The Rochester and Suburban Railway was a

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

company that operated in the

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

area. The company was preceded by the Rochester and Lake Ontario Railway, which was formed in 1879 to construct a steam-powered railroad connecting Rochester at Portland Avenue with

Sea Breeze A sea breeze or onshore breeze is a wind that blows in the afternoon from a large body of water toward or onto a landmass. By contrast, a land breeze or offshore breeze is a wind that blows in the night from a landmass toward or onto a large ...

on the shores of

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

. The line was operated with enclosed "dummy" steam locomotives. At the line's terminus, the railroad constructed a resort, which later became the modern Seabreeze amusement park. The railroad was leased by the Rochester and Irondequoit Railroad in 1893, which in turn built its own electric streetcar line along St. Paul Boulevard to the Summerville lakeside community in Irondequoit. The electric line only operated in the summer months, and connected to a ferry boat that transported passengers across the

Genesee River The Genesee River ( ) is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York in the United States. The river contains several waterfalls in New York at Letchworth State Park and Roch ...

to Charlotte. The opening of the Stutson Street Bridge in 1927 forced the termination of ferry service, and the railroads entered receivership soon after.

Control by New York State Railways

The Rochester and Suburban Railway was chartered in 1900 and purchased the Rochester and Irondequoit Railroad at a foreclosure sale, and then merged the Rochester and Lake Ontario Railway. The former R&LO line was rebuilt and electrified and year-round service to Summerville began in 1905. That same year, the railroad was leased to the

Rochester Railway Company The Rochester Railway Company operated a streetcar transit system throughout the city of Rochester, New York, Rochester from 1890 until its acquisition by Rochester Transit Corp. in 1938. Formed by a group of Pittsburgh investors, the Rochester Ra ...

, which in turn was acquired by

New York State Railways New York State Railways was a subsidiary of the New York Central Railroad that controlled several large city streetcar and electric interurban systems in upstate New York. It included the city transit lines in Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Oneida ...

in 1909. The Sea Breeze line was closed in 1936, and the Summerville line followed a year later.

References

* Streetcars in New York (state) Transportation in Rochester, New York Defunct New York (state) railroads Railway companies established in 1900 Railway companies disestablished in 1909 Standard-gauge railways in the United States {{US-rail-company-stub