Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad

09/03/2026

Heavy products. Long distances. Repeat loads.

Building products are already real freight on our railroads — from lumber and engineered wood moving into businesses in Henrietta to building products arriving by rail at LP Building Solutions in Bath.

LP’s Bath operation opened in 2023 and is now expanding again. LP also publicly includes transportation and distribution within its Scope 3 reporting.

That does not mean every building-products lane belongs on rail. But when the same heavy product is moving significant distances over and over, transportation mode is worth putting on the same worksheet as cost, service and capacity.

Our latest Freight • Sustainability • Supply Chain article looks at the freight, the growth happening at LP Bath, and five things to start with when reviewing a real lane.

Read the full story:
https://lalrr.com/building-products-scope-3-freight/

09/01/2026

They can. And sometimes they should.

Trucks are essential to the freight network. They’re flexible, provide door-to-door service and handle plenty of shipments that simply don’t make sense for rail.

But when large volumes of freight need to travel long distances, rail can be extremely efficient. On average, freight rail is about 3–4 times more fuel-efficient than trucking, and a single freight train can carry the equivalent of several hundred truckloads.

Often, the best answer isn’t rail or truck. It’s both: rail for the long haul and trucks for the local connection.

That’s not competition. That’s a supply chain working together.

08/28/2026

A new mainline switch is going in at the Greater Rochester Transload & Logistics Park in Avon.

With the base and sub-ballast in place, track construction is now getting underway. Phase 1 will add approximately 3,000 feet of track across three transload tracks, with room for trucks and equipment to transfer commodities between rail and truck.

The new facility will give businesses throughout the Greater Rochester region another option for accessing the North American rail network.

Here’s the latest look at the progress from above.

08/27/2026

Packaging has a transportation footprint too.

Sustainability conversations in packaging often start with material selection, recycled content, energy and waste. But paperboard, pulp, recycled fiber and finished packaging still have to move.

And transportation is already showing up in the industry's Scope 3 work.

Packaging Corporation of America includes upstream transportation of wood and downstream transportation of paper and corrugated products in its Scope 3 inventory. Rochester-based Diamond Packaging is also measuring Scope 3 emissions using supplier product and transportation data.

So maybe the question isn't whether transportation belongs in the conversation.

It's whether your biggest inbound and outbound freight lanes have actually been evaluated.

We take a closer look in Week 2 of our Scope 3 transportation series:

Packaging, Paperboard & Scope 3: Is Transportation Being Overlooked?

https://lalrr.com/packaging-scope-3-transportation-emissions/

Packaging Scope 3 emissions can include freight. See how paperboard, pulp, recovered fiber and finished packaging transportation can be evaluated for rail.

08/25/2026

You might only see our locomotives travel a relatively short distance. The freight in those railcars may travel hundreds or thousands of miles.

Short line railroads provide the local first- and last-mile connection between customers and the larger North American freight rail network. There are about 600 short line and regional railroads in the United States, and they touch roughly one out of every five railcars moving through the national system.

Our service is local. Our customers’ markets aren’t.

That is the value of a short line: LOCAL SERVICE. NATIONAL REACH.

08/20/2026

Companies spend a lot of time improving efficiency inside the plant. But for businesses measuring Scope 3 emissions, another opportunity may be sitting outside the plant gate: how the freight moves.

Freight transportation can be part of Scope 3. And when large volumes of heavy freight are moving long distances, transportation mode can affect fuel use and emissions per ton moved.

Rail won’t fit every shipment. But some lanes deserve a closer look.

This is the first post in our new Thursday series, FREIGHT • SUSTAINABILITY • SUPPLY CHAIN, where we’ll look at Scope 3, freight efficiency, transloading, industry-specific transportation challenges and where rail can fit into the conversation.

Our new guide explains where freight transportation fits into Scope 3, why rail efficiency matters and how to start by evaluating one real freight lane.

🔗 https://lalrr.com/scope-3-transportation-emissions-freight-rail/

Learn how freight transportation fits into Scope 3 emissions and where rail, trucking and transloading may fit into a more efficient freight strategy.

08/18/2026

You may cross the tracks every day without giving them much thought. But those tracks can be an important economic development asset for your community.

Freight rail connects local manufacturers, agricultural businesses, warehouses and other employers to suppliers and markets far beyond their hometown. For some companies, rail access can even be part of deciding where to build, expand or invest.

Over the next several months, we’ll answer the questions people actually ask about local freight rail — from trucks, traffic and emissions to industrial sites, transloading and what communities can do to help attract new business.

Because these tracks aren’t only part of our communities’ history. They can be part of their future.

08/17/2026

Exciting things are happening in Avon!

Central New York Feeds, Inc. has broken ground on its new Western New York facility at the Greater Rochester Transload & Logistics Park, marking the company’s first geographic expansion in its 35-year history.

We’re proud to be part of this project and excited to see another family-owned New York company investing, creating jobs and growing right here in Livingston County.

We look forward to welcoming CNY Feeds as a new rail-served customer on the Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad.

CNY Feeds breaks ground on a new feed blending facility in Avon to support New York's expanding dairy industry. bit.ly/3TYaZ1E

08/03/2026

A new look—with deep roots in railroad history.

The Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad’s new GP15-1 paint scheme was deliberately inspired by the black-and-yellow appearance of the early Erie Lackawanna Railroad.

The design also carries forward colors that have been part of the LA&L Family of Railroads for decades, creating a distinctly look that connects the railroad’s past with its future.

Today, these locomotives carry that heritage forward while moving freight, serving customers and supporting communities across western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania.

Read the full story behind the new paint scheme:

https://lalrr.com/lal-new-paint-scheme/

Explore the Erie Lackawanna history behind WNYP's new black-and-yellow GP15-1 paint scheme and its connection to generations of LA&L Family locomotives.

07/15/2026

Progress is moving in Avon.

Our Rochester-area transload development continues to take shape, creating new freight options and future rail-served opportunities for the Greater Rochester region.

This progress includes active work for new transload capacity, along with a new rail-served customer site across the corridor.

More to come as the groundwork continues.