Oneida Railway

Oneida Railway

Locale	Oneida, New York to Syracuse, New York
Dates of operation	1907–1930
Successor	New York State Railways
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The Oneida Railway, an interurban rail, was established in 1907 when the New York Central Railroad electrified 49 miles (79 km) of the West Shore Railroad between Syracuse, New York and Utica, New York. The interurban railroad used nontraditional third-rail pickup for power instead of the typical overhead catenary. In 1909 the system merged with the New York State Railways system which remained in business until 1930. The track was constructed in 1885 as part of the West Shore Railroad and eventually connected Oneida, New York with Syracuse, New York. The Oneida Railway lines came under the control of New York State Railways in 1912, and ended operation in 1930.

Local trains ran on the streets in Oneida, but limiteds, which were faster and traveled longer distances, ran by the town to the south.

All trains entered Syracuse, New York and Utica, New York on the street, using overhead trolley. A limited and local were run every hour until the late 1920s when the service scaled back and ran a single car each hour, except during the morning and evening rush periods.

The company compared the merits of alternating current overhead equipment versus third-rail and the decision was made to install third-rail, direct-current system, due to the greater flexibility offered should it ever become necessary to make lateral extensions, install additional side tracks, switches, etc.

The company had contracted with the Hudson River Electric Power Company for the delivery of three-phase current at a potential of 60,000 volts at the Clark Mills substation, about 7 miles (11 km) west of Utica. The power was generated from an auxiliary steam plant in that same city. Upon completion of the transmission lines, "current later will undoubtedly be taken from hydro-electric plants" owned by the company in eastern New York State.

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Wikipedia