I haven't seen it mentioned so I will here:
The earliest history of the A&A and its predeccesors that I have seen is Capt. Winfield W. Robinson's "The Tonawanda Valley Lines" in R&LHS Bulletin No. 40, May 1936. The nine-page article is a full survey, from the early charters to the A&A as of 1935. Capt. Robinson got the opportunity to interview a few old timers.
Some of the illustrations are familiar from later publications. Locomotive photos include TV&C #21, BA&A #3, BA&A #5 in Arcade yard, A&A #7 and the Arcade depot. There are also some train and crew photos.
There is an all-time locomotive roster of the Arcade & Attica listing locomotives #1-8. At that time, #1, 5-8 were listed as on hand, #2-4 as scrapped.
I don't know if you are aware, but what became A&A #3 was originally built for and displayed at the Columbian World Exposition in Chicago in 1893 as one-half of the Cooke Locomotive Works exhibit. There it rubbed metaphorical shoulders with such luminaries as NYC&HR #999 and a Webb compound sent by the LNWR in England. A photo of the future #3 as Cooke #125 appears in Railroad Magazine for June 1933 in Walter Lucas's article on locomotive builders of Paterson NJ. After the Exposition, the 4-6-0 was sold to the Lehigh & Hudson River where it worked a normal service life on the high iron. It then came to the A&A via an equipment dealer.
Capt. Robinson takes his story up to the date of the Annual Meeting of Saturday, 16 February 1935. "Two hundred stockholders were present. A special train was run from Attica south in the morning to carry stockholders to Arcade and back again in the evening. There were three coaches full. As the A. & A. owns only two coaches, they had to borrow one from the Erie. Two locomotives were used that day, No. 7 was on the way freight and No. 6 hauled the special."
Capt. Robinson also notes the following re A&A's ownership of the line:
-- During its eighteen years of ownership this corporation ... has replaced the light rail with heavier steel, the old ties with creosoted timbers...
-- The activity at this writing consits of one mixed freight train daily in each direction, hauling one coach. The crew makes the round trip from Arcade and is generally through work by two in the afternoon.
-- For the past several years, competition with unregulated trucks has increased to such an extent that practically all of the local or short haul traffic has left the railroad and only the long haul and heavy traffic remains.
The earliest history of the A&A and its predeccesors that I have seen is Capt. Winfield W. Robinson's "The Tonawanda Valley Lines" in R&LHS Bulletin No. 40, May 1936. The nine-page article is a full survey, from the early charters to the A&A as of 1935. Capt. Robinson got the opportunity to interview a few old timers.
Some of the illustrations are familiar from later publications. Locomotive photos include TV&C #21, BA&A #3, BA&A #5 in Arcade yard, A&A #7 and the Arcade depot. There are also some train and crew photos.
There is an all-time locomotive roster of the Arcade & Attica listing locomotives #1-8. At that time, #1, 5-8 were listed as on hand, #2-4 as scrapped.
I don't know if you are aware, but what became A&A #3 was originally built for and displayed at the Columbian World Exposition in Chicago in 1893 as one-half of the Cooke Locomotive Works exhibit. There it rubbed metaphorical shoulders with such luminaries as NYC&HR #999 and a Webb compound sent by the LNWR in England. A photo of the future #3 as Cooke #125 appears in Railroad Magazine for June 1933 in Walter Lucas's article on locomotive builders of Paterson NJ. After the Exposition, the 4-6-0 was sold to the Lehigh & Hudson River where it worked a normal service life on the high iron. It then came to the A&A via an equipment dealer.
Capt. Robinson takes his story up to the date of the Annual Meeting of Saturday, 16 February 1935. "Two hundred stockholders were present. A special train was run from Attica south in the morning to carry stockholders to Arcade and back again in the evening. There were three coaches full. As the A. & A. owns only two coaches, they had to borrow one from the Erie. Two locomotives were used that day, No. 7 was on the way freight and No. 6 hauled the special."
Capt. Robinson also notes the following re A&A's ownership of the line:
-- During its eighteen years of ownership this corporation ... has replaced the light rail with heavier steel, the old ties with creosoted timbers...
-- The activity at this writing consits of one mixed freight train daily in each direction, hauling one coach. The crew makes the round trip from Arcade and is generally through work by two in the afternoon.
-- For the past several years, competition with unregulated trucks has increased to such an extent that practically all of the local or short haul traffic has left the railroad and only the long haul and heavy traffic remains.