HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Train That Never WasThe Train That Never Was The track was to go from a point in the town of North Spencer to Lake Ontario via Newfield, Enfield, Trumansburg, and Seneca Falls. The connection was to be
made with the Ithaca and Athens railroad. The Pennsylvania and Sodus Bay Railroad was rumored to have bought 5,000 railroad ties. These ties were never seen and never laid. Work on
the railroad ceased completely. This was probably a casualty of the economic panic of 1873. The relics of the 1876 railroad were bought by Merritt King, an Ithaca lawyer, with the
intention of completing the line or at least the section from Seneca Falls to Romulus. This also was never completed. Although the Pennsylvania and Sodus Bay Railroad no longer existed,
the Town of Enfield (plus the other towns who invested) had to continue to pay on the bank bonds. Each year the Railroad Commissioner for the town reported to the Board of Supervisors
of Tompkins County, the amount still owed and paid on the railroad bond. November 1901 Enfield Town Officers: Supervisor James H. Hine, Town Justices of the Peace: Charles Fletcher,
Charles Gray, Fred Chase and H.A. Rockwell, and Town Clerk Clinton J. Updike, passed a resolution that the office of Railroad Commissioner for the town be abolished and the duties transferred
to the Supervisor of the Town. On March 1, 1911 the last payment of $1,400 plus interested of $24.50 was made by the town. References: Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors of the
County of Tompkins for the Year. 1872-1911, Ithaca, New York. A History of Railroads in Tompkins County. 1977. H.C. Lee and W. Rossiter. Dewitt Historical Society of Tompkins County,
Ithaca, New York. Enfield New York Christian Hill to Enfield Falls, The Town of. 2002. Enfield Historical Society and Sue Thompson. Enfield, NY Poster by Sue Thompson, Enfield town
Historian * The Ithaca and Owego Railroad, incorporated 1828 was the second railroad chartered in the State of New York. It was not until after the Civil War (1865) that the railroad
industry really started in Tompkins County. The Pennsylvania and Sodus Bay Railroad, an unchartered railroad sponsored by Erastus C. Gregg and Joseph H. Biggs of Trumansburg offered
the towns of Newfield, Enfield and Ulysses an end to their public transportation isolation. The Town of Enfield in support of this railroad purchased bonds total $25,000 in aid of the
project. The $25,000 bond purchased by the Town of Enfield was purchased at the rate of 7% payable to the Bank of Union Trust of New York City in March and September of each year. May
1870 the Pennsylvania and Sodus Bay Railroad was chartered, two weeks later, the Geneva and Ithaca Railroad was chartered. This created debate in Tompkins County as to whether both
the railroads could economically exist. Surveys, Rights of Way, were obtained during the summer of 1870. Ground was broken and the track grading for the Pennsylvania and Sodus Bay
Railroad was started by the end of 1871. The grades were constructed for narrow gauge (most presently existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of 3 ft 6 in. between the two parallel
rails constituting the railway track). 4 4 6 9 9 6 *