Genesee Valley Transportation Company summary
The Genesee Valley Transportation Company is a holding company that operates multiple short line railroads in New York and Pennsylvania. It’s privately owned by David J. Monte Verde, Michael Thomas and John Herbrand who were part of the original formation of the company. With the Genesee Valley’s headquarters in Batavia, N.Y., a total of five freight railroads serves as subsidiaries with 3T transloading as the top business.
History
The Genesee Valley Transportation Company was founded in 1985 with the purchase of secondhand diesel locomotives for leasing out to other short line and regional railroads, in addition to providing consulting and logistic services. At the time, startups were forming in the wake of the Staggers Act of 1980 that deregulated the industry. The leased locomotives were brought back to Buffalo, N.Y., in 1989 to commence operations on the Genesee Valley’s first acquired railroad, the Depew, Lancaster and Western Railroad. The success and sustainable business development towards the 3-mile DLWR led the growth of the incorporated company to a 318-mile network of four additional railroads and multiple properties since 1990.
Operations
The Genesee Valley Transportation Company operates in three separate regions. Northeastern Pennsylvania is home to the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad out of Scranton, Pa. Western New York finds both the Falls Road Railroad and Batavia 3T Transload Warehouse serving customers from Niagara Falls to the greater Rochester area. Central New York’s Mohawk, Adirondack and Northern Railroad provides freight traffic from Utica, N.Y., to the Mohawk Valley and Adirondack regions.
The 3T transloading industry is highlighted as the top business in Genesee Valley’s network. The purchase of rail properties during the 1990s in Utica, Batavia and Rome, N.Y., formed the backbone of terminal switching operations and transloading. Multiple T3 service locations spread across the company’s system with eight in New York and three in Pennsylvania. Additional services include railcar storage along the short lines and dispatching out of the Scranton Operations Center in Scranton for the Delaware-Lackawanna, Falls Road, and the Mohawk, Adirondack and Northern.
Passenger service is provided on Genesee Valley’s multiple railroads. The National Park Service’s Steamtown Historic Site operates periodic excursions over the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad’s Pocono and Carbondale lines out of Scranton, Pa. Scranton is also home to the Electric City Trolley Museum where the DL provides the historic trolleys trackage rights over the Laurel Line, which has overhead wire for most of its length. The Falls Road Railroad hosts excursions for the on-line Medina Railroad Museum, using the railroad’s locomotives and museum’s passenger equipment. The Adirondack Railroad has trackage rights over the Mohawk, Adirondack and Northern Railroad as part of their scenic excursion between Utica and Snow Junction, N.Y.
Genesee Valley Transportation holds a growing fleet of diesels from Alco and Montreal Locomotive Works, marking the largest fleet in North America. Most are painted in the company’s “Corporate White” color scheme. A new locomotive shop was constructed in the Green Ridge section of Scranton to repair and maintain the company’s diverse roster.
Read more about the Genesee Valley Transportation Company in Trains’ December 2021 issue.
