Abandonment date please for Dansville

I'm looking for the abandonment year for the Wayland-Groveland section of the DL&W and then the year it was ripped up. Thanks.

Charles

According to some local history books, the last train ran over the ex-DL&W in November, 1963. The rails were removed in 1965. EL's official reason was poor drainage resulting in high maintenance costs, but in reality declining traffic levels led to the abandonment. The ex-Erie mainline ran nearby. Since it was in better shape, had less grades and more customers, retaining the Erie was a logical choice (albeit sad for DL&W fans).

While EL did run locals on the ex-Lackawanna main from the Buffalo area, they rarely went past Dansville. On rare occasions, the local went to Wayland or even Gang Mills, but there was little justification for it do so, even with the growing stream of traffic from the B&H interchange. It made more sense to terminate the local at Dansville, and handle the Wayland Branch from Gang Mills. Keep in mind, the Buffalo-Wayland run could usually be handled by 1 or 2 switchers. It just didn't make any sense to keep the 11 or so miles between Dansville and Wayland for just Phoebe Snow and that occasional local.

In a twist of irony, EL's new CEO Bill White (ex-DL&W!) authorized the removal of those ex-Lackawanna rails.

I was under the understanding that the Wayland local ran out of Elmira, as this was the DL&W crew terminal, until 3-31-76.

I know for a fact from a few experienced (read: older) B&H employees that the EL local originated in Gang Mills. Remember, the pre-merger consolidation of DL&W and Erie operations used DL&W's freight house and facilities in Bingo, but Erie's in Elmira.

One of the biggest customers on the Wayland Branch (until the '90s) was the winery traffic on the Bath & Hammondsport RR. They interchanged freight exclusively with Erie so the local's point of origination may have reflected that, too.

The DL&W extension from Binghamton to Buffalo was built to haul coal westbound from PA. The steep eastbound grade from Groveland to Wayland was not much of an issue as eastbound coal cars were empty.

From Binghamton west to Wayland, the DL&W was rarely (if ever) further than 2 miles from Erie tracks.

For most of the railroads in the US, building them was more profitable than operating them. This extension was no exception.

The steep grades between Groveland and Wayland were not much of an issue when DL&W was primarily a coal-hauler but it became a problem as DL&W made the transition to handling bridge traffic. Loaded eastabound trains needed helpers, both there and near Attica. The Erie was much gentler so it was the logical choice to make it the primary frieght route for EL for the entire Bingo-Buffalo corridor. Plus, it had the important connections to the Hornell yard/shops, as well as the route to Chicago.
The ex-DL&W line might have survived if there had been a national transportion policy to support trains like Phoebe Snow. Perhaps it could have become the fast New York-Buffalo route if there was a gov't commitment to subsidize passenger service. But, alas, we're talking 8 years before the start-up of Amtrak. It might as well have been a century...

You have to wonder where such a train would stop tho. Scranton Binghamton and Elmira of course, but what west of there? Corning is very close to Elmira after all, and theres no place of any serious size along the DLW until you reach Batavia area.

DL&W did not go through Batavia - NYC, LV, and a third line that escapes memory went through Batavia.

The Erie had a branchline that ran through Batavia.

EL used the DL&W mainline until '63 because it could still support competitive speeds. It was more important to move passengers as quickly as possible between the bigger cities (Buffalo, Bingo, Scranton, Hobken, etc.) than it was to be concerned with the smaller towns en route. Ironically, it was ex-DL&W president Bill White who played a big role in putting the axe to the former Lackawnna mainline.

I rode the last run of #6. Boarded in Dansville (it was late) and got off in Waverly NY. After that the DL&W main line was single tracked to Corning.

In 1965 I rode the Phoebe Snow (now #2) from Hornell to Newark, NJ. Took a cab to Newark Penn and continued on to Sea Girt, NJ on the PA and NY&LB.

Then much of the Erie Rochester Branch, which already had been abandoned west of Wayland, was pulled from a point west of Atlanta, NY back to Gang Mills and a switch was installed to allow a connection between the DL&W and the remaining 5 miles of Erie to the village of Wayland.

This created the peculiar sight of 2 EMD road units pulling 1 or 2 freight cars from this switch to the village of Wayland. The rest of the train was left near the switch on the former DL&W main.

I remember one of the road units derailed between Main St. and Lackawanna St. in Wayland and was there for a long time while a crew came from Hornell (via Corning) to get it back on the track.

Lucky you to be on that train! However, I always thought that the track between Cohocton and Wayland was ex-DL&W because several articles and my Erievalley video both describe Gunlocke as being adjacent to "ex-Lackawanna" trackage. I'm also under the imression that much of the Erie Rochester Branch had been pulled earlier- circa 1956, according to articles and books I've read about Erie, DL&W, EL, B&H and LAL. Erie's Rochester-Corning traffic had slowed to a trickle, so it was easier to re-route it via the new Attica Branch.

There were at least two stubs of Erie trackage that were retained after Erie and DL&W combined their operations in Steuben County. One was the connection to the original B&H mainline, which still exists today. The other was a connection to The Prattsburgh Railway (formerly K&P). That shortline ended operations in 1959 and its rails were removed a few years later. Perhaps you saw the Erie connection in Kanona being removed?

The Erie Rochester division between Livonia and Wayland was removed in 1956. After that an Erie train from Gang Mills usually came to downtown Wayland most weekdays.

The Gunlocke Chair Co is on the former Lackawanna main line about a mile south of downtown Wayland.

After the Erie and Lackawanna merged most of the Erie was pulled except for about 4 or 5 miles of track from a point just west of Atlanta to downtown Wayland. At that point a switch was installed connecting that remaining Erie spur to the former DL&W mainline so that freight could still be delivered to downtown Wayland. The E-L probably didn't have permission to discontinue service to downtown Wayland which had a few customers.

There was a time when the Lackawanna from Buffalo to Corning was single tracked but not severed and had one or two local frieghts a day. That freight, often with 2 EMD road units, would leave 20 cars or so on the DL&W mainline and take one or 2 cars down the old Erie track to Wayland.

It's hard to believe that at one time Wayland had 3 active railroads with frieght and passenger service plus a short line and 2 other freight and passenger lines proposed.

I don't know much about operations between Bath and Cohocton other than what I have read.

I go thru downtown Wayland occasionally on the way to visit my family in Bath/Elmira and I've been able to figure out the old ROW but I haven't been able to tell which buildings there (if any) are former Erie customers. Do you know, s4ny? It is amazing to think that Wayland used to be a major interchange point. Then again, B&H used to be the most profitable branch of the Erie!

Coming into Wayland from the east, the first customer was Rogers and Tenbrook, a lumber yard that is still there. They have now expanded their building onto the former Erie ROW. This is before the line crossed East Naples St. There was a siding there that came off the south side of the main line and then curved about 75 degrees to the south.

(Originally, this track continued on to a junction with the DL&W. It first turned west and went past the Millen Cement Works, crossed Lackawanna Ave and then turned southwest to connect with the DL&W maybe 500 feet west of the current brick building that was the DL&W depot. This is clearly shown on the 1904 Wayland USGS map, southeast quad.)

http://historical.maptech.com/getImage. ... g&state=NY

The Erie then crossed East Naples St. (NY 21) and continued across Lackawanna St. (US 15).

Just north of the Legion Theater there was a Purina Chow agri dealer who sometimes got a boxcar. Sullivan and Leyden's office sits on the ROW of the 2 main tracks.

On the west side of Main St. was Capron and Sons, a coal dealer and probably the largest Erie customer in Wayland. North of Capron's was the Erie Depot and north of that were the 2 main tracks.

Another siding followed what is now Pfeiffer Ln. crossed Scott St. and served a warehouse on the south side of Clark St.

The main line then crossed Pine St. went past the Huguet Silk Mill (now a parking lot for Victory Park) and the current Woodcroftery east of Second Ave. Another siding came off the west side of the main and crossed Second Ave. to serve the Wayland Bird's Eye plant on the west side of Second Ave.

The highest point on the Erie Rochester Div is about a mile north of here.

I grew up in Wayland & rode with the Erie engine crews in town while doing their switching in the late '50's & early 60's. As for customers in Wayland, there were also several potato warehouses located adjacent to the Erie depot. During the fall potato season the sidings would be filled with cars with outgoing shipments. Also, further down the siding that served Rogers & Tenbrook was a Sinclair oil dealer, Armstrong Brothers, that also received tank cars of oil.