The Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad was a part of the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mi ...

system, connecting

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the U.S. state, state ...

. It is still used by

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of trac ...

for freight and

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...

for passenger service.

History

The Buffalo and Black Rock Railroad was chartered in 1833 and opened in 1834, operating a horse-powered line from downtown Buffalo north to Black Rock, now the east end of the International Bridge. The line was mostly built on state land next to the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing ...

. The Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad was incorporated in 1834 to take over the Buffalo and Black Rock and extend it north and northwest to

. Construction began in August 1836, and included a replacement of the low-quality rails of the horse-drawn line. By 1837 the extension to Tonawanda was completed, and around 1840 the rest of the way to Niagara Falls opened. In or soon after 1852, the new Erie Street terminal was built in downtown Buffalo, along with a relocation of the tracks near downtown to the west side of the Erie Canal. In 1853 the newly formed

leased the Buffalo and Niagara Falls, which at the time did not connect to any other NYC lines. It was merged into the NYC in 1855. Tonawanda also served as a junction with several other lines. The

Canandaigua and Niagara Falls Railroad The Elmira and Lake Ontario Railroad was a subsidiary of the Northern Central Railway and later the Pennsylvania Railroad, formed to give the Northern Central an outlet for coal traffic on Lake Ontario. Predecessors Horseheads–Canandaigua Th ...

opened to Tonawanda in 1853, and in 1854 built a connection from the Niagara Falls end of the Buffalo and Niagara Falls to the

Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge The Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge stood from 1855 to 1897 across the Niagara River and was the world's first working railway suspension bridge. It spanned and stood downstream of Niagara Falls, where it connected Niagara Falls, Ontario t ...

into

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. The New York Central bought the Canandaigua and Niagara Falls in 1858. The

Buffalo and Lockport Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the ...

opened in 1854, connecting the Buffalo and Niagara Falls at Tonawanda to the NYC's

Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

at Lockport. The Junction Railroad opened in 1871, finally connecting the Buffalo and Niagara Falls at Black Rock to the

New York Central and Hudson River Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

main line via a bypass of downtown Buffalo. In 1873 a connection was built downtown (partly using a short piece of the

Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, established in 1833 and sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, New York, to Chicago, Illinois, primarily along the ...

), forming a complete loop, known as the

Buffalo Belt Line Buffalo most commonly refers to: * Bubalina, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York Buffalo or buffaloes may also refer to: Animals * Bubalina, a subtribe of the tr ...

. The old Erie Street station was sold to the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rail ...

, and NYC trains now used the Exchange Street station, which had been used since 1842 by the NYC's main line. The International Bridge opened in 1874, connecting the Buffalo and Niagara Falls at Black Rock to

Ontario, Canada Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. Between 1900 and 1943, a realignment was made in southern Tonawanda, eliminating a bridge over the

( Tonawanda Creek). The new longer alignment turned east south of downtown, and then north parallel to the

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake ...

Suspension Bridge and Erie Junction Railroad Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Suspension (topology), in mathematics * Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics * Suspension of a ring, in mathematics * Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspe ...

, merging with the old

south of its bridge over the canal. Between 1948 and 1962, a bypass of

was built. This left the old alignment about halfway from Tonawanda and headed north to the NYC's old

Rochester, Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the ...

, where trains turned west to Niagara Falls. The old alignment was abandoned, and part of it was used in 1970 for the

LaSalle Expressway The LaSalle Expressway (also known as the LaSalle Arterial) is a limited-access highway in Niagara County, New York, in the United States. It begins near the North Grand Island Bridge at an interchange with Interstate 190 (I-190) in Niagara ...

. The line passed into the hands of

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and th ...

in 1968 and

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do bus ...

in 1976, by then known as the Niagara Branch. The 1998 Conrail breakup assigned the Buffalo-Niagara Falls line to

New York Central Lines New York Central Lines LLC was a limited liability company that owned railroad lines in the United States that are owned and operated by CSX Transportation. The company was formed in 1998 to own Conrail lines assigned to CSX in the split of Conr ...

LLC A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

, a subsidiary of

. CSX operates it, along with the old connection to the New York Central main line, and the connection to the

Whirlpool Rapids Bridge The Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, commonly known as the Whirlpool Bridge or the Lower Steel Arch Bridge (before 1937), is a spandrel braced, riveted, two-hinged arch bridge that crosses the international border between Canada and the United States, co ...

and

Michigan Central Railway Bridge The Michigan Central Railway Bridge is an out-of-service steel arch bridge spanning the Niagara Gorge between Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York. The bridge is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway, which purchased the single track str ...

(via the old

), as their

Niagara Subdivision The Niagara Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of New York. The line runs from Buffalo north and west to Niagara Falls along former New York Central Railroad and Lehigh Valley Railroad lines. ...

's '' Empire Service'' and ''

Maple Leaf The maple leaf is the characteristic leaf of the maple tree. It is the most widely recognized national symbol of Canada. History of use in Canada By the early 1700s, the maple leaf had been adopted as an emblem by the French Canadians along th ...

'' carry passengers along the full line, the latter continuing to

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada.

References

External links

Railroad History DatabasePast Tracks: A Queen City Built by Rail
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buffalo Niagara Falls Railroad Predecessors of the New York Central Railroad Defunct New York (state) railroads Transportation in Buffalo, New York Railway companies established in 1834 Railway companies disestablished in 1869 American companies established in 1834 American companies disestablished in 1869

History

See also

References

External links