortline that
runs from Rochester to Silver Springs, NY. The railroad interchanges
with CSX twice in Rochester, at CP-373 on the Rochester Subdivision
and at Genesee Junction on CSX's West Shore Subdivision, where the RSR
also interchanges with the Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad,
another shortline. The RSR also interchanges with the Genesee and
Wyoming Railroad (a subdivision of the RSR) in Caledonia as well as
with Norfolk Southern's Southern Tier Line in Silver Springs.
Trackage
In Rochester, the RSR mainline splits into two lines just north of the
Chili Avenue (NY-33A) grade crossing: the Belt Line, which runs north
into the heart of the city; and the Lincoln Park line, which runs
parallel to the CSX mainline until the Brown Street underpass, where
it turns south and crosses King and Canal Streets. After crossing
Canal St., the track leads to Morse Lumber, an online customer, as
well as the former entrance to the Rochester Subway, which has since
been fenced off. The RSR made deliveries of paper to Gannett
Newspapers through the subway until 1996 when the printing operations
were moved to Greece, a suburb of Rochester. The subway has not seen
use since and likely never will again as the city of Rochester has
plans in place to fill this section of the tunnel with dirt. Heading
north up the belt line, the track snakes to the north, passing over
the Falls Road Industrial Track, then to the east and back to the
north, to parallel CSX's Charlotte Branch. Just after the Lexington
Avenue underpass, a switch off the Belt Line leads down to another
former connection with old subway trackage. However, unlike the
connection off of Canal St., this connection was built in 1976 after
the city of Rochester filled in the old subway cut from Lexington Ave.
to Brown St. to save on bridge maintenance. Further north, the RSR
runs through the center of Kodak Park, crossing West Ridge Rd.
(NY-104) before heading north to its terminus at Matthews and Fields
Lumber, another online customer, on Stonewood Avenue.
Heading south from the Chili Avenue grade crossing, the first notable
area of trackage is the Brooks Avenue yard. Continuing south, the RSR
interchanges with CSX at Genesee Junction. 12 miles farther down, the
Rochester and Southern passes through P&L Junction, its connection
point with the GNWR. The line then continues south to Silver Springs,
where the RSR interchanges with the Southern Tier Line in the heart of
Silver Springs.
Notable Mileposts
0.0 Lincoln Park Line end
1.9 Jct. with CSXT at CP-373
2.4 Belt Line Junction
3.5 Brooks Avenue Yard
6.1 Jct. with CSXT and LAL at Genesee Jct.
19.5 P&L Jct. - Caledonia
50.9 Silver Springs - Jct. with NS - End track
History
The trackage owned today by the R&S, except for the GNWR
subdivision, was constructed by the Rochester and State Line Railroad,
which began operations on January 28, 1878 between Rochester and
Salamanca (a town that is now on the RSR's sister railroad, the
Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad). The name changed to the Rochester
and Pittsburg Railroad in 1881 and was absorbed into the Buffalo,
Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway in 1886. The line was purchased by
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1932, which maintained ownership of
the line as the Chessie System and CSX before the line between
Rochester and Silver Springs was sold to GWI in 1985. Operations under
the new railroad, the Rochester and Southern, began in 1986.
