New York Railroad Archive

Brocton, NY

Brocton, New York is a town on the shores of Lake Erie in Chautauqua County. The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern (New York Central) and Nickel Plate Railroad mainlines ran through the town and the Pennsylvania Railroad line from Mayville snaked into town from the south.

This map shows the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway line (blue) and the New York, Chicago and St Louis (Nickel Plate) Railroad (green) line running west along the shore of Lake Erie from Buffalo. The Pennsylvania Railroad line running north from Pennsylvania (red) snakes it way up before joining the other two on the way to Buffalo. Author’s illustration from a 1900 Dunkirk topographic map.
Detail of a 1901 Sanford fire insurance map showing the layout of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway freight and passenger stations and the New York, Chicago and St. Louis (Nickel Plate) Railroad and Chautauqua Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks. The area on the map is just west of where Railroad Avenue intersected the tracks. Library of Congress collection.

The table below from a 1923 list of Pennsylvania Railroad stations and sidings shows the railroad’s customers in Brocton.

Detail showing the Pennsylvania Railroad customers in and around Brocton, NY. Pennsylvania Railroad List of Stations and Sidings. November 1, 1923.

Cover: An undated photograph showing the Pennsylvania Railroad station in Brocton, NY. John Stewart collection on Flickr.