The Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad is a short line railroad that operates in Livingston County and Monroe County in New York, United States. The railroad interchanges with CSX at Genesee Junction in Chili, New York, the Rochester and Southern Railroad (RSR) at Genesee Junction and the RSR's Brooks Avenue Yard in Gates, New York, and with the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum at Industry, New York. Their primary freight consists of food products - grains and corn syrup. In 1997, the Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad was selected as Short Line Railroad of the Year by industry trade journal Railway Age. The LAL is also the parent company for the Bath and Hammondsport Railroad, the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad and the Ontario Midland Railroad. History The beginning The route that is now the Livonia, Avon & Lakeville started in the mid-19th century. Originally, the line from Mortimer to Avon was part of the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad – which had constructed an 18-mile route from downtown Rochester, New York, to Avon, New York, by 1851. Eventually this became part of the Erie Railroad, then part of the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad in 1960, when the Erie merged with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The Livonia Avon & Lakeville Railroad was born when members of the Livonia community decided to rescue the railroad after news came that the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad was to abandon its spur south from Avon connecting Lakeville and Livonia. In 1964, members of the community, led by Chester A. Haak and Harry J. Moran, began a campaign to purchase the soon to be abandoned line from the Erie-Lackawanna for $13,000. After its incorporation in May 1964, passenger excursions began with the use of GE 45-Tonner #97. This engine was sold a year later, and replaced by GE 44-tonner #10. The next year, after acquiring #17, a 2-8-2 steam locomotive and a former Savannah and Atlanta Railway locomotive, the LA&L used this engine for all passenger excursion operations with the old Erie depot in Livonia as excursion headquarters. Three years later, #17 began to develop mechanical issues, and was replaced with #38, a 2-8-0 steam locomotive. #17 was later sold to a Rochester businessman who sold it for scrap. In 1972, the railroad acquired its first ALCO diesel locomotive #20, an ALCO RS-1. Three years after this, in 1975, #38 was stored out of service