Sheridan, NY is a village in Chautauqua County and was a station on the original main line of the Erie Railroad, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, the New York, Chicago and St. Louis (Nickel Plate) Railroad, the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Erie Railroad
The Erie Railroad station was located on the south side of the tracks just to the east of where they crossed East Main Street and there is a historic marker to show the location of the station. Pit Road is built on the former railroad right-of-way.
The route of the New York and Erie through Sheridan ended up being different than was originally planned when the railroad was chartered in 1832. The route was surveyed locally completed and grading of the right of way began in 1838 at Dunkirk going to the east. Line was graded south of Sheridan to Arkwright Summit to Hamlet, but no tracks were laid and work was abandoned in 1842. A new survey in 1849 led to the Erie RR route that we know through Sheridan. For more information, see the page on the Old Route of the Erie Railroad.
This line was operated by the New York and Erie Rail Road (1851 – 1861), the Erie Railway (1861 – 1878), the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad (1878 – 1895), the Erie Railroad (1895 – 1960), and the The Erie Lackawanna Railroad (1960 – 1976). The line between Dunkirk and Dayton, NY was abandoned in 1976 with the creation of the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail).
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern
The Buffalo and State Line Railroad opened in 1852 and was an inland route between Silver Creek and Dunkirk. In 1869 it merged with other railroads to form the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad (LS&MS). The LS&MS station for Sheridan was at the crossing at Center Road.
The LS&MS used its original route until a new route closer to Lake Erie between Dunkirk and Silver Creek was built in 1892. The new LS&MS Sheridan station was built at Waites Crossing.
Nickel Plate and Pennsylvania Railroads
Both the New York, Chicago and St. Louis (Nickel Plate) Railroad and the Chautauqua Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad had stations named Sheridan, though they were not near the village and were closer to the shore of Lake Erie. The two railroads cooperated closely on this section and likely shared the same station.
Clippings
Maps
Timetables
Learn More
- Sheridan Historical Society
- The Historical Marker Database. “Site of Sheridan Depot of the New York & Erie Railroad“
Thanks to Roy Davis, a trustee at the Sheridan Historical Society and Curator – Railroads & Industry at the Dunkirk Historical Museum for information on Sheridan.