The short clipping below talks about the first train to reach Ithaca on the Cayuga and Susquehanna Railroad extension of the line from Owego. This extension eliminated the need to use the including plane to bring freight cars over the hill outside Ithaca and allowed trains to directly go into the village.
Ithaca, Dec. 18
RAILROAD CELEBRATION. – The opening of the Cayuga and Susquehanna Railroad was celebrated to-day with great eclat. The town was early crowded with people from the adjacent country, anxious to see the first locomotive.
Source: The Evening Post, New York, NY, 19 December 1849, p. 2. NYS Historic Newspapers.