For Christmas I received a New York State Railways Utica Lines tie pin, which I have to imagine is a pretty rare piece, and too obscure to be something that is reproduced. As near as I can tell, this dates from some time between 1912 and 1941.
New York State Railways was a wholly-owned subsidiary of New York Central that controlled various trolley and interurban lines across New York. The New York Central took control of the Rochester Railway Company, the Rochester & Eastern Rapids Railways and the Rochester & Sodus Bay Railway in 1905, and the Mohawk Valley Company was formed by the railroad to manage these new acquisitions. New York State Railways was formed in 1909 when the properties controlled by the Mohawk Valley Company were merged, and in 1912 it added the Rochester & Suburban Railway, the Syracuse Rapid Transit, the Oneida Railway (a particularly interesting one, this was a third-rail interurban that ran on the West Shore), and the Utica & Mohawk Valley. The New York Central Railroad was interested in acquiring these lines in an effort to control the competition and, more importantly, to gain control of the lucrative electric utility companies that were behind many streetcar and interurban railways.The Utica Lines of New York State Railways was composed mainly of the city and suburban lines serving both Utica and Rome. The various streetcar lines serving Utica were consolidated into the Utica & Mohawk Valley in 1901. The Mohawk Valley Line was an interurban connecting Rome, Utica, and Little Falls, constructed between 1902 and 1903. This became the busiest route, with half-hourly service on its double-track main line. The Rome City Street Railroad was merged into the Utica and Mohawk Valley Railway in 1907. The Mohawk Valley Line began to show significant losses starting in 1926, while the Rome city lines, which were never successful, had some of the first service suspensions, starting in 1927. All streetcar service in Rome was ended on December 7, 1930. In 1931, the North Utica line was closed, and the Eagle Street line followed in 1932. The Lenox, Lincoln, and Blandina routes closed in 1933, and the Mohawk Valley Line also shut down on June 30, 1933. The steel interurban cars that served on the Mohawk Valley Line, which were purchased new in 1916, were transferred to Rochester Lines in 1936. In 1934 the South Street and Mohawk Street lines were closed, the same year New York State Railways emerged from receivership. The James Street and Clinton lines were shut down in 1936, while the Whitesboro and New York Mills lines were closed in the summer of 1938. The Capron line hung on until April 8, 1941. The last day for Utica Lines operation in Utica was May 12, 1941, when the New Hartford and Forest Park lines closed. The mayor of Utica was at the controls of Car #310, the last car to roll into the Forest Park carbarn.
The transit franchises formerly operated by the Utica Line streetcars in Rome were continued by the Copper City Bus Line and the Rome City Bus Line. It wasn't until 1948 that many parts of the former Utica Lines were reorganized as the Utica Transit Corporation. The city-owned Utica Transit Commission took over operations in 1965, which was succeeded by the Utica Transit Authority in 1974. In 2005, the transit operations transferred to the Central New York Regional Transportation Authority and its subsidiaries Centro Rome and Centro Utica.
Probably the biggest and most visible remaining part of the Utica Lines is this big, double-tracked concrete arch bridge in Herkimer, NY that was built for the Mohawk Valley Line of the Utica & Mohawk Valley
