New York State Railways was formed in 1909 when the properties controlled by the Mohawk Valley Company were merged.

[1] Ridership across the system dropped through the 1920s as operating costs continued to rise, coupled with competition from better highways and private automobile use.

Phillips sold his stake to Associated Gas & Electric in 1929, and the new owners allowed the railway bonds to default.

At its peak, New York State Railways operated 338 miles across Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Oneida, Sodus Bay, Canandaigua, and Geneva.

[3] Patronage on the streetcar and interurban lines declined in the 1920s, thanks to autos, buses, and paved roads — but the electric utilities owned by the company grew.

Increased competition from private automobile ownership and the construction of better highways forced the closure of the electric interurban railways.

An application was made to abandon the Rochester and Eastern Rapid Railway in November 1929, but the court process was delayed until the following summer when an order was approved to end all service to Geneva on July 31, 1930.

New York State Railways emerged from receivership in 1934, and gradually the remaining core city lines were sold as separate operations.

The first streetcar lines were closed in 1929, including the Exchange, Plymouth, Emerson, and Driving Park routes.

The Rochester and Eastern Rapid Railway shut down its interurban line to Geneva in 1930, the same day local service ended in Canandaigua.

The largest streetcar line conversion came in August 1936, when eleven routes (Durand-Eastman Park, Allen, Jefferson, South Clinton, Webster, Clifford, Central Park, Goodman North, Sea Breeze, Hudson, and Joseph) were closed.

The first streetcar line closure was the Green Street route in September 1927, with no replacement bus service.

The Elmwood, East Syracuse, and Midler lines were shut down on September 15, 1937, with the Minoa route following on October 11.

The horsecar operation ended on July 30, 1902, and the railway was shut down while the system was electrified and expanded.

Cars were powered by a third rail, except when running on the street railways of Syracuse, Oneida, or Utica, where the overhead trolley wire was used instead.

A 1.5 mile spur was constructed from the Oneida Railway station at Sherrill to Kenwood in 1909, and operated as a single-car shuttle meeting all interurban trains.

In 1911, an extension of the city streetcar was built to serve the New York, Ontario and Western Railway station at Oneida.

There was no immediate successor to the transit franchises of the Oneida Lines once all streetcar and interurban railway operations ceased at the end of 1930.

The Mohawk Valley Line began to show significant losses starting in 1926, and shut down on June 30, 1933.

The steel interurban cars that served on the Mohawk Valley Line were purchased new in 1916, and were the newest equipment on the entire New York State Railways system.