New York Railroad Archive

Erie Railroad

A portion of a 1927 map entitled “Erie Railroad Serving the Heart of the Industrial Empire.” David Rumsey Map Collection.

History

The New York and Erie Railroad was chartered in April 1832 to go from the banks of the Hudson River to the shores of Lake Erie, with the restriction that it could not enter any other state or connect with railroads from other states. This line was completed in 1851 between Piermont and Dunkirk via Little Valley, Cattaraugus and Dayton. The route of the line through Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties was subject to much debate and lobbying and is an interesting story in its own right.

At Salamanca, the railroad connected with the Atlantic and Great Western Railway, another broad-gauge line that was completed between Salamanca and Jamestown in 1860. The Erie had a complicated relationship with the A&GW. The Erie first leased the A&GW in December 1868, forced the A&GW into receivership, leased it again in March 1870 until the A&GW was foreclosed in 1871. In 1874 the Erie again leased the A&GW, but later canceled it. The A&GW was sold at foreclosure and reorganized as the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad, or Nypano. In 1883 the Erie leased the Nypano and on February 24, 1896 purchased the entire capital stock of the company. In 1941 the property of the Nypano Railroad Company was conveyed to the Erie. The A&GW/Nypano was the Erie’s link to the west and the cities of Cleveland, Cincinnati and Chicago.

Realizing that it may have made a mistake in placing its Lake Erie terminus at Dunkirk instead of Buffalo, the Erie reached Buffalo in 1863 by leasing the Buffalo, New York and Erie Railroad Company for 450 years. In 1872 the Erie reached Buffalo from the south via the Buffalo & Southwestern Railroad from Jamestown to Buffalo. This line connected with the main line at Dayton, NY.

In 1905 the Erie chartered the Columbus and Erie Railroad to build a low-grade line on the Meadville line between Niobe, NY and Columbus, PA.

The Erie went through a number of name changes in its history. As noted above, the company was chartered in 1831 as the New York and Erie Railroad. In 1861 it changed its name to the Erie Railway. On April 24, 1875 the bankrupt Erie Railway was sold for six million dollars and the entire property was transferred to the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad. In May 1893 the NYLE&W went into bankruptcy again and was reorganized in 1895 as the Erie Railroad Company.

The Erie was built as a broad-gauge line, having 6 feet between the rail as opposed to the standard 4 feet 8 1/2 inches. This enabled the Erie to carry wider and larger items than its standard-gauge competitors, but made it difficult to interchange with them. In 1880 the entire mainline of the Erie was converted to standard-gauge in a single day.

The Erie Railroad operated from 1895 until 1960 when it merged with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad.

The actual corporate history of the Erie Railroad is more complex than covered above and includes a number of “paper railroads” that were chartered and raised money but who did not lay any track or operate any trains. I didn’t include the in this summary, though there is a discussion of some them in the pages for the specific railroads. For those that are interested in the details, please see the Erie Railroad Corporate History page.

Lines and Stations

Clippings

Maps

Timetables

Documents

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Listed below are some other good sources of information about the railroad.