The Silver Lake Railroad was a six mile long railroad operating from Perry to Silver Springs, NY.  It serviced a number of industries in Perry as well as a large tourist trade to the resorts on Silver Lake. It had different owners and different official company names, but was generally referred to as the Silver Lake Railroad.

There is a heritage railroad named the Silver Lake Railroad in New Hampshire, which is completely separate.

History

The Silver Lake Railroad was chartered in June 1869 to build a railroad from Perry to a connection with the Erie Railroad at Silver Springs.  The road was chartered, but no construction was done on the route.  Around 1871 the Silver Lake Railroad was absorbed into the Rochester and Pine Creek Railroad which was chartered to build a line from Caledonia to Silver Springs.  On February 1, 1872 the Rochester and Pine Creek opened the six mile line from Perry to Silver Springs, where it connected with the Erie Railroad. On March 22, 1877 the Rochester and Pine Creek changed its name to the Silver Lake Railway.

The Silver Lake Railroad was originally built with a broad-gauge, 6 feet, between the rails, as it’s only connection was with the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad, which converted from 6 foot gauge to standard gauge (4 feet, 8 1/2 inches) on Sunday, June 22, 1880.

In 1882 the Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad built the one mile Perry Railroad to connect with the Silver Lake Railway at Silver Springs and the Rochester and Pittsburgh at Silver Lake Junction. Beginning in July 1883, the Rochester and Pittsburgh began running its own trains from Rochester over the Silver Lake Railroad to Perry.

A March 5th, 1886 article in the New York Times states:

“BUFFALO, N.Y. – March 4. — The Silver Lake Railroad, about six miles long, running from Silver Springs, on the Erie and Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg Railroads, was sold yesterday to John J. Carter, president of the Bradford, Bordello and Kinzua, for $125,000.  The road was built by the town of Perry, and about three years ago was put into the hands of Commissioners to be sold. The road is thought to be bought in the interest of the Erie. It has paid as high as 12 per cent profit in some years.”

This apparently was a short-lived purchase as Rochester coal merchant Arthur G. Yates purchased the Silver Lake Railway on June 1, 1886.  Yates was the largest shipper of coal on the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway and owned a large fleet of coal hoppers.  It was said that the six mile long Silver Lake Railroad was not long enough to hold all of Yates’ coal cars. Yates owned the railroad until it was sold to the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway on October 1, 1910.

The line operated as the Silver Lake branch of the BR&P and later the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O). 

Passenger service on the line ended in the early-mid 1930s. Towns along the line, especially Perry, fought to keep passenger service to their town. The B&O originally announced the end of service on January 1, 1833 but delayed that due to pressure from the town. In early 1933 the B&O proposed to eliminate Trains 15 and 16 between Rochester and Perry, Train 38 between LeRoy and Rochester, and Trains 534, 535, 536, and 537 between Perry and Silver Lake Junction. In April 1833 the company modified the plan and agreed to keep trains 15 and 16, but operate them as “motorized” trains, as well as local trains 536 and 537. It appears that the last passenger run to Perry was August 4, 1951, freight service on the line ended in 1971, and the tracks were removed in 1977.

Operations

Though the BR&P did not take ownership of the Silver Lake Railway until 1910, an 1884 report noted that “the Rochester and Pittsburg railroad … has a right of trackage over the Silver Lake road, and now are running one train each way between Rochester and Perry.”

Initially, the railroad’s main freight was ice from an ice plant in Perry, which constituted about half of the entire freight carried in the early 1890s but declined over time. By 1905 it represented less than 5% of the company’s freight. The railroad also carried a large number of passengers to camps and picnic areas along the shores of Silver Lake. The railroad also carried US Mail on two trains per day.

The 1886 report of the New York State Railroad Commissioners demonstrates how important seasonal vacation passengers were to the railroad. Statistics about passengers carried, etc. were normally reported for an entire year starting October 1st and ended September 30th the following year. The Silver Lake Railway was sold on June 1, 1886 and had two reports: one covering October 1885 through May 1886, and the second from May through September 1886. This gives a great opportunity to see the difference in traffic between summer (June – September) and the rest of the years. As shown below, the railroad carried four times more passengers on an average train during the summer than during the rest of the year.

	October 1885 and May 1886	June and September 1886
Total Passengers	10,200	25,922
Total Train Miles	10,500	7,200
Trips	1,500	1,028
Passengers per Trip	6.8	25.2

Equipment

An 1886 report of the New York State Railroad Commissioners documented that the Silver Lake Railway had one locomotive with four driving wheels, two passenger cars, and one baggage, mail and express car. The Passenger cars were heated by coal stoves, lighted by kerosene lamps and ventilated by windows in top. The company averaged 12 employees and paid them a combined salary of about $600 per month.

An 1888 report shows one locomotive with four driving wheels, one first-class passenger car, one second-class passenger car, one baggage, mail and express car, 10 boxcars, and 300 coal cars. Passenger cars were heated by coal stoves , lighted by kerosene lamps and ventilated by windows in top. Hand brake and link coupler were used on passenger cars and automatic coupler on freight cars. 

An 1897 report stated that the railroad has purchased a new locomotive at the cost of $1,800 and one passenger car at a cost of $1,481.54. After those purchases the company had two locomotives with four driving wheels, three first-class passenger cars, one baggage, mail and express car, 20 boxcars, and 600 coal cars.

An 1899 report stated that the railroad had spent $2,670.53 on a passenger station (no information on which one) and purchased 25 gondola cars.

A 1900 report stated that the railroad had two small locomotives, 2 coaches, 1 combination car, 20 box cars and 700 coal cars.

A 1902 report stated that the railroad had purchased a caboose at a cost of $757 and spent $438.67 on a new iron bridge in Perry.

The Perry Record had an article on 14 July 1921 which said that 25 years ago the Silver Lake Railway coaches were painted yellow with silver lettering.

An article just after the railroad was sold to the BR&P stated that the equipment of the Silver Lake Railroad had been sold and replaced with those of the BR&P.

Clippings

Timetables

Learn More

• Pietrak, Paul. 1979. Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway. Boston, NY: Self Published.