DMM history and timeline:

1868 - The DMM began in 1868 as the Erie & Genesee Valley Railroad Company. The company originally intended
            to build from Burns, NY, on the Erie Railroad, through Dansville and on to Mount Morris, to a connection with
            another Erie line to Rochester. 

1871 - With financial help from the Erie, the line is completed between Dansville and Mount Morris.
            (the line between Burns and Dansville was never built.)
            The original route between Dansville and Mount Morris was 15 miles long.

1871 - December 12, 1871, the first train arrives in Dansville! using a borrowed Erie engine from Mount Morris.

           For the next 20 years, the line is leased by, and is essentially a subsiderary of the Erie.

1891 - with a reorgnization, the line is renamed the Dansville & Mount Morris Railway Company.
           This marks the beginning of the DMM as an independant railroad.

           Up until this point, the railroads only connection to the outside world was with the Erie at Mount Morris.
           As an independant company after 1891, the DMM now attempted to connect with the two other local railroads,
           the DL&W at Groveland, and the WNY&P (later PRR) at Mount Morris.
           The PRR connection was made, but the Erie threatened to terminate the connection at Mount Morris if the
           DMM interchanged with the DL&W.

1933 - At the request of the Foster-Wheeler company, who desired better and more reliable rail service, 
           (and who hinted they might be forced to leave Dansville is this connection was not made)
           a connection with the DL&W is finally made at Groveland, connecting to the wye at the Lackawanna's
           Groveland Station yard. This connection was ordered by the ICC, over the continued objections of the Erie.

1939 - passenger service ends on the DMM.

1940 - The Erie rips up its track between Avon and Mount Morris. The Erie states one of the reasons
            for abandonment of this line was the DMM connection to the DL&W, siphoning off Erie traffic.

1940 - DMM removes its original mainline between Mount Morris and Sonyea (3 miles)
           ending its original connection to Mount Morris. The last train to run the full route between Mount Morris
           and Dansville on the original mainline was January 24, 1940, four days after the Erie formally abandoned
           its Avon - Mount Morris route.

1943 - DMM abandons and removes its original line between Groveland and Sonyea. (4 miles)
           the DMM shrinks by about half between 1939 and 1943.
           now the DMM is an 7.8 mile route between Dansville and the DL&W connection at Groveland.

1956 - Last steam operations on the DMM, and the arrival of Diesel #1.

1960 - The Erie and the DL&W merge to form the Erie Lackawanna. The DMM connection at Groveland 
            is now EL.

1963 - EL abandons the former DL&W mainline between Wayland and Groveland.
           no more trains over Dansville Hill. Rails removed in 1965.

1963 - DMM builds a new enginehouse in Dansville. has one GE diesel on the roster.

1976 - April1 , 1976 - EL is absorbed into the Conrail system. DMM's only connection to the outside world is
           now Conrail at Groveland.

1982  - Genesee & Wyoming takes over the Conrail trackage (former DL&W mainline) between Greigsville
            and Groveland. DMM now connects to the G&W at Groveland.

1985 - July 23, 1985, the DMM is aquired by the Genesee & Wyoming company, ending 94 years of the
           DMM as an independent railroad. G&W now extends from P&L Junction (Caledonia) to Dansville.

1986 - October 1986 , the DMM's last two locomotives, GE 44ton switchers #1 and #2, 
           are sold to the Bay Colony railroad of Massachusetts. (In 1986 I was a teenage railfan over in Waverly, NY..I caught
              the two DMM locos heading east through Waverly! at the time I had no idea what they were or where they were from.
              I didnt learn that until decades later!  )

2001 - the DMM trackage is embargoed by R&S between Groveland and Dansville.

2002 - (approximate date) the G&W ceases to exist as a separate railroad, and is merged into the larger
            Rochester & Southern system, which is also a "G&W Family" shortline. the ancestral DMM tracks
            between Groveland and Dansville are now R&S.

2003 - Foster Wheeler in Dansville closes. This was the only remaining customer for the line between Dansville and
           Mount Morris. The future of the line looks grim, and talk is going around that the tracks will be taken up.
           (in the 1980's and 90's, traffic to and from Foster Wheeler was already *very* sporadic and uncommon..
            only a few train movements a year.)

2006 - January 31, 2006 - American Motive Power (AMP) recieves its first locomotive at the former Foster-Wheeler
            plant in Dansville! the DMM lives again! AMP rebuilds locomotives. in 2006 and 2007, dozens of older
            locomotives have been rebuilt there, here is a small sampling. (goto page 2 for photos)

2007 - Bringing us up to the current day. Trains still run between Dansville & Mount Morris. Today the line is
            part of the Rochester & Southern system, a Genesee & Wyoming family shortline. Tracks between
            Dansville and Groveland are original DMM, tracks between Groveland and Mount Morris are original
            DL&W. AMP in Dansville is the only customer south of Mount Morris.
 
 

Surviving DMM locomotives, and all-time roster.
 

Steam
The DMM owned 11 steam locomotives during its history.

 

	Photo	Road No.	Wheel Arr.	Year Built	Builder	Status	Location	Heritage	Notes
		??	4-6-0	1880	Schenectady	scrapped		Ex - PRR "Unaka"
		2	4-4-0			scrapped
		5		1902		scrapped			purchased new
		6	4-4-0			scrapped
		7	4-2-0			scrapped
		9	4-6-0	1895	Schenectady	scrapped		Ex - LS&M 254	B/N 4563
								Ex - NYCRR 5093
								with DMM 1910 - 1933
		10	0-6-0T	1904	Alco	scrapped		Ex - Chestnut Ridge Railway.	B/N 29660
								with DMM 1924-1930
		55	4-4-0			scrapped
		111	4-4-0	1865	Danforth-Cooke	scrapped		Ex - DL&W 111
								Ex - Morris & Essex 17 "Hackensack"
		304	4-6-0	1905	Alco Brooks	preserved	Steamtown	Nee NKP 44 (1905)	B/N 38831
							Scranton, PA	To AC&Y 304 (1923)
								To DMM 304 (1929)
								To Myers Steel & Supply (1957)
								To Nelson Blount (Steamtown Vermont) -1963
		565	2-6-0	1908	Alco	preserved	Steamtown	Nee DL&W 565 (1908)	B/N 45528
							Scranton, PA	To DMM 565 (1936)
								to Black River RR. (1960)
								various private owners (1968-1985.)
								to Steamtown (1985)

Diesel
The DMM owned 2 Diesels

 

	Photo	Road No.	Model	Year Built	Serial #	Status	Location	Heritage	Notes
		1	GE 44 ton	10/1956	32664	??	Michigan	Nee Dansville & Mount Morris #1 (1956)	last GE
								to Bay Colony 411 (1986)	44ton built
								to Adrian & Blissfield (1998)	Phase Vc
		2 (2nd)	GE 44 ton	09/1949	30250	??	New Jersey	Nee Bath & Hammondsport D-1 (1949)	Phase IV-b
								to DMM #2
								to Bay Colony 410 (1986)
								to Southerrn RR of NJ 410 (1998)

 
 

Railbus
The DMM owned one gasoline railbus, #300.
originally equipped with a White engine, it later recieved a Buick engine.
scrapped in 1937 after the end of passenger service.
 
 

Continue on to page 2, Genesee & Wyoming
 

Back to D&MM - G&W - R&S Survivors main page.

return to Scot's main page