Springville Series: Buffalo, Rochester
& Pittsburgh Railroad Station
The Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh Station in Springville around 1910. The
station itself is visible in the background at left
between the locomotive and the cylindrical water tank. The engine, #164 of the
Alco "Atlantics," was primarily engaged in
hauling coal from Pennsylvania to Buffalo and returning to Pittsburgh with ore
from the lake boats arriving in Buffalo. But
the line also provided passenger service and "on-line" business moving
local products such as lumber, feed, and general
merchandise as well as bricks from brickyards in Orchard Park, Loveland, and
Jewetville. At right above is one of those
feed mills, providing feed for Buffalo's horses.
The same view in 2005. In the 1870's, Springville entrepreneurs were so eager
to have a railroad through town that they
funded an 11.57 mile narrow-guage railroad called the Springville & Sardinia
Railroad. After the Buffalo, Rochester &
Pittsburgh Railroad was completed in 1883 from Ashford to Buffalo, the narrow-guage
line was abandoned.
The handsome Springville station in 2005, appearing as it did when completed
in 1911. It is privately owned, and listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. There are separate waiting rooms for
men and women.
The Buffalo, Rochster & Pittsburgh Railroad was purchased in 1932 by the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad which operated it
until 1970 when the company merged with the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad.
Their name changed in the 1980's to CSX.
No trains use the tracks in 2005.
Special thanks for assistance with this series go to Town of Concord Historian
Margaret Mayerat and Lee Luss.
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