Rochester, Kent the Blackheath Beds of sand and gravel. As a human settlement, Rochester became established as the lowest river crossing of the River Medway, well before the arrival of the Romans. It is a focal point between two routes, being part of the main route connecting London with the Continent and the north-south routes following the course of the Medway connecting Maidstone and the Weald of Kent with the Thames and the North Sea. The Thames Marshes were an important source of salt. Rochester's roads follow north Kent's valleys and ridges of steep-sided chalk bournes. There are four ways out of
Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway R&P; this proved to be a bottleneck, and the company which succeeded the Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad Company, the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway, built a forty-mile detour, opening it in 1893. While the R&P was expanding on its south side, it also built on the north end. Using the Rochester and Charlotte, the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh, and the Perry Railroad as construction companies, it brought much greater capability to the old RS&L yard at Lincoln Park and extended its line to the coal pier on the Genesee River at Lake Ontario (Charlotte). Succumbing to over-expansion, the R&P went