Red House, NY

The Erie Railroad station at Red House, NY. Steamtown National Historic Site archives, image #A-169

Red House is a town in Cattaraugus County that had a passenger and freight station and signal tower for the Erie Railroad and a passenger station on the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Erie Railroad

The Erie Railroad had a small combination tower and station. This tower controlled traffic between the eastbound and westbound mains which separated and converged again at Steamburg to the west. The separation between the tracks is clearly seen on the topographic map below.

1923 topographical map showing the area around the Erie Railroad Red House station. Author’s collection.

The tower portion of Red House station is separate from the RH Tower, which was located to the west of Steamburg and was the eastern end of an 11-mile section of single-track mainline running through Randolph to Waterboro.

It is unclear when the station was originally constructed, but an 1870 inventory of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad listed the station in Red House as “Passenger and freight house in one building, 18×68, frame good but unpainted” and listed a water tower and 10×12 foot handcar shed at the same location.

Few trains stopped in Red House and by December 1935 it no longer appeared as a station on Erie Railroad passenger timetables.

This map shows the original routing of the Erie Railroad near Red House and Steamburg, NY (blue) and the route of the line when it was relocated in the mid-1960s (red). Author’s illustration from a USGS topographic map.

In the mid-1960s about ten miles of the Erie Lackawanna Railroad, formerly Erie Railroad, tracks between east of Red House and Steamburg were relocated as they ran through an area that would be flooded by the reservoir of the new Kinzua Dam.

An undated view of the Erie Railroad station/tower in Red House, NY. ebay.com

Pennsylvania Railroad

Undated photo of the Pennsylvania Railroad station in Red House, NY. Posted by Stan Carlson on the Abandoned Rails – Buffalo & Western New York Facebook group.

The Pennsylvania railroad station was on the railroad line along the south bank of the Allegheny River that started in Olean and passed through Salamanca. The line was first constructed 1882 or 1883 by the Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Western Railroad and was operated by the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railway / Railroad (1882 – 1887), Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad / Railway (1887 to 1900), and the Pennsylvania Railroad (1900 – 1962). The line was authorized for abandonment in 1962 to allow for the construction of the Kinzua Reservoir on the Allegheny River.

Clippings

Station Photographs

An undated view of the Erie Railroad station/tower in Red House, NY. ebay.com

The Erie Railroad station at Red House, NY. Steamtown National Historic Site archives, image #A-169

Undated photo of the Pennsylvania Railroad station in Red House, NY. Posted by Stan Carlson on the Abandoned Rails – Buffalo & Western New York Facebook group.

Other Photographs

Maps

Detail of a 1952 Pennsylvania Railroad Central Region map showing the route of the Olean and Salamanca line. Multimodelway.com

1895 railroad map showing the route of the River Line between Olean, Salamanca, and Onoville, NY. Map shared by Bob Schmid and Ken Hartley on the “CONSTRUCTION of the KINZUA DAM” Facebook page.

1923 topographical map showing the area around the Erie Railroad Red House station. Author’s collection.

Detail of a 1952 Pennsylvania Railroad Central Region map showing the lines in Western New York. Pennsylvania Railroad. 1952. Found on Multimodalways.com.

Timetables

An 1887 timetable issued by the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad (NYLEW) that still prominently features the name of the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad (NYPANO). The NYLEW had leased the NYPANO in 1883 and this NYLEW timetable only included the former NYPANO area of service. streamlinermemories.info

A June 14, 1891 timetable of trains on the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad Rochester Division. Traveler’s Official Guide, June 1891. Google Books.

A timetable of trains on the Pennsylvania Railroad River Line effective November 29, 1903. Travelers Official Guide of the Railway and Steam Navigation Lines, February 1904. Found on Google Books.

A 1914 timetable of including the New York State portion of the Pennsylvania Railroad Salamanca Branch. Posted by Bob Schmid on the “CONSTRUCTION of the KINZUA DAM” Facebook group.