Niagara Junction Railway 1902 NYS Report

Below is the report filed by the Niagara Junction Railway with the New York State Board of Railroad Commissioners for 1902.

The report lists the same two locomotives as in the previous year; one with six drivers and one with four.

The list of rolling stock only included the 6 flat cars. The two flat cars and eight dump cars listed in previous years as being out of service appear to have been sold or scrapped in 1902.

It notes that the railroad had 13.33 miles of track, up from 12.77 miles in 1901. It also showed the railroad as spending over $5,000 that year on track, out of a total of $17,000 over the life of the railroad. That seems excessive to built a mile of track and I suspect that it includes the cost to replace older rail.

The report listed the same road crossings as in 1901: six unprotected road crossings and one highway crossed over grade. It listed the same one unprotected street railroad railroad crossing at grade as in the previous year.

The 1902 report shows two steam railroad crossed under grade rather the one listed the previous year. I suspect that the 1901 report showing the railroad crossing only one other railroad was a mistake or a typo.

The 1902 report also listed two employees as being killed. Newspaper articles from the time reported that Tony Costello, a trackman on the railroad was killed by a train on April 1, 1902. I don’t have any information on the other fatality. This is the first year that is listed, but I don’t know if that is because they didn’t happen in the past or if they were not required to be reported in the past.

Source: 20th Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners of the State of New York, For the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1902, Volume II. Google Books.