Rochester & Irondequoit Terminal Railroad
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| Rochester & Irondequoit Terminal Railroad | |
|---|---|
| Reporting marks | R&IT, RTLX |
| Locale | New York |
| Dates of operation | 1875 – Present |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge) |
| Headquarters | Rochester, New York |
The Rochester & Irondequoit Terminal Railroad is a Class II regional railroad that operates in Western New York.
The railroad interchanges with CSX and the Rochester and Southern Railroad at Goodman Street Yard in Rochester, New York.
R&IT’s earliest ancestor was an interurban called the Buffalo, Rochester & Syracuse, which planned a route between those three cities. The Buffalo, Rochester & Syracuse Street Railway was chartered in 1875. Construction began in 1899, and reached Syracuse in 1906. For its time, it was a modern, high-speed electric railway. The BR&S became a link for freight traveling east to New England. More traffic could move east-west without clogging up the New York Central mainline.
In 1914, due to overwhelming debt, the BR&S declared bankruptcy. The early leadership of president O.H. Murphy seemed to be responsible for a number of unfortunate mishaps and blunders. After struggling financially for a number of years, the BR&S declared bankruptcy. The New York Central did not want the line to fall into a competitor’s hands, and quickly formed a partnership with the Nickel Plate to take over the line in 1914. Looking to preserve its friendly connections in New York, the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh bought out half of the NKP interest in the line. Renamed the Rochester & Irondequoit Terminal, the line developed a reputation as a high-speed bridge route.
In 1932, the Baltimore & Ohio acquired the BR&P, and with it, partial control of the R&IT. At one time, the B&O had considered taking full control of the Genesee Route as a link in developing a new trunk route to New York City, but the Depression killed those plans. The R&IT enjoyed moderate success over the years, and became a preferred through route. While traffic peaked during World War II, by the end of the 1950s the catenary was de-energized and passenger service was abandoned.
In 1963, Nickel Plate sold its interest to the B&O in preparation for merger with the Norfolk & Western. By this time, the B&O was no longer interested in controlling the R&IT, and eventually sold their half interest to the Central. As factories and customers along the line began to shut down and move away, remaining freight traffic was being diverted to the parallel NYC mainline. Most of the original R&IT mainline was abandoned, yet the terminal districts and their local customers remained active into the Penn Central era. At the dawn of Conrail, several redundant branchlines in Western New York were in danger of being cast off and shut down forever. In an effort to preserve competition and continued service to these mostly agricultural lines, the R&IT name was reactivated by New York State.
On April 1, 1976, the “new” Rochester & Irondequoit Terminal took over the former NYC Falls Road Branch between Niagara Falls and Rochester, and the former NYC Auburn Road between Rochester and Syracuse. Since that time, an aggressive rehabilitation program has helped increase speeds on the line. The early R&IT roster included Alco road switchers that were plucked from the Conrail deadlines and pressed into service. Through the 1980s, the older Alco’s were retired in favor of second-generation EMD’s. Through an early Conrail trackage rights agreement, the R&IT continues to host through trains operated by CSX. In the Rochester area, it is not uncommon to see trains from the connecting Rochester & Southern and the Livonia, Avon & Lakeville accessing the Genesee Route for interchange.
The R&IT is the fictional HO scale railroad of the RIT Model Railroad Club in Rochester, New York.
