The Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley and Pittsburgh Railroad is a historic railroad company that operated in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and New York. Chartered in 1867, its first passenger train ran in 1871. After several mergers and name changes, it was leased to the New York Central and Hudson River RR in 1873 for a term of 501 years. It was later wholly absorbed by the New York Central. Passenger service ceased in 1937. Only a few structures built by the company are extant.

Early history

Begun as an idea of the businessmen of

Warren, Pennsylvania Warren is a city in Warren County, Pennsylvania, United States, located along the Allegheny River. The population was 9,404 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Warren County. It is home to the headquarters of the Allegheny National Fores ...

about 1833 to build a railway following the Conewango River valley north toward Lake Erie. The idea produced no action until 1853, when 1700 shares of stock were sold, but it wasn't until the winter of 1866 that several influential men of Chautauqua County, New York started stoking the fires of progress. By April 1867, the New York State Legislature issued a charter for the ''Dunkirk, Warren & Pittsburgh Railroad Company'' to sell stock, and on June 17, 1867 that actual work began. The first passenger train ran over the line on June 22, 1871, from

Dunkirk, New York Dunkirk is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. It was settled around 1805 and incorporated in 1880. The population was 12,743 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Dunkirk i ...

to at least Falconer, New York. The Dunkirk, Allegheny (sometimes spelled "Allegany") and Pittsburgh incorporated on December 31, 1872 as a merger of the ''Dunkirk, Warren and Pittsburgh Railway Company'' and the ''Warren and Venango Railroad Company''. Four days after incorporation, on January 3, 1873, the DAV&P was leased to the New York Central and Hudson River RR for a term of 501 years.

1897 Financial Statement

''D. A. V. & P. RAILROAD COMPANY''
''Regular Annual Report to the State Railroad Commission''
''Bureau of The Journal''
''467 Broadway''
''Albany, Sept. 16, 1897'' ''The regular annual report of the Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley & Pittsburg railroad company for the year ending June 10, has been filed with the state railroad commission. The report shows''
''Gross earnings: $206,851 50''
''Operating expenses: 199,105 42''
''Net earnings: 7,746 08''
''Other income: 221 25''
''Gross income: 7,967 33''
''Fixed charges: 13,307 34''
''Net deficit: 5,339 91'' ''The general balance sheet shows assets of $4,577,006.67, including $4,541,486.67, for cost of road and equipment; $10,562.74 cash on hand. The liabilities include $1,300,000 capital stock; $2,900,00 funded debt and $49,628.80 profit and loss surplus.''

Service history

The DAV&P railroad connected with 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 ...

(later a part of the

New York Central System 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 ...

); the New York, Chicago and Saint Louis Railroad (aka " Nickel Plate") in Dunkirk; 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 Er ...

in Jamestown, New York; the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad in

(later the Pennsylvania Railroad) and Pennsylvania Railroad in

Titusville, Pennsylvania Titusville is a city in the far eastern corner of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,601 at the 2010 census and an estimated 5,158 in 2019. Titusville is known as the birthplace of the American oil industry and fo ...

. A blueprint of the Titusville terminus in 1901 shows the DAVP main line become the Titusville, Cambridge and Lake Erie Railroad just west of the DAVP Titusville Station. Originally intended to connect Erie with the Pennsylvania oil fields, the small amount of track it laid became a siding used by the DAVP to serve the Queen City Tannery. A 1921 list of industries served by the DAVP, shows a wide variety of products moved by the railroad, including lumber, coal, oil, ice, produce, canned goods, grains, cattle, foundry goods, chemicals, etc. Maps of each station and siding in 1901 were posted to the internet as of 2014.http://www.a-51x.com/eclipseauctions/davp/history/maps/submaps/index.asp At some point, the DAV&P became wholly owned by the NYC, motive power bore the NYC logo, and as of 1968,

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 the ...

, though the line was still known as the "DAV&P", or "Dolly Varden", or "Valley Branch". Except for a brief revival during WWII, regular passenger service was dropped in 1937. Freight traffic continued along the length of the line through 1972 when the rail line was abandoned from

Cassadaga, New York Cassadaga (a Seneca Indian word meaning ''"Water beneath the rocks"'') is a village in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The village is located within the northeast corner of the town of Stockton, east of the hamlet of Stockton, south ...

to Falconer, New York due to a bridge washout just west of the village of

Sinclairville, New York Sinclairville is a village in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 578 at the 2020 census. The village is named after Major Samuel Sinclear, its founder. Sinclairville is north of Jamestown and is on the border of the t ...

in the wake of

Hurricane Agnes Hurricane Agnes in 1972 was the costliest hurricane to hit the United States at the time, causing an estimated $2.1 billion in damage. The hurricane's death toll was 128. The effects of Agnes were widespread, from the Caribbean to Canada, ...

. Thereafter, Penn Central ran weekly turns between Warren and Falconer. With the formation of Conrail, service was further cut from North Warren to Falconer. Service to North Warren ended in the early '90s Most rails were removed from the line in the late 1970s. A few small portions of the line still exist, including a short spur off the Dunkirk mainline of the former

Lake Shore & 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 ...

/ NYC (Penn Central/Conrail, now

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 track. ...

) to Fredonia to serve the former Red Wing (?-1999) / Carriage House Foods (1999-2010) / ConAgra (2010–2015) manufacturing plant just north of

U.S. Route 20 U.S. Route 20 or U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that stretches from the Pacific Northwest east to New England. The "0" in its route number indicates that US 20 is a major coast-to-coast route. S ...

in Fredonia, as well as a small spur less than a mile long to serve a plastics company in

. An additional active segment is operated by the Oil Creek & Titusville Railroad from the former PRR-DAVP junction near the Pennsylvania Railroad station in Titusville to an industrial customer just east of the Route 27 crossing. The DAV&P Fredonia Depot and freight house sit just south of Route 20, but are suffering from neglect, the freight house being in better shape, having been used as a warehouse for a few years by a local business. North Warren Station (Pennsylvania) along the east side of

U.S. Route 62 U.S. Route 62 or U.S. Highway 62 (US 62) runs from the Mexican border at El Paso, Texas, to Niagara Falls, New York, near the Canadian border. It is the only east-west United States Numbered Highway that connects Mexico and Can ...

, just north of the City of Warren, was a restaurant as of the spring of 2018. Two smaller stations which were once the stations for Cassadaga and Lily Dale are now combined to be one building, hardly recognizable, in Cassadaga, New York, part of a campground. The former DAVP freight station stands in good condition (2018) in Warren, Pennsylvania as well, though a freight station in Falconer, New York was torn down in 2006.

References

Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley and Pittsburgh Railroad
(dead link as of 3/2015) {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunkirk Allegheny Valley Pittsburgh Railroad Defunct New York (state) railroads Defunct Pennsylvania railroads Predecessors of the New York Central Railroad Railway companies established in 1873 Railway companies disestablished in 1914 Railroads controlled by the Vanderbilt family