Southern Central Railroad

Southern Central Railroad

Overview
Locale	New York
Dates of operation	1865 (1865)–1895 (1895)
Successor	Lehigh Valley Railroad
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Length	116.8 miles (188.0 km)

The Southern Central Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated in the state of New York in the nineteenth century. The company's line ran from Fair Haven, New York, on the south shore of Lake Ontario, to Athens, Pennsylvania, in the Southern Tier and just over the border into Pennsylvania. The company was incorporated in 1865 and became part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad system in 1895. Most of its line was abandoned by the Lehigh Valley Railroad between 1937–1979; the portion between Harford Mills, New York, and Owego, New York, is owned by the Tioga County Industrial Development Agency and operated by the Owego and Harford Railway.

History

The Lake Ontario, Auburn and New York Railroad, chartered in 1852, had graded a line between Fair Haven and Auburn, New York, but ran out of money without ever laying track. ^[1] The new Southern Central Railroad was chartered on September 6, 1865, to complete this work and build a line from Fair Haven due south to Owego, New York, where it could interchange traffic with the Erie Railroad. ^[2] The railroad opened between Owego and Auburn on March 8, 1870. ^[3]

The Erie was at that time still a broad-gauge railroad, which made interchange with the standard gauge Southern Central difficult. With financial assistance from the Lehigh Valley Railroad, the Southern Central built south from Owego toward the state line at Athens, Pennsylvania (later Sayre), and an interchange with the Pennsylvania and New York Railroad, a Lehigh Valley Railroad company. This extension opened on January 3, 1871. ^[4] The northern part of the line to Fair Haven finally opened on December 1, 1871. ^[5]

Financial problems led to the Lehigh Valley leasing the company in 1887. ^[6] The debts were such that, in 1895, the Lehigh Valley formed a subsidiary, the Lehigh and New York Railroad, to buy the Southern Central in a foreclosure sale, after which the Lehigh Valley leased the Lehigh and New York. The latter company was merged into the Lehigh Valley at the end of 1949. ^[7] Under the Lehigh Valley, the line was known first as the Lehigh and New York Branch; then later as the Auburn Branch. ^[1]

Route

Auburn Branch

The line from North Fair Haven to Sayre measured 115 miles (185 km). ^[8] It interchanged with several other railroads, including the New York Central Railroad, New York, Ontario and Western Railway, Erie Railroad and Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. ^[9] The Lehigh Valley abandoned the coal dock at North Fair Haven and cut-back the northern end of the line to Fair Haven in 1937. ^[10] After World War II, the Lehigh Valley gradually-abandoned the branch. In 1952–1953, it further cut-back the branch from Fair Haven to Cato, New York. ^{[11] [12]} The construction of the New York State Thruway, in 1954, eliminated the interchange with the New York Central at Weedsport, New York, leading to a further abandonment between Cato and Auburn, New York in 1957. ^{[13] [14]} In 1968, the Lehigh Valley Railroad, now under Pennsylvania Railroad control, abandoned the branch between Auburn and Moravia, New York. ^[15]

In the last years of Lehigh Valley operation, the line north of Owego was split into two secondary tracks:

• the Mead Secondary, from the end of the line just north of Moravia to Freeville, New York, where it interchanged with the Lehigh Valley's Elmira and Cortland Branch
• the Freeville Secondary, from Freeville south to Owego

The remaining Auburn Branch between Sayre and Owego was not included in Conrail, given the parallel Erie Lackawanna Railway main line, and was abandoned after April 1, 1976. ^{[16] [17]}

Owego-Harford

Although the New York Department of Transportation spent $832,000 to rehabilitate the line north of Owego, neither of the two secondary tracks was included in Conrail. ^{[18] [19]} Additional subsidies from the State of New York led to Conrail operation of the entire Sayre–Mead line, although the line was abandoned north of Locke, New York after August 31, 1976. ^[20] Ownership remained with the bankrupt Lehigh Valley Railroad. ^{[21] [22] [23]} In April, 1978, the Lehigh Valley further abandoned the portion between Locke and Dryden, New York. ^[24] A final abandonment in 1979 removed the line between Dryden and Harford Mills, New York.

On January 1, 1980, the Delaware and Hudson Railroad replaced Conrail as the operator of the line north of Owego. In 1981, the Tioga County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) acquired the line from the trustees of the Lehigh Valley Railroad; then leased it back to the D&H. ^[25] The D&H terminated the lease in 1985, after closure of the Arco Petroleum Products storage facility in Harford Mills. ^[26] The Tioga Central Railroad operated both freight and excursion service on the line from 1986–1992, when the IDA replaced them with the Owego and Harford Railway. The O&H continues to operate the line today. ^[27]

Notes

1. Trice 2004 , p. 13
2. Trice 2004 , p. 15
3. Trice 2004 , p. 18
4. Trice 2004 , pp. 18–19
5. Trice 2004 , p. 20
6. Trice 2004 , p. 26
7. Trice 2004 , pp. 30–31
8. Poor 1894 , p. 497
9. Trice 2004 , pp. 14
10. Trice 2004 , pp. 98
11. Interstate Commerce Commission 1953 , p. 183
12. New York Public Service Commission 1952 , p. 42
13. New York Public Service Commission 1957 , p. 27
14. Archer 1977 , p. 270
15. Trice 2004 , p. 139
16. United States Railway Association 1975 , pp. 309–310
17. New York State Department of Transportation 1976 , p. V-69
18. "Omission of 2 Tracks 'Capricious' Decision". The Post-Standard . July 19, 1975. p. 23. Retrieved June 21, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
19. United States Railway Association 1975 , pp. 284–285
20. New York State Department of Transportation 1976 , pp. V-76–V-77
21. Lee, Rossiter & Marcham 2008 , p. 61
22. Trice 2004 , p. 141
23. Clark, Arthur (August 26, 1976). "Lehigh's CU line: on rail?". The Ithaca Journal . p. 3. Retrieved June 21, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
24. "Council scans nuclear plan". The Ithaca Journal . April 29, 1978. p. 7. Retrieved June 22, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
25. Walter, Clark (February 13, 1981). "Tioga IDA sees "new era" with grant for rail purchase". Press and Sun-Bulletin . p. 5. Retrieved June 22, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
26. Bezek, Cindy Hyle (September 6, 1985). "Tioga IDA loses executive chief's post". Press and Sun-Bulletin . p. 7. Retrieved June 22, 2019– via Newspapers.com.
27. Lewis 1996 , p. 241

References

• Archer, Robert F. (1977). The History of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Berkeley: Howell-North Books. ISBN   978-0-8310-7113-4.
• Interstate Commerce Commission (November 2, 1953). "Annual report of the Interstate Commerce Commission". Interstate Commerce Commission ... Annual Report. 67. hdl:2027/osu.32437122268937.
• Lee, Hardy Campbell; Rossiter, Winton G.; Marcham, John (2008). A History of Railroads in Tompkins County (3rd ed.). Ithaca, New York: The History Center in Tompkins County.
• Lewis, Edward A. (1996). American Shortline Railway Guide (5th ed.). Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN   0-89024-290-9. OCLC   35286187.
• New York Public Service Commission (1952). "Railroads". Annual Report of the Public Service Commission. Legislative document: 35–48. hdl:2027/mdp.39015073769542.
• New York Public Service Commission (1957). "Railroads". Annual Report of the Public Service Commission. Legislative document: 23–33. hdl:2027/mdp.39015073769641.
• New York State Department of Transportation (1976). New York State rail plan. New York State Dept. of Transportation.
• Poor, Henry Varnum (1894). Manual of the Railroads of the United States. H.V. & H.W. Poor.
• Trice, Herbert V. (2004). The Gangly Country Cousin: the Lehigh Valley's Auburn Division. Ithaca, New York: DeWitt Historical Society.
• United States Railway Association (1975). Final system plan for restructuring railroads in the Northeast and Midwest region pursuant to the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 (PDF). Vol. 2. Washington, DC. OCLC   2889148.