North Collins is a village in Erie County and was a station on the Buffalo and Jamestown Railroad. In 1877 the Buffalo and Jamestown became the Buffalo and Southwestern Railroad, which, in turn, became the Buffalo and Southwestern Branch of the Erie Railroad.
The book Around North Collins stated that:
The first small depot was at what later became known as Hibbard’s Crossing. In 1873 the depot was moved to southeast corner of Sherman and Railroad Avenues. In 1898, this much larger and nicer building was constructed, and the railroad had changed to the Buffalo and Southwestern…The depot handled freight, mail, and passengers until 1950. At that time, all service except freight was discontinued.
A Facebook posting by a North Collins resident stated that:
Passenger service was discontinued on the line circa 1940.
The first railroad depot for North Collins was a “shack” (so described by most people) on the Enos Hibbard property on Buffalo Road (now Route 62; this was before Route 62 was paved and before the route changed a bit westward to where it is today. The white farmhouse on the east side of the railroad just north of Halley Road intersection was the Hibbard home on Buffalo Road.
The first railroad stop in North Collins was at Hibbard’s Corner because the village refused to be taxed to build a station so Enos Hibbard built the little station on his property in 1873. The village waited almost 10 years to vote to build a depot in the village.
The wooden building a little south on the track was the freight depot.
Passenger Station
The passenger station was between Sherman Avenue (to the north) and Spruce Street (to the south) on the west side of the tracks.
Freight House
The freight house was just south of the passenger station on the west side of the tracks. It still stands as of 2024.
Learn More
- Bowman, Georgianne. “Around North Collins.” 2002.