New York Railroad Archive

PRR Chautauqua Branch

The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) had two lines that reached Buffalo. The Buffalo Line was completed in 1872 and extended north from Emporium, PA through Olean, NY to Buffalo. The Chautauqua branch was completed in 1881 and reached Buffalo through Oil City, PA and Clymer and Brocton, NY.

History

1866: The Buffalo and Oil Creek Cross Cut Rail Road Company constructed and began operating on the line from Brocton, NY to Corry, PA.

1867: On October 18, 1867 it merged with the Cross Cut Railroad Company (organized in Pennsylvania) to form the Buffalo, Corry and Pittsburgh Rail Road Company. The company was foreclosed upon and sold multiple times but continued operating under the same name.

1879: On April 26, 1879 it became the Dunkirk, Chautauqua Lake and Pittsburgh Railroad. On May 3, 1879 that company was renamed the Buffalo, Chautauqua Lake and Pittsburgh Railway Company and restarted service on the line.

1880: On February 17, 1880 the Buffalo, Chautauqua Lake and Pittsburgh Railway Company merged with the Pittsburgh, Titusville and Buffalo Railway Company and operated under the name of the latter company. 

1881: On January 22, 1881, the Pittsburgh, Titusville & Buffalo Railway Company merged with numerous other companies and formed the Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Western Railroad Company. This company built the line from Brocton to Buffalo in 1881/1882.

1883: On February 14, 1883 the Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Western Railroad merged with other companies to form the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railroad Company.

1887: On November 28, 1887 the bankrupt company was reorganized as the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad.

1895: The company was reorganized to form the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railway. 

1900: On July 31, 1900 the company was leased and operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad.

1925: The 2.64 mile long branch from Mayville to the Chautauqua Institution was abandoned.

1968: The Pennsylvania Railroad merged with the New York Central Railroad to form the Penn Central Railroad. 

1972: The abandonment of the portion from Blasdell to Brockton was authorized by ICC Finance Docket 26566

1976: The Penn Central was merged into the new Conrail system.

1977: The Brocton to Corry, PA section was abandoned by Conrail and scrapped in June 1977.

Operations

Prior to the Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Western Railroad building its own tracks from Brocton to Buffalo, the railroad and its predecessors either connected at Brocton with trains on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway to Buffalo or ran their own trains over the Lake Shore tracks.

NKP – PRR Cooperation

The Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Western Railway (later part of the Pennsylvania Railroad) had a close relationship with the New York, Chicago, and St, Louis (Nickel Plate) Railroad. According to a history of the latter railroad:

The Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Western Railway paralleled the Nickel Plate from Brocton to Buffalo; therefore, an arrangement was effected—and the contract let—whereby one-half of the road was to be built by the Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Western Company (now the Pennsylvania) and the other half by the Nickel Plate. This agreement was carried out and the track so built. (Erie Morning Dispatch, May 6, 7, 1881.)

The NKP Buffalo Division and Cleveland Division Timetable No. 180, effective Sunday, October 27, 1957, at 12:01 a.m., Special Instructions governing operations of BB Double stated that the  “NKP and PRR main tracks between FY Block Station and BM Tower will be operated as double track. ” FY Block Station was located 3.0 miles from Buffalo and BM Tower, located at Brocton, New York, was where the PRR and NKP lines went their separate ways.

This cooperation extended beyond building the track and the two companies shared many passenger stations between Brocton and Buffalo.

Stations

Blasdell * Bay View * Athol Springs * Cemetery * Clover Bank * Wanakah * Weyer * Lake View * North Evans * Derby * Pike’s Crossing * Angola * Farnham * Irving * Silver Creek * Sheridan * Dunkirk * Van Buren * Brocton * Mayville * Summerdale * Sherman * Panama * Clymer * Corry, Pa.

Details
StationMile
Blasdell
Bay View
Athol Springs
Cemetery
Clover Bank
Wanakah
Weyer
Lake View
North Evans
Derby
Pike’s Crossing
Angola
Farnham
Irving
Silver Creek
Sheridan
Dunkirk
Van Buren
Brocton
Mayville
Summerdale
Sherman
Panama
Clymer
Corry, Pa.		7.5
9.1
10.4
11.1
12.1
13.0
14.0
15.6
16.5
18.4
21.1
22.8
27.1
28.8
32.7
36.5
42.3
46.0
50.7
65.1
71.0
74.6
81.6
85.8
93.9
Mileage is from Buffalo.

Clippings

Timetables

References