Springville is a village in Erie County and was a station on the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway and on the short-lived Buffalo and Susquehanna Railroad.
Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway
History
The line between Buffalo and Ashford was built in 1883 by the Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad and was later operated by the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway, and the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad. Passenger service on the line ended on 15 October 1955 when the B&O ended its Buffalo – Pittsburgh service. Freight service dwindled over the years and different sections of line were abandoned and removed over the years. As of 2024 only two short segments of the line were still in use – from Buffalo south to Orchard Park and from Ashford north to West Valley.
According to one source, the first BR&P train arrived in Springville on November 1, 1883.
Location
The railroad’s passenger station and freight house were on the north side of Main Street just east of Carolina Street.
The railroad had at least two different stations in town, as shown by the 1910 photo below during the construction of the last station.
The BR&P depot is still standing and as of 2024 was a bed and breakfast, The Springville Depot Inn.
Buffalo and Susquehanna Railroad
The Buffalo and Susquehanna service to Springville was a short-lived. Service to Springville from the south started in 1906 and service ended around 1915. The railroad’s main line ran to the east of the village of Springville and there was a short spur that went into the railroad’s station on Franklin Street, as shown in the 1912 map below.
Digital Artifacts
