Rochester, Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad

The Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad had been founded in 1834 and opened between Lockport, New York, and Niagara Falls, New York, in 1838.^[1][2] The New York legislature authorized the company to build east to Rochester, New York, but it lacked the financial resources to do so.^[3] The Rochester, Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad was incorporated on December 14, 1850, to develop a new route between its namesake cities. It acquired the bankrupt Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad at the same time.^[4] Trains stopped running on the original line on August 26, 1851, after which it was completely abandoned.^[5]

The new line, 75 miles (121 km) long, opened in July 1852.^[6] Compared to its predecessor it took a shorter, more direct route between Lockport and Niagara Falls, passing south of Pekin, New York, and the Tuscarora Reservation. In Rochester, New York, it connected with the Rochester and Syracuse Railroad. The Buffalo and Lockport Railroad, founded in 1852, soon provided a direct link between Lockport and Buffalo, New York.^[7]

The company leased the Rochester and Lake Ontario Railroad in early 1853; that company's line ran north from Rochester to Charlotte, on Lake Ontario.^[8] The Rochester, Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad was consolidated with nine other railroads to form the first New York Central Railroad on May 1, 1853.^[9]

• Interstate Commerce Commission (1930). Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States. Valuation reports. Vol. 27. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
• Klein, Aaron E. (1985). New York Central (1st ed.). New York: Bonanza Books. ISBN 978-0-517-46085-6.
• Stevens, Frank Walker (1926). The Beginnings of the New York Central Railroad: A History. New York: G. P. Putnam.
• Yates, Raymond F. (1950). The old Lockport and Niagara Falls Strap Railroad. Lockport, New York: Niagara County Historical Society. OCLC 11465531.