The Jamestown, Westfield and Northwestern Railroad (JW&NW) was an electric

interurban The interurban (or radial railway in Canada) is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms u ...

railroad that served the

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 * ...

towns of Jamestown and Westfield from 1914 to 1950.

History

Dubbed the "Chautauqua Lake Route", the single track electrified JW&NW railroad provided passenger service and freight shipments between the furniture manufacturing city of Jamestown and the Lake Erie town of Westfield. It connected with the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...

at the NYC's Westfield depot in Westfield. This passenger and freight exchange with the New York Central Railroad was the crux of JW&NW's offering, with the greatest passenger and freight business in the 1920s.Wm Middleton: The Interurban Era As road and car use increased, passenger ridership decreased. Further, furniture manufacturing in Jamestown diminished, providing less economic need for the JW&NW railroad. It was abandoned in 1950.

Route and rail operations

Route

From Jamestown, the route traveled west along the north side of

Chautauqua Lake Chautauqua Lake is located entirely within Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The lake is approximately long and wide at its greatest width. The surface area is approximately . The maximum depth is about . The shoreline is about of ...

with stops at Greenhurst, Bemus Point, Dewittville, and Mayville. Mayville is on the north side of the lake; Jamestown, on the south. The other towns were along the east side of the lake. In the final decades of the JWNW, Mayville was the closest rail point proximate to the resort town of

Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) is an adult education and social movement in the United States that peaked in popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Cha ...

. After crossing 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 ...

's (PRR) Chautauqua Branch at Mayville, the line climbed a steep grade through low hills, passed through scenic "Hogsback Ravine" at the grade's summit, then dropped along a curvy route to Westfield. At Westfield, it passed under the

Nickel Plate Railroad The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad , abbreviated NYC&St.L, was a railroad that operated in the mid-central United States from 1881 to 1964. Commonly referred to as the "Nickel Plate Road", the railroad served parts of the states of ...

then turned sharply east adjacent to the New York Central Railroad to arrive at their combined depot.

Schedule

A JW&NW schedule from 1941 shows six daily trips from 6am to 9pm, each way, operating three hours apart, to meet NYC passenger trains that stopped at Westfield. The trip to Jamestown took one hour. The JW&NW and the NYC interchanged considerable carload freight as well as passengers.

Passenger equipment

The JW&NW operated bright red heavy steel passenger interurban cars (including one with an observation platform) and

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

and Westinghouse electric freight motors capable of pulling two to three freight cars up to Hogsback summit. The NYC would set freight cars on the Westfield interchange tracks to be taken to Jamestown by the JW&NW. The JW&NW would bring cars for the NYC to pick up. Wood and other materials necessary for furniture manufacturing went to Jamestown. Finished furniture moved to Westfield to be picked up by the New York Central.

Other freight interchange

At Mayville, the JW&NW crossed a branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad where interchange tracks allowed PRR lumber and coal setouts to route to Jamestown. The JW&NW dispatcher and tower were at this junction. PRR and JW&NW crossing control and signaling to prevent collisions (called interlocking) was the responsibility of the JW&NW. Dispatching orders for the conductors on board the interurban coaches was by written train order, and the interurbans stopped here to pick them up. In a 1941 ad, the line offered two-day LCL (

Less-than-carload Rail freight transport is the use of railways and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) hauled b ...

freight) shipping to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

from Jamestown, and three days to Chicago.

Operation

The grade from Westfield south into the hills heading toward Jamestown was very scenic, particularly where it passed through Hogsback Ravine. The grade was steep, and the interurban cars worked hard on the climb, particularly the electric powered freights. The 32-mile JW&NW represented classic small town-to-rural electric interurban operation similar to interurban lines all over the 1920s United States. The large red coaches lumbering by at grade crossings were a familiar sight for years at Chautauqua valley villages. Most interurban lines were abandoned during the 1930s due to increased car ownership and improving highways as well as the financial impact of the Great Depression. The JW&NW's passenger survival to 1947 and its freight survival to 1950 was due to its freight transfer with the New York Central for the many Jamestown factories. The

H.E. Salzberg Company H.E. Salzberg Company was a scrap dealer and operator of a group of shortline railroads and bus lines throughout the eastern United States. Headquartered in New York City, the company was primarily in the business of dismantling abandoned railroads ...

operated the company since at least late 1943 and the

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later Trucking industry in the United States, truc ...

approved its control of the JW&NW through ownership of stock in April 1945.

Decline and abandonment

After passenger abandonment in 1947,Middleton, p. 100. Photograph of Jamestown Westfield and Northwestern RR: interurban combine #303 and steeple cab freight locomotive in snow at Westfield depot/New York Central depot on the last day of JW&NW operation, March 1947. Photo caption says ''The longest lived New York State interurban''. the JW&NW continued freight operation with diesels, but gradually freight business declined along with Jamestown's industrial activity which for years had been primarily the manufacture of furniture. Shipping business also was lost to trucks. Total abandonment occurred in 1950.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jamestown, Westfield and Northwestern Railroad Defunct New York (state) railroads Interurban railways in New York (state) Railway companies disestablished in 1950 Railway companies established in 1914

Also see

1) Video of JW&NW freight and express transfers at the NYC station at Westfield: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_TBiX-VcVA 2) Video of JW&NW operating between Jamestown and Westfield: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG_Jp7egB88