History
The Rochester, Nunda and Pennsylvania Railroad was a narrow-gauge (three foot) railroad that was established in 1870 to build a line from Mount Morris to Rosses, also known as Ross Junction, a location on the Erie Railroad main line in Allegany County. By early 1873, ten miles of rail had been laid from Rosses through Nunda to the Mount Morris town line just north of Nunda Junction. By 1874 the company had extended the line north through Tuscarora to Sonya, a route which the paralleled the Genesee Valley Canal.
The railroad fell on very hard time due to a financial panic on Wall Street and by May 1875 the railroad’s sole locomotive had been repossessed. The railroad was abandoned and some enterprising people even pulled up some of the rail and sold it to other railroads in the area.
In 1877 the Rochester, Nunda and Pennsylvania Railroad was sold and was reorganized as the Rochester, Nunda and Pittsburgh Railroad.
The Rochester, New York and Pennsylvania Railroad, which was organized by and leased to the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railway, was chartered on July 11, 1881 to build a 20 mile line from Ross Junction to Mount Morris. The Rochester, Nunda and Pittsburgh Railroad was merged into this new company, which made use of two parts of the former Rochester, Nunda and Pennsylvania Railroad right-of-way.
- The section between Sonya and Nunda Junction was used for the Genesee Valley Canal Railroad route as it avoided the steep grade on the canal near Nunda.
- The section from Nunda Junction south through Nunda to Swains was restored and new track was laid between Rosses and Swains. This track closely followed the existing Erie Railroad line between Hornell and Buffalo.
By 1882 trains were running along the “Swains Branch” from Nunda Junction, through the village of Nunda to Swains.
The segment of the line between Nunda and Swains was abandoned in 1910. The line north from Nunda to Nunda Junction was abandoned in 1963.
Learn More
- Abandonedrails.com. “The Rochester, Nunda and Pennsylvania Railroad“
- Howard W. Appell. “The Swains Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad – A History“