The Western New York and Pennsylvania Railway (earlier, the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad) was a
railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
that operated independently from 1887 to 1900 in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
s of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
and
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
.
The Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad was incorporated in 1887 from the reorganization of the Buffalo, New York, and Philadelphia Railroad. It was reorganized in 1895 as the Western New York and Pennsylvania ''Railway.'' In 1900, it was acquired and leased by the
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...
in 1900. It was merged into the
Penndel Company in 1955.
History
The line ran from
Emporium, Pennsylvania
Emporium is a borough and the county seat of Cameron County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Early in the twentieth century, there were large power plants and manufacturers of radio tubes and incandescent lamps (Sylvania Electric Products), ...
, across the state line to
Olean,
Hinsdale,
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
,
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
, and
Rochester in New York. From Belfast north, it was laid on the bed of the abandoned
Genesee Valley Canal. In Rochester, a house of Italianate design was purchased on Main Street West at Trowbridge Street and converted for use as the railroad's station.
From 1895 to 1899, the company drew too little revenue to pay the bond interest. At the time, the Pennsylvania Railroad was trying to expand into
western New York
Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all so ...
. On August 1, 1900, the WNY&PRY agreed to be operated by the PRR. The deal brought the WNY&PRY little profit, but it did improve revenues for the
Allegheny Valley and the
Philadelphia and Erie roads, so the net result was satisfactory to PRR executives.
Eventually, the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railway became the PRR's Buffalo and Allegheny Valley Division.
Various sources date the small branch from
Scottsville to
Garbutt from 1900 and the summer of 1907. The branch was abandoned in 1944; no trace of it remains. The Pennsy station has disappeared – even photographs of it are rare – and the railbed cannot be discerned in aerial photographs of the area south of Oatka Creek.)
See also
*
New Castle Branch
*A
short-line railway began operations in 2001 under the name
Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad, running trains on former
Erie Railroad
The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Northeastern United States, originally connecting Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey, with Lake Erie at Dunkirk, New York. The railroad expanded west to Chicago following its 1865 ...
and later former WNY&P trackage.
References
External links
Western New York And Pennsylvania Railway (1895–1955)at
Youtube.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Western New York Pennsylvania Railway 1895 1955
Defunct New York (state) railroads
Defunct Pennsylvania railroads
Predecessors of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Railway companies established in 1895
Railway companies disestablished in 1955
American companies disestablished in 1955
American companies established in 1895