This long article from November 1937 is a hodgepodge of small factoids about railroad history in Western New York, including some that are wrong (the Erie Railroad reached Dunkirk in 1851, not Chicago). Nonetheless, there are some interesting little tidbits of interesting information in the article.
By William H. Rial
Batavia, NY
The city of Batavia was recently all-a-flutter – and the villages of Alexander and Attica were agog – over the “funeral run” of the New York Central’s Attica branch old-time equipment train, scheduled by American Railways Historical Society for Sunday, October 3rd, when the “last run” was to be made over the line, which has been discarded and trains henceforth are being dispatched over the Erie Railroad, after a century of service, and the right-of-way land will be deeded to owners of properly through which the road traversed. But the plan was abandoned. Ralph Smith of Batavia and Harold C. Craig of Alexander were to have managed the affair, which the company later declared too expensive and the jollification was called off. But history of the roads will be just as interesting.
First Buffalo to Tonawanda Run
It was 101 years ago that the first passenger train on the New York Central Railroad was run from Buffalo to Tonawanda. The first railroad communication eastward from any part of Genesee County was established that same year with the opening of a portion of the Buffalo and Rochester Railroad from Rochester to Bergen. Agitation for railroads began in 1831. For a time horses hauled the cars between Rochester and Bergen. In 1837 the road was completed and put in operation in Batavia.
On September 6, 1836. the first passenger train was run from Buffalo to Tonawanda and consisted of a locomotive and two cars. There were on the average from the beginning 180 passengers carried daily. A maul and keg of nails and spikes were carried on locomotives in the early days to make track repairs. The first Buffalo to Rochester train was run over the Attica route on January 8, 1843, and over the direct road in 1852.
Facilities in 1843
At a convention of delegates representing railroad companies between the Hudson River and Buffalo in Albany in 1843, a resolution was adopted to run two daily lines between Buffalo and the Hudson River in 25 hours, including stops. It took six hours to travel between Rochester and Buffalo. In the winter months trains to Albany required two days. Detroit to Chicago took 39 hours—80 miles by railroad, 120 by stage, and 60 by steamboat, the fare being $8.50. K. Kimball was then Batavia agent.
Lines in Genesee County
The Erie Railroad, Buffalo Division, runs through Bethany, Alexander and Darien townships. The Rochester branch passes through LeRoy, Stafford, Batavia and Alexander.
When the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh line was first built it was known as the “State Line Railroad” going through LeRoy and Pavilion. The West Shore Railroad enters the county at Bergen, thence through Byron, Elba and Oakfield to Alabama and Buffalo.
The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad passes through Pavilion, Bethany, Alexander and Darien.
For years the Lehigh Valley Railroad controlled the Geneva & Buffalo Railroad, going through LeRoy, Stafford, Batavia, Pembroke and Darien.
Other New York Central lines included the Lockport, Niagara Falls and Canandaigua branches in later constructions.
Argument in 1831
In January, 1831, a campaign began for the New York Central to extend its road to Batavia, the argument being that the cost of a double track line would be $12,800 per mile. The income was computed at $30,000 a year for exportations, besides passenger toll, and $10,000 from other articles, equaling 8 per cent on the money invested.
There was a miscellaneous number of inhabitants on a station on the Erie Railroad, two miles northwest of Geneseo, on the road to Avon, called Seven Nations, a hamlet of 1812 War refugees.
Musical Bells on Engines
Musical bells were introduced to the public on New York Central engines in 1846, the locomotives including the “Dean Richmond,” the “General H. H. Baxter,” the “James H. Kelley,” the “James Whitney*’ and the “Azariah Boody.” Wood was then burned as fuel. The load weight for freight cars was 30,000 pounds.
“Hot boxes” kept brakemen extremely busy. Strap iron from the track, known as “snake head,” often entered the floors of the cars. Officials on the Fourth of July in 1843 celebrated by firing a cannon from the rear of trains on the line from Buffalo to Rochester. Walter M. Seymour or Batavia was then general superintendent of the division.
Dean Richmond’s Work
Dean Richmond performed great service for the New York Central Railroad, serving as its president. The Richmond home in Batavia is now the Children’s Nome, on East Main street. Mr. Richmond died at the home of Samuel J. Tilden, Gramarcy Park, New York, and his funeral in Batavia on August 2S, 1866, was attended by over 8,000 persons, including Governor Church and former Governor Horatio Seymour, Samuel J, Tilden and Mayor Fargo of Buffalo.
Erie Railroad Building
Construction of the main line of the Erie Railroad from New York to Chicago was begun in 1841 and completed in ten years. Hornell, now a city of 18,000 inhabitants, had a population of only 500. President Millard Fillmore of Buffalo was a passenger on the first through train.
Most Amazing Wreck
One of the peculiar affairs of railroading, a wreck, occurred in spectacular fashion on January 16, 1885, when the late Samuel F. Perkins of Batavia, for 51 years a New York Central Railroad engineer, was piloting a train from Canandaigua to Batavia. East of the Batavia limits, at the Lehigh Valley Railroad overhead bridge, George Acker, Sr., engineer on a snowplow, going east, was run into by an engine driven by William Walling, and the latter’s engine landed squarely on top of the Acker engine. The engines were separated by sinking the lower one in a sand pit. Luke Seaver, now residing in Buffalo, witnessed the accident.
Shook Hands With VanBuren
Irving D. Cook, late of South Byron, remembered New York Central coaches that were very short and some had a second story, capable of holding five or six persons. One day Martin Van Buren, while campaigning for the Presidency, climbed down from one of those coaches and he shook his hand. Fare collectors passed along on a running board or steps extending the entire length of the car. As late as 1868 there was not an iron brake shoe, wooden ones being used, and they easily caught fire when brakes were set too long.
Pullman Coaches
To the inventive genius of the late George M. Pullman the railroads owe credit for Pullman-coach inception. Mr. Pullman, a native of Albion, Orleans County, was an expert cabinet maker. When he first went to Chicago he made a success of raising buildings to the new city grade. Then he founded the Pullman Palace Car Company and established the Town of Pullman, Illinois, a part of Chicago. He built the beautiful Pullman Memorial Church in Albion as a memorial for his mother.
The Niagara Falls branch of the New York Central, from the time of its completion, has proven a most desirable and important link in the chain.
Source: The Medina [NY] Tribune, 25 November 1937, p. 5. NYS Historic Newspapers.