Abandoning the former BR&P through Orchard Park

thebigham wrote:When I was living in Arcade, the northbound B&P train went through Arcade between 10-11pm.

The southbound came through Arcade anytime between 3-7am.

Chris

I know the schedule to be opposite of that. You could catch the southbound at the West Seneca wetlands and WS Ind Park at 7-9pm. The northbound I would catch maybe every other month at the Bailey Avenue crossing at about 7:45am as I was on my way to work at that time. Good thing it was short as I'm usually running late

The schedule I described has been in place for the last 4 years.

As of March, I was seeing the southbound through Chaffee around 7am.

The trains have been longer as of late: 60+ cars

Chris

Thebigham is correct - Southbounds usually come through in the morning, northbounds in the evening, although I have seen this pattern reversed on occasion. Probably depends on when crews changed in East Salamanca, weekend/holiday schedules, etc. My inlaws live right by the line, and I have seen southbounds at 10 PM.

I know it's impossible to say exactly for sure, but give me ballpark times on roughly when you might expect to see the B&P (or the NS for that matter) operating on the Buffalo Line near Buffalo or it's suburbs. I'd like to sit and wait them out but I don't want to be there all day for nothing. Also, who do they talk to on the radio (obviously the Buffalo Line dispatcher, but anyone else, like the B&P yard or anything?) and what channel ?

Thanks in advance

-B in B

The line from springville to buffalo is almost gone,becuse most of the tracks.heading along route 219 are tore up and removed.and the bridges are gone going over many street corners.excepted one major large bridge over a deep creek following the 219 route.which was left but had two large,pieces of metal at each corner of the bridge is this not the line heading to springville to buffalo ny .maybe iam wrong

Maybe you guys can answer one question.with lots of trackage being tore up.why has the tracks remained in springville and the lines not rip up there has been no use of this line in over 20,25 years is it being saved for special reason

Tippy, for God's sakes, try to use sentences. It's impossible to know what you are saying.

Dave Becker

The old BR&P line from Springville to Buffalo is NOT almost gone.

There have been a dozen or so crossings paved over, but the ones adjacent to Rt240 still have the rail laying there to be re-installed, depending on what happens to the line.

There is about 100 yards of track torn out through the Burr Road crossing and southward to fix a drainage problem.

Every bridge on the line is intact that I know of - certainly none were tore out.

There are approximately a dozen crossing signal sets that have started to be vandalized, ending up in people's yards.

There is some flooding issues on each approach to the Cascade Viaduct, but the track is still in, and of course, there is the quicksand problem in Cat county.

The passing siding in Concord is gone, and has been for years.

The last train run over the line was 1997, I believe. It would be nice if somebody did something with it. Would be a nice ride.

Then what is the old line tore up belive started. on dingen street.that runs along the route219 that has most bridges going over many streets ,tore up and hills leveled and one big bridge.left with big piece of steel placed on both ends of this big bridge crossing over a major big creek is this the line which goes to springville. if not what line is this...the tracks follow the thruway ware you can get on either the route400,or route219 or go,to erie pa this old line iam talking about ........plus herd no train ran thru springville since 78

Tipps, you're a little lost buddy, I'll do my best to get you back on track here. That Springville info you got was wrong. The B&P (through Springville) ran 2 tains a day until the late 1990's, that line starts at the B&P Buffalo Creek Yard, near Tift St. and curves through South Buffalo, part of Lackawanna near Ridge Rd., and out to Orchard Park by Rich Stadium.
The abandonded line you mention by the 90, 400, and 219 was the old Lehigh Valley's "Lehigh and Lake Erie Branch". It ran from "Tift Junction" (near William St. & Harlem just South of Bison Yard) to "Tift Terminal" which is in South Buffalo just North of Tift St. LV used it to get in or out of their yards and ship canal docks in South Buffalo and back around the city to the main line that ran East out of town through Depew. This branch line by-passed the Buffalo River and allowed the LV to skirt the city without being tied down by a lift bridge. It was abandonded in the late 70's when Conrail came on the scene.

-Brian in Bflo.

Thanks for the great information.when i used to work walmart before my auto accident in march 13,2006 older folk from springville would say no train service in many years ran thru there .but with so many tracks being tore up is there a special reason why these tracks are being saved .maybe just maybe are they going to be used again ..or are they already marked abandoned for good any no the answer

The Surface Transportation Board denied the BPRR's petition to abandon the line, and there were some issues with NYSDOT funding the BPRR received to rehab the line but chose not to.

http://tinyurl.com/z26ur

Those old timers were probably asleep in bed when the B&P ran through town. They like to run night trains and remain one of my arch nemisis of railfan photography as they still hold true to their elusive nature to this very day over the NS Buffalo Line in and out of Buffalo Crick Yard.
Go out and buy the book "Buffalo Rochester, and Pittsburg Volume #1" by Mike Zoltich and "Trackside Around Buffalo" by Steve Koneig and that will answer most of your questions about all these different lines you're struggling to understand. It took me the last 3 years to figure out how what we see today relates to the way it used to be around this town. Now you can be the guy with the good info in Springville.

See my other post on the B&P Line for more info.

-B in B

so it looks like the end of the line for train service thru springville and its a shame nysdot can.t force the rr to fix this line they recived tax dollars to rehab this line .it looks to be only a time issuse before the okay is given to rip up this section .becuse with more time passing and no one useing this section it seems like the only out come will be the riping up of this section.plus even if they got the funds to repair what value in customer profit can any rr runing this line make money need customers .its a shame railroads built this counrty.now everthing is made in china just look at walmart or any big store look carefully at the products box on the shelfs you will see made in china which means less factories her means less trains needed.......but anyways thanks guys for the great history lessons

Iam new to this fever but does it not make cents to think the rr.still gets its way.even when the nysdot says no you can,t give up the line.bewteen,springville .becuse with streets being paved over.and tracks not being used in years the state will one day say alright go ahead abandoned the line.becuse to repair and bring back this line will cost to much ......and not much money,customers left on this line ..........but anyways thanks for the information everyone