After viewing an old map showing PRR routes from Olean,it appears the OB&W crossed the Allegheny River near the present day sewage plant and headed west about midway up and along the hillsides on the south side of the river.Can this be true? If so did it travel through Olean via the rails that once ran behind Olean High School ,crossing West State near 14th or 15th st. and on down to the river ? Also if it did run this way,where on the southside of the river did it finally head south,the 2 mile,4 mile or somewhere else .I grew up in Olean and had no idea about this , but I guess since this railroad was torn up prior to 1900 it is sort of a mystery.
You are correct that the remnants of the line survived as the "Olean Branch" running by the Olean Jr. High through West Olean crossing State Street and terminating south of Henley St. I grew up in Olean on South 14th in the 70's and remember the occasional train creeping through the field behind my house on its way to a scrapyard on Henley. The line was pulled up around the same time that the former PRR yard in the Buffalo St. area was replaced by the Conrail yard (1980).
This map should give you a pretty good idea of the original alignment of the line south of Olean (this may be the map that you saw in the first place):
http://historical.mytopo.com/getImage.a ... en98sw.jpg
The line was converted to standard gauge to serve the Pierce Tannery on the south side of Henley St. as well as the Utter Pipe facility on the North side (later the Service Stores warehouse). The track alignment for the later streetcar service between Olean and Bradford was changed to follow Union Street south and then up to Rock City where I believe it rejoined the orignal OB&W alignment into Bradford. Not sure when the Allegheny River bridge and the trackage on the original line up the Two Mile was removed. As of around 20 years ago you could still see the wooden support piers of the OB&W trestle in the Allegheny River during low water times.
--Reed
