Restaurant-Old Mill Inn on WNY&P near Alfred,NY

Hi guys,
I'm headed down to Alfred tomorrow [Saturday 11th] for a basketball game. I was stumping around on Google street view following the WNY&P and looking for the area where the washout happened LONG ago. Before I-87. I came upon this restaurant which sits along the track and not too far from Alfred University. Anybody been there? The only thing I see wrong with this place is that they put the patio on the wrong side of the building. I'd love to be having a nice quiet lunch only to have a train come through and make a lot of noise. Works for me.

Basically, no trains.

Thanks. I kinda thought that might be the case. As i looked at the various crossings on google street, the rails in the crossings appear far more worn than the rails on either side of the crossings. We'll take a look anyways.

The basketball trip was interesting. We lost.

As for rails, I crossed over the rails a couple of times and while they look in good shape, they are definitely not in use…..much.

Here is a picture of the location of the restaurant. The electrical box was powered as the white light was on. The other two pics is the grain mill next to the restaurant. This last picture is the set of rails at the restaurant. The electrical box is behind me looking northerly.

The washout that I mentioned above is about 2 to 5 miles ahead.

This post was removed due to an error on my part. Thanks to DJ on the next post who found it.



The caboose I saw on my way to Alfred is located just north of Belmont, NY and is viewable from Google SAT and street view.
https://www.google.com/local/imagery/re ... 2C%2C0%2C0

Did you perhaps mean just north of Belmont, NY on Rt 19? There is a caboose at 42°14'8.8583" N 78°3'6.6328" W which shows clearly on Google Maps Street View.

I believe this is the caboose. Photo was taken by me on Memorial Day 2014.

Charlie

The weathering on the caboose and the two crossing signs are really taking a toll. Nice pic.

Former WAG caboose, nee BR&P.

I was just strolling the Internet, fell on ths, and had to reply! Did you end up stopping in the restaurant while you were in town? You should have said hi! We love talking about our railroad history. Or rails have been mostly unused for the last seven ish years. They just recently we're used for transporting coal but that has fallen by the way side. The rails have since been unused but regularly maintained. We still see the signals tested monthly and rails serviced after heavy rains. Within the last few months we've had four real live trains (well, one making two round trips) pass through. Alstom had finished two Acella sets faster than Amtrak could accept delivery so they were moved to Olean for storage. It was quite the show and we squished many the pennies.

The building the restaurant is in was once a feed Mill serving the local area, while the brick building which you pictured served many purposes, most interesting to me being as a cheese factory owned by Kraft!

For several reasons, the lack of trains, the property line dangerously close to the building, etc. putting the deck out back didn't work. However if the trains ever do come back we will have to re consider!!

Next time you swing though say hi!! Just ask for Noah!

Noah
Guy that owns the old Mill inn, Alfred station

Hi Noah,
I did stop for dinner that night. I had a N/A Labatts and a BLT sub. Having a cardiac condition, bacon is pretty much taboo. But its been over a year since I've had anything with bacon so I caved. Oh that bacon tasted so good on that Costanzo's roll! You might have seen me sitting at the table with my vest having a patch saying, "TWA."

After I saw the box lit, I was curious how they maintained everything. Nice to know they are keeping it inspected. I also thought more traffic would come from Hornell with the Alstom plant there.

It will probably be awhile before I return. I'll have to check the basketball skd and see if Buffalo State comes back and plays again.

If you ever put that patio on the rail side of the building, post it here!

Noah, welcome to the forum!

The caboose in question was originally Buffalo Rochester & Pittsburgh 289, built in 1923. It was renumbered B&O C2640 in 1934 and spent almost its whole working life on the former Buffalo & Susquehanna lines out of Galeton PA. In 1955 the Wellsville Addison & Galeton RR took over those lines, changing the name and color of the caboose but retaining the same number. When WA&G was shut down the caboose was sold to private ownership. I am not sure whether it has been at the current location since then or whether it has been re-sold and moved at least once. That caboose, and 2 sisters also sold to WA&G, missed out on a few modifications the B&O made to that series of cabooses and thus are a good reference for the original appearance of the BR&P cabs.

Due to another basketball ball game I decided to come back down but this time scheduling a stop at the caboose for an updated pic. She needs help. I would not dare to climb up the stairs to get onboard. But somebody did and placed Santa Claus “upstairs.” Here are three:

The second and third pics are the same one. Didn’t feel like tampering with it to make the correction.

There was “stuff” underneath the caboose but could not tell what it was. Very corroded whatever it was. As you can see, both RR signs are getting corroded but I kinda like it as it brings a bit of historical authenticity.

After the game it’s off to MT Jewett near Kane. Ride the trail and visit the bridge museum.

Gotta go. Halftime is over.