Overview | |
---|---|
Headquarters | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Locale | Emporium, Pennsylvania and Mahoningtown, Pennsylvania to Buffalo, New York and Rochester, New York |
Dates of operation | 1895–1955 |
Predecessor | Western New York Railway and Northwestern Pennsylvania Railway |
Successor | Penndel Company |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
Length | 586.145 miles (943.309 km) |
The Western New York and Pennsylvania Railway was a railroad that operated in the U.S. states of New York and Pennsylvania.
Incorporated in 1887 as the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad from the reorganization of the Buffalo, New York, and Philadelphia, [1] and reorganized in 1895 as the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railway, this American transportation system was acquired and leased by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1900 [2] [3] and merged into the Penndel Company in 1955.
The route that the line followed from Emporium, Pennsylvania across the state line to Olean, Hinsdale, Cuba, Belfast, and Rochester was laid, from Belfast north, on the bed of the abandoned Genesee Valley Canal. A house of Italianate design was purchased on Main Street West at Trowbridge Street and converted into the Rochester station. [4]
The 1895 to 1899 period of this rail system's operations saw revenue inadequate to pay the bond interest; these financial problems were contemporaneous with the Pennsylvania's need to expand into western New York. Moreover, this expansion did not raise competitive issues with the Pennsy's principal rival, the New York Central. Thus, on August 1, 1900, the WNY&PRY signed an agreement with the PRR under which the latter operated the former. Although the WNY&PRY did not generate much profit in this arrangement, [5] it did improve matters for the Allegheny Valley and the Philadelphia and Erie roads; so the net result was satisfactory to the Pennsylvania. [6]
Eventually, the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railway became the Pennsylvania Railroad's Buffalo and Allegheny Valley Division.
Note the date of the small branch from Scottsville to Garbutt. While the route map clearly shows this line in 1900, other sources equally unambiguously date it to the summer of 1907. [7] The branch was abandoned in 1944; [8] no trace of it remains today. The Pennsy station has disappeared – even photographs of it are exceedingly rare – and the railbed cannot be discerned in aerial photographs of the area south of Oatka Creek. [9] ) [10]
The Pennsylvania Railroad, legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its peak in 1882, the Pennsylvania Railroad was the largest railroad, the largest transportation enterprise, and the largest corporation in the world.
The Genesee River is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York in the United States. The river contains several waterfalls in New York at Letchworth State Park and Rochester.
Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all sources agree WNY includes the cities of Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Jamestown, and the surrounding suburbs, as well as the outlying rural areas of the Great Lakes lowlands and Niagara Frontier, and Chautauqua-Alleghany. Many would also place Rochester and the Genesee Valley in the region, while some would also include the western Finger Lakes within the region. Others would describe the latter three areas as being in a separate Finger Lakes region.
The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Northeastern United States, originally connecting Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey, with Lake Erie at Dunkirk, New York. The railroad expanded west to Chicago following its 1865 merger with the former Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, also known as the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad.
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad, was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey, and by ferry with New York City, a distance of 395 miles (636 km). The railroad was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1853, and created primarily to provide a means of transport of anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Northeast Pennsylvania to large coal markets in New York City. The railroad gradually expanded both east and west, and eventually linked Buffalo with New York City.
The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, established in 1833, and sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, New York, to Chicago, Illinois, primarily along the south shore of Lake Erie and across northern Indiana. The line's trackage remains a major rail transportation corridor used by Amtrak passenger trains and several freight lines; in 1998, its ownership was split at Cleveland, Ohio, between CSX Transportation to the east and Norfolk Southern Railway in the west.
The Buffalo and Rochester Railroad was a railroad company formed on December 7, 1850 by the merger of the Tonawanda Railroad and the Attica and Buffalo Railroad. The company remained in business for three years before it was merged with other companies into the New York Central Railroad.
The Genesee Valley Canal is a former canal that operated in western New York between 1840 and 1878. It ran for a length of 124 miles, passing through 106 locks. Its course was later used by the Genesee Valley Canal Railroad and today comprises portions of the Genesee Valley Greenway.
The Genesee Valley Canal Railroad was a part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system in western New York. It was built on the former Genesee Valley Canal alignment.
The Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad is a Class II railroad operating in New York and Pennsylvania.
The New Castle Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The line ran from New Castle north to Stoneboro, and is now entirely abandoned. At its south end, the line intersected the Erie and Pittsburgh Branch and Mahoningtown Branch. When the New Castle Branch ended at Stoneboro, the PRR had trackage rights east along the New York Central Railroad's Stoneboro Branch to Oil City and the Allegheny Branch, Chautauqua Branch, and Salamanca Branch.
The Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad is a short-line railroad that operates freight trains in Western New York and Northwest Pennsylvania. The company is controlled by the Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad, with which it does not connect. It started operations in 2001 on the Southern Tier Extension, a former Erie Railroad line between Hornell, New York and Corry, Pennsylvania, owned by the public Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany and Steuben Southern Tier Extension Railroad Authority (STERA).
The Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad Museum (RGVRRM) is an operating railroad museum located in Industry, New York, a hamlet within the town of Rush. The museum started in 1971 with the purchase of a former Erie Railroad Depot from the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. Since then the museum has grown to include a one-mile demonstration railroad, connecting it with the New York Museum of Transportation in Rush, making it one of the few operating railroad museums in New York State.
The Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh Railway was one of the more than ten thousand railroad companies founded in North America. It lasted much longer than most, serving communities from the shore of Lake Ontario to the center of western Pennsylvania.
The Buffalo and Susquehanna Railroad was a railroad company that formerly operated in western and north central Pennsylvania and western New York. It was created in 1893 by the merger and consolidation of several smaller logging railroads. It operated independently until 1929, when a majority of its capital stock was purchased by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. At the same time, the B&O also purchased control of the neighboring Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh Railway. The Baltimore and Ohio officially took over operations of both roads in 1932.
The Oil City Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge is an American out of service truss bridge that carries the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad (WNY&P) across the Allegheny River between Cranberry Township and Oil City, Pennsylvania.
The New York & Pennsylvania Railroad (NYP) was a single track, shortline railroad running on a route described as east—west in the company's timetables, but closer to an arc: almost due south along Bennett's Creek from Canisteo through the hamlets of Greenwood, Rexville, and Whitesville, New York, southwest through Genesee, Pennsylvania to Oswayo, Pennsylvania, then northwest through Shinglehouse, Pennsylvania to Ceres, New York. In Canisteo trains made "a close connection" with "electric cars for Hornellsville". Trains connected in Canisteo with the Erie Railroad, with service to Buffalo and New York City; in Genesee with the Buffalo and Susquehanna Railroad, with service to Wellsville, New York, and in Ceres with the Pittsburg [sic], Shawmutt, and Northern Railroad, with service to Olean, New York, and points west. While the railroad did not serve Hornell, occasionally it did run special trains, using the Erie tracks. Its route was primarily in southwestern Steuben County, New York, and northern Potter County, Pennsylvania, with small portions in Allegany County, New York, and McKean County, Pennsylvania. Total track was 56.13 miles (90.33 km) main line and 7.69 miles (12.38 km) of sidings.
The Buffalo Day Express was a long-distance north–south Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train from Washington, D.C., to Buffalo, New York. It had a second branch that originated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and at times, from New York, New York. In the southbound direction, the train ran by the name, Washington Express. It was the longest running of trains on the Washington-Buffalo route, north through central Pennsylvania on the Buffalo Line, operating from 1900 to the latter years of the 1960s, with a shortened segment until 1971.