All Aboard The Ontario Car Ferry!

original article: http://www.rochestersubway.com/topics/2013/04/ontario-car-ferry-company-rochester-to-cobourg/

I get a ridiculous amount of email here in the Rochester Subway. Most of it isn’t really worth sharing but occasionally I get a diamond in the rough. So here’s one from the mailbag…

Al from Wolcott, NY sent me this great photograph today along with a question. He writes, “Someplace on the internet I recently ran across a comment that the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg Railroad terminal was the place where people boarded a passenger train for Charlotte and then got on a boat for a trip to Cobourg, Ontario. Can you confirm this?” Yes. Yes I can. But first, let’s look closer at this photo…

The image Al sent is of a steam train at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station (formerly Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg Railroad) here on West Main. You may recognize the station building as Nick Tahou’s.

The photo was taken by Al’s friend and fellow Kodak employee sometime before 1965, because, he says, that’s about when Al printed it from the negative. But we don’t exactly when it was taken. There is a billboard sign for Neiman’s Liquor Store in the background. I found liquor license notices and ads for Neiman’s (at 288 West Main St.) from 1966 going back as far as 1939. And the automobile seem to be early 1940′s vintage.

Al thinks the photo was taken from the B&O freight house; but the freight house is actually in the shot, to the left of the tracks. From the angle I’d say this was taken from the Brewster Gordon and Company building on Canal Street. Today it’s known as the SoHo Center , and at one time it was Eastman Kodak Camera Works Building W. Maybe that could offer a clue as far as the date? When was Kodak in this building? I have no idea.

If you think you can pinpoint the date drop a comment below.

Now, back to Al’s original question: was there a passenger ferry from Rochester to Cobourg, Ontario, and did this railroad line bring passengers to the ferry?

Yes.

This page at CobourgHistory.ca does an excellent job detailing the history. So I’ll just list a few of the highlights…

The Ontario Car Ferry Company was a joint venture by the Grand Trunk Railway (Canada) and the Buffalo Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway (U.S.). It was set up primarily to offer speedy export of coal shipments from Pennsylvania to Montreal. Rochester was immediately chosen as the southern ferry terminus, and after some deliberation Cobourg was chosen as the northern.

ONTARIO No. 1 sailed from the Genesee Dock (where Turning Point Park is today) for the first time November 19, 1907, with 28 cars of bituminous coal.

The company did not immediately advertise for passengers, but in 1909, began to carry them between Memorial Day and the end of September. For the most part, the company adhered to a schedule sailing from Rochester at 9:00 A.M. and returning in the afternoon. ONTARIO No 1 was fitted with berths for 90 people, buffet facilities, a music room, and what were by the standards of the car ferries, ample public accommodations. She was licensed for 1000 deck passengers.

According to this article in City Newspaper, a round-trip ticket on the Cobourg ferry cost $2.30 in 1948, which is equivalent to roughly $18 today.

The Ontario Car Ferry Company was the only car ferry line on the Lakes to have a regular boat train connection. Beginning in 1909, with the opening of passenger service, the BR&P scheduled a boat train out of its Rochester station half an hour before sailing time. The boat trains, number 407 northbound and 406 southbound, were well patronized during the summer months and ran for 33 seasons.

The Ontario Car Ferry Company was financially successful and in seven years of service, ONTARIO No. 1 had logged 2,000 trips with no major accidents. Traffic had increased to a level that justified a second ferry, and in 1914, the company ordered ONTARIO No. 2 from the Polson Iron Works of Toronto for $458,000. With the arrival of ONTARIO No. 2 the company began to operate passenger service daily except Sunday from July 1st through the Labour Day weekend, with three weekly trips in June and September.

The company never carried passengers between October and May, apparently preferring the flexibility in dispatching of freight-service-only for the seasons when storms and ice descended on the Lakes. The long approach to Genesee Dock up the river was frequently an operating problem, and on January 25, 1920, both ferries were caught in pack ice for several hours. The company continued its admirable freedom from major accidents, however. The photo above is circa 1928.

Passenger excursions declined after World War II, and the aging ferry boats eventually became too costly to maintain. Service was ended in 1950 and both vessels were scrapped.