Chartered in 1877 and opened in 1878, it served as an outlet for coal trains on the Syracuse, Geneva and Corning Railroad to reach the main line of the New York Central.
This allowed the rerouting of coal traffic which was overloading the single track of the Auburn Road.
The first passenger train over the railroad ran on November 11, 1878, and was operated by the Fall Brook, continuing south to Corning.
[3] While the new railroad was owned and operated by the New York Central, which had advanced the funds for its construction,[1][3] the Fall Brook continued to operate trains over the Geneva and Lyons[3][4] and the Northern Central Railway also arranged for trackage rights over the railroad in 1878.
At the time, it was reported that the Lehigh Valley Railroad, was also running over the Geneva and Lyons to deliver coal.