Ithaca, Auburn and Western Railroad
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| Ithaca, Auburn and Western Railroad | |
|---|---|
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| Locale | New York |
| Dates of operation | 1876 – 1891 |
| Successor line | Lehigh Valley Railroad |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge) |
| Headquarters | |
The Ithaca, Auburn and Western Railroad was a short-lived railroad connecting Ithaca and Auburn.
In 1876, it bought part of the New York and Oswego Midland Railroad's Auburn Branch, extending from Freeville on the Utica, Ithaca and Elmira Railroad to Scipio, and was operated by the UI&E. It subsequently extended the line north from Scipio to Auburn. In 1883, it was leased by the Southern Central Railroad (a subsidiary of the Lehigh Valley Railroad), whose route it paralleled. In 1889, the line was bought outright by the Lehigh Valley, which built a line diverging from the IA&W at Genoa Jct. (just west of Auburn) to Cayuga Jct. on the Geneva, Ithaca and Sayre Railroad, another subsidiary. The rest of the line, however, was redundant to the Southern Central, and passed through sparsely settled and unprofitable country. It was abandoned in 1891.
The grade from a point south of Genoa Jct. to South Lansing was re-used by the Ithaca-Auburn Short Line, which was itself abandoned in 1923. The small portion preserved by the Lehigh Valley was abandoned in 1971. The grade from Genoa Jct. to Mapleton is now a powerline right-of-way.
