Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad Station - Springville, New York - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The Springville Depot was a stop along the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway line. The Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway was primarily a coal hauling railroad which ran from the coal fields of central Pennsylvania to the ports of Rochester & Buffalo. In Western New York, the lines formed a "Y" shape connecting Buffalo, Rochester, and Salamanca. The line ran north from Salamanca to Ashford Junction where it split and continued to Rochester and Buffalo.

The predecessors of the BR&P in Western New York began on October 6, 1869 when New York State granted a charter to the Rochester & State Line Railroad from Rochester south through Scottsville, Caledonia, Perry, Castile, Portageville, Belfast, Belmont and Wellsville on its way to the Pennsylvania state line. Shortly after it was chartered, vast coal deposits were discovered near Ridgeway, Pennsylvania. In 1872 the Rochester & State Line changed its charter to make Salamanca its southern terminus. In nearby Carollton it would connect with the Buffalo, Bradford & Pittsburgh Railroad which came north from the coal fields.

On January 20, 1881 the Rochester & State Line Railroad was sold to a New York syndicate which incorporated the Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad on January 29, 1881. The Rochester & Pittsburg Railroad ambitiously began building a number of linked railroad companies extending south from Salamanca with the ultimate goal of reaching Pittsburgh. The company was short lived and by 1885 was bankrupt.

The Rochester & Pittsburg Railroad was purchased on October 16, 1885 by Adrian Iselin, one of the Directors of the R&P, and was broken into the Pittsburgh & State Line Railroad Company, which operated in Pennsylvania, and the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad Company which operated the New York sections. On March 10, 1887 the two companies were reunited as the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway Company. The BR&P continued until January 1, 1932 when it was purchased by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

The BR&P was a major hauler of coal and operated the car ferries Ontario No. 1 and Ontario No. 2 to haul coal to Cobourg, Ontario, Canada.

Much of the BR&P is still in use today in Western New York. The Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad operates from Buffalo to Machias using trackage rights over the Norfolk Southern (for Pennsylvania Railroad) line. The B&P then operates over their own from Machias to Pennsylvania via Ashford Junction and Salamanca. The B&P also operates over the former BR&P from Buffalo to Orchard Park and from Ashford to West Valley.

Street address: 227 W. Main St. Springville, NY USA County / Borough / Parish: Erie Year listed: 1991 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering dating from the late 19th And 20th Century Periods of significance: 1900-1924 Historic function: Transportation Current function: Not-in-use Privately owned?: yes Season start / Season finish: From: 01/01/2007 To: 12/31/2007 Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 1: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   08/19/2012 jiggs11 visited it