The following is a collection of short newspaper articles about the Lackawanna and Southwestern Railroad, a predecessor of the Pittsburgh, Shawmut and Northern Railroad. These articles are from the Bolivar Breeze newspaper in Bolivar, NY and were provided by Richard Palmer.
October 1, 1892
The L.& S.W. Sold
The Lackawanna & Southwestern railroad property was sold by the referee, W.S. Servis, at Belmont on Saturday. The only bidders were Byrne & Smith, representing a syndicate of New York capitalists. Their bid was $15,000 and the property was knocked down to them at that figure.
The standard gauge division is advertised to be sold in a few days and the purchasers of the L. & S.W. expect to purchase it. When they have secured control of the line, some marked improvements will be made, we are told. The new owners have not divulged their plans yet, but say they will in a short time.
October 15, 1892
A carload of long leaf Georgia pine was unloaded in the Lackawanna & South Western yards one day last week. It is of excellent quality and the entire pile does not contain a single knot. It will be used for beams in repairing flatcars. Receiver Blair say that the rolling stock is all to be repaired as soon as possible. Georgia pine is not as expensive as many might suppose. This lot cost $25 a thousand, delivered in Olean.
October 22, 1892
Many people would think they had traveled extensively if they had covered as many miles as the old black grip which Receiver Blair, of the Lackawanna, always carries with him. Mr. Blair tells me he has carried that particular grip for a quarter of a century, and in that time it has traversed over 50,000 miles, a distance equal to that of twice around the globe. And in that time it has held many a hundred thousand dollars. It cost $25 when the owner purchased it and I doubt very much if you could purchase it for that amount today. Mr. Blair would as soon think of voting the Democratic ticket as parting with that black grip.
October 29, 1892
Receiver Blair, of the L. & S.W., was in Bolivar on official business Wednesday. He says that the new owners of the road will take their time to figure out just what is best to do with the line in the way of broadening the gauge and building feeders. For the present, the rolling stock will be improved and the train kept in motion. It may be spring before any big move is made that will effect the future of the road. that the line, in the hands of the present owners, will be developed and extended for all it is worth, Mr. Blair has no doubt. But they will take their time.
November 12, 1892
The Lackawanna and Southwestern done an excellent business during the campaign. In the eight weeks preceding the election they carried over 4,000 excursionists to attend blowouts along the line, and this without interfering with the regular trains. The Lackawanna is all right and boasts of the most courteous employees of any road in seven states.
November 19, 1892
RAILROAD RUMORS
Bolivar May Yet Be on the Line of a Standard Gauge Road.
Prospects are very bright just now for a standard gauge railroad through Bolivar, to be known as the Central New York & Western. The promoters of the enterprise are the company of New York capitalists who recently purchased the Lackawanna & Southwestern and the Rochester, Hornellsville and Lackawanna roads.
They propose to widen the gauge of the Lackawanna & Southwestern from Olean to Angelica, connect there with the standard gauge and with the D.L. & W. and Wayland. The course of the road bed will be changed slightly in a few places along the line to avoid unnecessary curves and grades.
Should this scheme go through, Bolivar will have excellent freight and passenger service both east and west. A canvass is now being made of the towns along the line of the road to see about how much traffic there is to be secured. Representatives of the new company were at the Newton House on Monday evening and met with the majority of Bolivar’s business men who signed an agreement to give the new road their business if it proves to be a “go.”
With a standard gauge railroad and equitable freight rates, Bolivar might blossom out into a manufacturing center of considerable importance. With free sites, natural gas and the close proximity of large bodies of timber land just across the state line, Bolivar might be in shape to induce a number of manufacturing establishments to locate here. We can talk of this matter more earnestly however after the road is converted from paper to reality.
November 19, 1892
Quite a number of cars of pipe for the new United States seaboard pipe line were unloaded in the L. & S. W. yards this week. Thirteen miles of pipe will be distributed from Ceres. The work of laying the line is being pushed with all possible speed.
November 25, 1892
The Receivership of the Lackawanna & Southwestern Railroad will cease with the current month, The Central New York & Western R.R. will take possession of the property December 1st. M.S. Blair will be general superintendent under the new turn of affairs. Every day that goes by brightens the prospect of widening the L. & S.W. out to a standard gauge. Officials close to the new owners of the property state that is a sure “go.”