Railroad Forums 

  • New York & Lake Erie Railroad (NY&LE) Discussion

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

 #1329547  by thebigham
 
I was in Gowanda last Friday and took a few pics

http://photos.greatrails.net/show/?orde ... +Lake+Erie" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

#6758 Alco FPA-2u and #6764 Alco FPA-4:
http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=223634" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=223636" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Passenger cars:
http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=223635" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Flatcar and "Contrak" passenger car:
http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=223637" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1342996  by thebigham
 
http://www.oleantimesherald.com/news/ar ... 67b64.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Catt. Co. IDA’s shortline railroad seeks rehabilitation funds
Posted: Sunday, August 2, 2015 9:00 am
By RICK MILLER Olean Times Herald

GOWANDA — Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) officials and its shortline railroad operator will meet with a Buffalo engineering firm on Friday to discuss a tie replacement program application.

Corey Wiktor, IDA executive director, said he and Robert O. Dingman Jr., president of the New York & Lake Erie Railroad (NYLER), plan to meet with officials at C&S Engineering, Buffalo, to begin an application for state Department of Transportation rail funding. The application is due at the end of this month.

New York & Lake Erie Railroad has operated the the IDA’s shortline railroad in the northwestern part of the county since 1978. The replacement of aging railroad ties has been an ongoing project, Dingman said.

The IDA and Dingman had considered submitting for a consolidated funding application (CFA) to the state for a wider and more long-term project currently under review, but it was considered too complicated and the timing wasn’t right, Wiktor said.

Talks continue with the Erie County IDA and Chautauqua County IDA on future projects leading to a 75-mile regional rail corridor that could be utilized for passenger service.

“We’re going to be working to see if we can bring some state and federal money for the project,” Wiktor siad. “We’re working with Southern Tier West on this.”

He added the Erie County IDA owns the former South Buffalo Railway track that runs between Gowanda to Buffalo. Rail passenger service could run along Cattaraugus County IDA tracks in the Gowanda area to the South Buffalo Railway tracks that go north to Hamburg and Buffalo.

There is an 11-mile gap in the NY&LE rail system between
Cherry Creek and Waterboro, but Dingman insists the basic infrastructure is there. “It can be rebuilt,” Dingman said. That brings the railroad to the east-west track of the Southern Tier Extension Rail Authority leading into Jamestown which it leases to the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad.

Dingman said that would provide service into Jamestown from Buffalo and Gowanda.

Dingman’s NYLER has experience in running passenger trains on short hops from Gowanda to South Dayton. “Typically, they were sold out,” he said. The railroad continues to run a few Christmas trains. They also ran popular mystery trains which included catered dinners.

Two years ago, Dingman ran a train between Gowanda and South Dayton to celebrate the 30th anniversary of “The Natural.”
Besides the tourism angle, the three county IDAs are also looking at things they can do to make the rail corridor more attractive to businesses which need rail access.

“Bringing rail passengers to and from Canalside in Buffalo” would also be a tourist draw, Wiktor said. “Hopefully, it garners some attention from the state,” Wiktor said. “Everyone would like to see something like this occur.”
Part of the reason for the interest by Chautauqua County officials is the newly renovated downtown railroad depot. They would like to stage rail excursions from the restored depot.

“The railroad is like water,” Wiktor said. “People are drawn to it.”

Dingman said most of the business has left the Cattaraugus County IDA’s rail line with the exception of Cherry Creek Woodcrafters. “Tourism is the only game (left) in town,” he added.
 #1343020  by pablo
 
It's unfortunate that the IDA or whomever isn't getting the full story. I'd say it's going to cost a lot of money, and take a lot of time, to get from Waterboro to Conewango Valley even up and running...not to mention with passengers.

Of course, the guy in Jamestown is still spewing his nonsense about the train station, so who knows. The National Comedy Center fell into his lap, and that might make passenger cars actually stop at Jamestown again.

That idea to get the train to a Bills game (since the BSOR goes right past Ralph Wilson Stadium) will likely never come to pass. I wonder how a routing from Jamestown to Buffalo over the Buffalo line would look...

Dave Becker
 #1343142  by Matt Langworthy
 
The train to the Bills games originated in Albany. It passed through Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo to get to/from the game. I rode this train once in 1997. As I recall, I got off the train about a mile or so from the stadium and then took a shuttle to the game. I think the train pulled onto the northern end of the B&P, although I'm not 100% sure. It was definitely not BSOR or NYLE.

The train to the Bills games ended a year or two later when a bus company (Trailways?) brought a lawsuit against the state.
 #1343304  by Railroaded
 
Man, there is misinformation flying around everywhere here. The South Buffalo? Uh, no, the Erie County section of the Erie's old B&SW is operated by the BSOR & we DO NOT run anywhere near the stadium. That's the B&P, formerly the B&O & BR&P before that. That article is also full of all kinds of other gibberish, but I'm not going into all that in a public forum...
 #1343387  by pablo
 
I don't think there is any misinformation here. I know there is a ton out there, in the public.

One little nugget I'll share is that perhaps 13 years ago or so, someone with the WNYRHS offered the Pennsy steam engine (in Hamburg?) to Jamestown. "Put it on display," they said, "and you can bank on some crazy amount of people coming to see it." Take "crazy amount" and fill in some number like more than 100k.

Two or three of the people at that meeting nodded, like that made perfect sense. I was the first to say that that was total nonsense, and at the time, I was just a local railfan dude. I later attended the same committees as a member of the WNYP. The committee was unhappy to hear that this steam loco thing was just plain loco.

Of course, one of the members of this committee ALSO stated that Amtrak was coming to Jamestown. I got really angry at this, because the comment was clearly done to get the elderly behind the project; so many older folks were very upset that there wasn't rail passenger traffic here, and the Amtrak comment got some of them very excited about this. Amtrak was clearly suggested for a purpose, and that was mean.

Anyway, you'd be amazed at the nonsense.
 #1343400  by Matt Langworthy
 
Thanks for the insight, Pablo. There was one bit of misinformation on this thread, though. As Railroaded and I have stated, BSOR is not near the Bills stadium and didn't handle the train I rode to the Bills game 18 years ago. Don't fret it- we've all made those kind of mistakes here. The correction has been made, so we can get back to the discussion at hand.

I've heard similar stories about local officials making promises that they can't keep with the Letchworth viaduct, so I guess we should expect it to happen elsewhere.
 #1343440  by pablo
 
As far as Google maps shows, the BSOR/former B&SW is approximately a mile from Ralph Wilson stadium, and the plans from the beginning ( on the southern end, and no, I'm sure they never even thought to ask BSOR or perhaps even the IDA) were to get that close and then bus over, or something like that. In that regard, this rail line would be an interesting opportunity to get that close and figure something else out. In theory, not a deal breaker at all.

Dave Becker
 #1343505  by Railroaded
 
Let me clarify something. The proposed rail serivce to Rich Stadium was over the B&P. That line is within sight distance of the parking lot. That plan was bandied about in the press, but nothing was ever done about it. It had nothing to do with us.
 #1343531  by pablo
 
All I can say is that when it was being spoken about in Jamestown, the conversation was never about getting on the B&P at any location, whether at Salamanca or at Olean.

Some comments included (and I'm paraphrasing somewhat) that the line had been used in a movie, not so long ago, so how bad of a shape could it be in; there was already passenger service on part of the line as it was; people involved with the line had tried to reconnect the line between Jamestown and Buffalo before, so he/they had a vested interest in seeing this work; and, again, that the line goes close enough to the Ralph to be plausible.

I can't tell you who was speaking about a going over the B&P, and there might have been competing interests (it's really a win-win for everyone, at least at the PR level) at play, but as I said, the things I heard involved the former B&SW, and again...I feel like this was another IDA-created idea, with a lot of people eager to jump on board.

I'm personally pretty sure that the Waterboro-Conewango Valley line won't ever see a train again, no matter the previous plans.

Dave Becker
 #1343596  by Flat-Wheeler
 
pablo wrote:
I'm personally pretty sure that the Waterboro-Conewango Valley line won't ever see a train again, no matter the previous plans.

Dave Becker
Pretty sure it would cost a pretty penny, to re-install those 11 miles of track. Though it's already graded, I bet it would still cost about 8 to 9 million to lay new Class 1 track for 11 miles. Maybe the cost of used, class 2 track, rated for 40 mph would be alot less. Still, you are talking alot of dough.
  • 1
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 14