The Canandaigua and Niagara Falls Railroad was a railway company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1851 and completed a line between Canandaigua, New York, and Niagara Falls, New York, in 1854. The company was reorganized as the Niagara Bridge and Canandaigua Railroad, a forerunner of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, in 1858.
History The Canandaigua and Niagara Falls Railroad was incorporated on March 18, 1851. The railroad was loosely associated with the New York and Erie and the Canandaigua and Elmira Railroads, which between them owned a broad gauge line between Canandaigua, New York, and New York City. The new railroad was to build a broad gauge line west from Canandaigua to Niagara Falls, New York.
The company opened its initial line between Canandaigua and Batavia, New York, a distance of , on January 1, 1853. The line was further extended west to Niagara Falls on July 1, 1853. Between North Tonawanda, New York, and Niagara Falls, the line ran roughly parallel to the standard-gauge Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad. A further extension to the vicinity of the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge opened in 1854.
The company experienced financial difficulties and entered receivership in 1855. The property was sold in 1857, and reorganized as the Niagara Bridge and Canandaigua Railroad on August 28, 1858, and subsequently leased by the New York Central Railroad. Under the New York Central the line was re-gauged to standard gauge and the parallel Buffalo and Niagara Falls abandoned. The Niagara Bridge and Canandaigua Railroad continued to exist on paper until it was merged into the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, successor to the first New York Central Railroad, on January 10, 1890.
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