By Richard F. Palmer
A most unusual track configuration once existed on the Geneva & Lyons branch just north of Geneva, N.Y. In 1878, a connecting track was built where the Geneva and Lyons and Auburn road closely paralleled for short distance. A New York Central timetable appearing in the Geneva Courier dated May 14, 1879 shows West X between Oaks Corners and Geneva, or six minutes running time. West X was at Milepost 54.75 on the Auburn Road and was exactly two miles west of Geneva (M.P. 52.75) and Oaks Corners (Milepost 57.75. East X is at Milepost 11.5 running south from Lyons and exactly 3.25 miles north of Geneva. This cross-over was gone by the 1904 Ontario County Atlas. The configuration is essentially two connected wyes.
This is an excerpt from the Geneva Courier of May 21, 1879:
"A short distance west of the village of Geneva is a piece of road in the form of the letter X, the west end converging at Lyons, the east one on the new road, that runs from Geneva to Lyons, and the north and south ones on the Auburn road. In this way trains, if necessary, can reach the points desired without passing Geneva, and so save quite a distance. At Geneva the road connects with the Lehigh Valley and the road that runs down the west side of Seneca Lake. The Lehigh Valley trains run over the new road to Lyons, and during the business season sometimes as many as thirty coal trains a day pass both ways over the line.”Existing explanations are somewhat ambiguous and do not give a satisfactory answer. It is said that the purpose this junction point of the Auburn Road with the Geneva & Lyons line was to allow heavy coal and freight trains on the Auburn Road to avoid the long, sharp curve and grade in Geneva. It appears to have been installed at the time the Geneva & Lyons was built. An "X" would indicate this junction was bi-directional...warrants more research and locating maps. It is said that this spur or connection intersected, crossing today's Route 14 at a place called Skuse's Corners. East X was a station where Packwood Road crosses the Corning line, and was listed in employee timetables even into Conrail days although of course any building was long gone.The West X station is suspected to have been just east of Carter Road crossing and the OP's reference of MP 54.75 would bear that out. The western leg of the Auburn Road wye is still clearly visible from the Finger Lakes Railway property at about MP 53.85. Very little of the eastn leg of the crossover is not visible at ground level. The Auburn Road was timetable east-west in the area of the wye. On the Fall Brook side the south leg would have been right about where Hessney's Auctioneers is located and I don't believe there is any trace left. No idea about the north leg. It's my understanding some parts of that line between Geneva and Lyons were re-located slightly east of the original layout so it's possible the wye did not connect to the Corning (NS) line which is there now.
