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Pittsburg, Shawmut and Northern Railroad Company & Its Predecessors - NEWS ITEMS, from Various County & Other Newspapers;
Railroads Included:
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Gleaned from newspaper microfilm by Richard Palmer, whose eyes will never be the same! Thank you Dick, on behalf of all
railfans. rt/2007
Railroad News Items from the "Bolivar Breeze"
UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED
Contributed by Richard Palmer
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Friendship Railroad,
This article was originally printed by the "Friendship Register", August 18, 1955. It was a contributed by a former resident who then resided in
Orlando, FL., now deceased, Walter F. Stiles. It touches on a nearly lost history of a very important tiny railroad which connected Friendship "over the hill from", Bolivar &
Richburg during the Oil Boom years. -- The story was re-printed by the "Landmark Society" in the 1974 Wellman Home Plaque Dedication
Brochure.
Narrow Gauge Railroad Linked Friendship With Bolivar-Richburg -- Oil Boom Towns
by Walter F. Stiles "One day which I recall as in June, 1881, my father took me up to the Erie
Station, where we joined about a hundred other "Sidewalk Superintendents", to see them unload the first narrow gauge engine from an Erie flat car. At that time, the Erie had a side
track on the south side of the main track and car in question was parked just west of Depot Street. A track of light
rails was laid up to the level of the car floor with an easy grade down to the ground level, then more track was laid over to a side track of the new railroad line. People referred
to this road as the Friendship Railroad, but, the first corporate name that I remember for it was the Allegany Central Railroad.
There are several sizes of Narrow gauge railroads, but, this one was of three feet gauge..that is, it was three feet between the rails, whereas a standard gauge road like the Erie is
four feet eight and one half inches between rails. This new engine was real fancy in finish. It had a lot
of polished brass on it, and under the cab windows, a name: "A. W. Miner." Being a small boy at that time, the name did not impress me, but any boy who grew up in Friendship in
those days and kept his eyes open soon learned that Asher W. Miner, who was president of the First National Bank, and his son-in-law, Colonel Abijah J. Wellman, the cashier of the bank,
were the spark-plugs of about all the first class activities in the community. The terminal for the Narrow Gauge was
rather congested, as the Erie held fast to land on one side and on the other side was the large, brick house occupied by Wesley Lambert, his wife and good looking daughter, Jennie.
Like many other dead-end terminals, the Grand Central Station for instance, there was no handy place to turn the little "choo choo" around. The company built a small car and repair
shop, with a Wye up in "Dogtown" and there is where the Engine had to go for a turnaround. The road was of quick and
hasty construction, the track was not ballasted and much of it was not properly drained, with the result that the frosts in winter and the thaws in spring worked havoc with its alignment.
Business was good and the road with all of its defects, served its primary purpose of furnishing much needed transportation to the new oil fields and the thousands of people who had
congregated there. It was said that at one time Bolivar had a population of 10,000.
The railway had little by way of equipment at the start. Narrow gauge cars were hard to come by on short notice, although they did, after a
while, get some fine cars and plenty of people rode in them just for the novelty of riding on a different kind of a road. One car I remember, was a flat car with a canopy top and
wooden benches running lengthwise. The railroad was extended to Olean.
That city had turned into what was said to be the largest oil gathering point in the world! Large refineries had been established there and oil was shipped by the train load. Business was so good and money so plentiful that the Allegany Central was reorganized as the Lackawanna and Pittsburg and extended first to
Angelica, where the people were hot to have a railroad, and then extended up in the sticks in a northerly direction.
This colorful and memorable "Little" railroad was junked in 1890 and a return to the stage coach lines was the sole connection between above mentioned points and the outside world."
(Richburg History p.35) ------------------------------------------
Friendship Weekly Register, Thurs., June 9, 1881
The Narrow Gauge - Friendship to Bolivar!
Work commenced this morning
_____
This morning several men and teams left here for the purpose of commencing work on
the narrow gauge railroad to be run from Friendship to Richburg and Bolivar, and thus meet the Olean and Eldred railroads and grading has commenced in or near the
"west notch" between this place and Richburg. This will put the rest the fears and speculations of many of our inquisitive citizens, and the commencement is
heralded with joy. It is safe to state the road will be completed and trains running within forty days.
The ties are largely secured, the rails and irons are now at the Erie depot,
unloaded, waiting the time to come when they shall take their part in the Friendship, Bolivar & Olean R.R., and the future for Friendship looks bright and
promising.
At this writing the directors of the Friendship Railway are holding a meeting and
things will be pushed forward to completion as fast as possible. Let the good news be spread.
Andover Express - June 30, 1881
"Friday last the engine for the Narrow Gauge between Friendship and Richburg arrived and bears the fine name of A. W. Miner.
The engine of the new Narrow Gauge road was placed on the track Tuesday evening. The train will soon be making daily trips with George Brown "former fireman with Dan Chapman on the
Erie line" as engineer. Theron Cross is the conductor and Byron C. Laning, Fireman."
Friendship Weekly Register, Thurs., July 14, 1881
Friendship Railroad.
Rapidly Nearing Completion
Several Cars on The Line
Since the commencement the work on the Friendship Railroad has been pushed forward
with great rapidity, and the construction hands have labored hard and well. The grade from Friendship to Richburg is nearly completed, and the ties and rails are
being laid on this end of the route. Eight gondolas are used on the construction train and the road will be in full blast within a very short space of time. The new
locomotive is a "darling" and works easily and well.
Andover Express - August 4, 1881 The new railroad and recent oil development have infused new life into the beautiful time of Friendship. The Erie trains daily bring
hundreds of strangers here to take the stage for the new oil fields. People who pass through, speak admirable of the beautiful village and the courteous people they meet. Some
very good sales of property are taking place. The side tracks of the Erie are constantly filled with carloads of boilers, engines, cables, timbers, and all kinds of supplies for the
new field at "Richburg". A large number of men and teams are constantly employed in removing iron for the new field at Richburg. Hotels are well filled and trade seems to
be booming.
Friendship Weekly Register, Thurs., Aug. 18, 1881
THE NEW RAILROAD!
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Friendship and Richburg Joined Together!
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The Friendship Railroad Nearly Completed.
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The building of the Friendship Railroad has been watched with deep interested by the good citizens of our
enterprising and wide-awake town, and while some of our neighbors have been throwing envious missiles at the project, the construction has been steady and rapid.
Before this issue of the Register will have reached its readers the iron horse will be sounding its loud snortings through the city of
Richburg, and carrying passengers to and from the city of grease. The grading is complete throughout the whole line, and the rails
will be laid to Richburg today (Thursday) and through to Bolivar before Monday.
The scenery adjacent to the new railroad is so varied in its numerous formation as to
take too much space for a detailed account in today's paper. Especially through the Notch is the landscape strikingly grand, where the passengers ride over high,
long trestle work, with deep and romantic ravines on either side; the towering mountains in the distance, with bountiful growth of forests, thickly studded with
almost innumerable derricks - no finer scenery can be found in this section of the State.
The railroad bed has been graded with more than the usual amount of care, and is built to last. The rolling
stock, &c. is all of the best make, and in short, the Friendship Railroad is the best running to the new oil field. The completion of the road at this early day is
a good lift for our young city, and establishes the fact far beyond a doubt that Friendship is the great center of the Allegany oil fields. Friendship certainly
offers better inducements to land purchasers than either Cuba, Scio or Wellsville, and building lots are being sold off at a rate that excels Maud S. by several seconds and a fraction.
Today Friendship is the liveliest town in the county, and besides our former manufactories and oil refinery,
new industries are being established that will assist materially in revolving the wheel of fortune and good times. Land is not held in Friendship to speculate on -
nor is it sold for such purposes. "The train makes three trips a day between Friendship and Richburg. Good day, sir!"
Friendship Weekly Register, Thurs., Sept.1, 1881
All Aboard!
____
The Friendship Railroad is now completed, and is making three trips daily to Richburg, and will run regular
to Bolivar before Saturday night! Let all people along the line rejoice. The citizens of the towns south of us can come to Friendship - the oil center of Allegany
counrty - by rail! While one or two penny-a-liners were harping upon the early completion of their roads into the new Oilderado, Friendship kept quiet, working
steadily and surely, and now has the honor of first sending the iron horse into the heretofore quiet and beautiful hamlets of Richburg and Bolivar. Shake,
neighbors, shake!
Friendship Weekly Register, Thurs., Sept. 1, 1881
The First Train to Richburg
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Seated on the foremost car of the construction train on the afternoon of
August 25, 1881, we steamed out of Friendship to make the first trip over the narrow gauge to Allegany's most prominent city of derricks, Richburg. The thump, thump of the cars as we glided past the
company's numerous switches, was about lulling us to sleep in the warm, August sun, when we were somewhat revived by the blowing of a fresher breeze, occasioned by
our increased rate of speed across the fertile meadows of Friendship, and none more fruitful and well cultivated are to be found in Allegany County than those
through which we passed, between Friendship and Nile.
Our train had steamed along so swiftly that it seemed almost impossible five minutes after starting, that it
really was the church steeples of Nile we saw through the smokey atmosphere, a half mile to our left. As we wound around the hills of
Nile, new scenes constantly attracted our attention; one of the most attracted our attention; one of the most attractive of which
was the large trestle, over which we crossed the valley, at a height of forty feet from terra firma.
The shadows which here began to creep across the car denoted our near approach to the forests, through whose
cooling shades we swept, over trestles, embankments and culverts, emerging in the beautiful meadows of West Notch, where we caught the first odors of the distant
oil field, borne up to us on the southern breeze, in a few moments more we were whistling through the cut at the Notch and started on the descending grade the other
side.
As the car rocked to and fro over the newly constructed road we implored the engineer with all the railroad
signals at our commend to stop and let us get off, but he only riled at our fright and we went booming on around the hill-side at the rate of nearly a mile a
minute. The urchins by the way sought a more remote fence stake from which to view the first train, and two young ladies who wished to start a flirtation with the
fireman, showed their deep anxiety for his safety by signals, too touching to be described; but now the derricks at this once so quiet Sabbatarian town began to
loom up before us, and soon we went steaming into the busy little city - the first train to Richburg.
While our train was exchanging its load for iron for one of human freight we observed the town from a rise
of ground near the site of the future depot. We saw buildings fast nearing completion on every side and all kinds of industry connected with an oil town being
pushed with unusual vigor. The hissing of taps, the clutter of hammers and tread of hundreds of feet convinced us that
Allegany County had had the foundation for one of the largest cities in Western New York.
With the signal of "all aboard for Friendship," we pulled out of the coming city, and after a half hour's
ride stole into Friendship with the shades of evening, having completed the first ride to Richburg by rail.
(First timetable of the Friendship Railroad published in the Friendship Weekly Register,
Sept. 29, 1881. Stations shown are Friendship, Nile, Wirt Center*, West Notch,* Richburg and Bolivar. Three trains daily in each direction. Running time, about 50 minutes.
*Stop only on Signal. W.O. Chapman, Sup't.)
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Allegany Central Railroad,
Photo above - Allegany Central Narrow Gauge, Bolivar; Submitted by Richard Palmer Wellsville Daily Reporter, Aug. 23, 1881
Quite a force of men are at work between Angelica and Belvidere repairing the old grade of the Rochester & Nunda railroad, for the purpose of laying a narrow gauge track thereon. The work
is nearly completed between these points, and it really looks as though Angelica might hope for rail connection, even if not of the calibre of a broad trunk line. Work is also progressing
between Ross's Crossing and Nunda. Wellsville Daily Reporter, Nov. 1, 1881 A New Railroad
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An Important Enterprise.
____
A very important new railroad enterprise has just been assured for Allegany county. It is no less than the extension of the Olean & Friendship narrow gauge to
Belvidere, Angelica, Swains, Nunda and Mt. Morris - or near the latter point - where it will form an important connection with the extension of the Delaware, Lackawanna &
Western Railroad.
The importance of this will be understood when we state that the connection at (or near) Mt. Morris on the one hand, and at Olean, with the B., N.Y. & P., on the other hand,
introduce to this county and section a distinctly rival line of railroad to the Erie.
The right of way is being bought and paid for from Friendship to Belvidere. The work of grading is going rapidly forward, and it is expected that much of the line - at least that
from Friendship to Angelica - will be completed and in running order before Jan. 1st. It is owned by the great syndicate, represented by Chapman, Clark, Post & Martin, Seligman and others,
and evidently means business in earnest.
Friendship (N.Y.) Weekly Register, Thurs., Nov. 17, 1881
The Erie has placed a Tracy patent switch at the transfer of the Erie and the Allegany Central
Railroads at this place. Yesterday when train 9 pulled in, the switchman set the switch for the side track, but when the train pulled out it kept to the main track
just as if nothing had been wrong. A large mogul engine was backed out of the siding when the switch was set for the main track, and kept the rail just the same.
This is a wonderful invention, yet its workings are as simple as a couple of young lovers.
Cuba Patriot, Friday, Nov. 25, 1881
AN ACCIDENT ON THE FRIENDSHIP NARROW GAUGE.
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A Passenger Coach Plunges Off a Fifteen-Foot Trestle - Miraculous Escape of the Passengers.
Special to the Daily Patriot.
Richburg, Nov. 21.
This morning as the train on the Allegany Central railroad was approaching Richburg, and while on a 15-foot trestle, the rear coach left the rails and went tumbling
down into a ravine, turning completely over, and landing rightside up.
Luckily there were only a few passengers in the coach, and they almost miraculously escapes serious injury, with the exception of Ms. Geo. Smith, of Ceres, who was
badly cut about the head and face. Allegany Weekly Democrat, Wed., Jan. 11, 1882 ANGELICA REJOICING _____ The good people, the bad and the indifferent, of Angelica, were in a hilarious state of excitement Monday
afternoon, occasioned by the advent of a locomotive and train of cars into the ancient capital over the Allegany Central road. Cannon was fired, bells rung, maidens
with rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes danced with joy, and according to Sheriff Gillies, saint and sinner stepped up to the St. Charles Hotel, and indulged in round
after round of tangle-foot. We congratulate Angelica, and the people thereof, in having at least emerged from heathen darkness into the glorious light of
civilization and progress. Angelica is now the Mecca where the weary pilgrims from Birdsall, Grove, Granger, Joncy, Allen, (let us include Wellsville) will travel
to offer up their devotions, and lay their wires for a candidate for County Judge. In the exuberance of their joy, Raymond and Gillies clasped hands and swore
eternal fidelity. The former will serve as headlight on the locomotive, and the latter furnish fuel. Great credit is due Frank Smith for his untiring exertions in
securing the completion of this great enterprise for Angelica. At about three o'clock in the morning Joe Gillies was found walking in front of his hotel, his head
bowed down,and soliloquizing thus: "This goodly frame, the earth, compared with our locomotive, seems like a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the
air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me, than a foul and pestilent
congregation of vapors. What a piece of work is our engine! How noble its throttle valve; how intimate in boiler capacity in form and moving, how express and
admirable in action, how like an angel of beauty and power, how like a god!" Angelica is once more to congratulate you. Remember there is ever the Asylum in Utica.
Cuba Evening Review, Wed., Jan. 11, 1882
Angelica's New Railroad
The first train on the extension of the Allegany Central Railroad between Angelica and Friendship went over the line Monday afternoon. It reached Angelica about two o'clock in
the afternoon and was greeted with enthusiasm by the natives. Every window was full of wondering individuals.
Children and grandparents climbed up on stumps to get a better view of the wonderful machine, while a few of the braver class approached the smoking engine and gave it a
thorough examination. The old cannon was brought out and after being loaded to the muzzle was let loose, the noise carrying glad tidings to the natives of that hitherto isolated
hamlet.
The church bells were rung, dispatches sent to the leading towns of the State, and a day of general rejoicing was celebrated by all Angelicans. The train, which consisted of
two passenger cars and two freight cars, was loaded down long before it was ready to return
to Friendship, and hundreds were left behind, not being able to get aboard. The people of Angelic are now perfectly happy. We extend to the resurrected village our warm congratulations,
and my she "live long and prosper." Oil Echo, Richburg, January 25, 1882
Richburg Railway Directory ____________ Allegany Central Leave Richburg, West, 6:54 a.m., 10 a.m., 3:20 p.m., 6:10
p.m. East, 9:26 a.m., 10:20 a.m., 1:40 p.m.., 6:32 p.m. Bradford, Eldred and Cuba Leave Richburg, West, 10:27 a.m., 1:20 p.m., 4:45 p.m. East, 10 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 5
p.m.
Cuba Evening Review, Jan. 27, 1882
The Allegany Central railroad company has established a telegraph office at Angelica. A more public building is needed for the telegraph and ticket offices at the above station, they being
now located in an old farm house.Oil Echo, Richburg, N.Y., Feb. 22, 1882
The noon train on the Allegany Central R.R. has to run a freight car in addition to the ordinary baggage
car to convey the large amount of express matter and overplus of passengers' trunks that daily are shipped to Richburg. it is n.g. for Bolivar to constantly to
assert that the largest amount of freight and express goods are shipped there, for such is not the case, certainly so far as Olean trade is concerned. The fact is
that out of the aggregate of passengers on the little road at least three take tickets for Richburg for ever one traveling to Bolivar, "Patsy" or "General" Bolivar
notwithstanding.
Oil Echo, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 1882
The arrival and departure of trains from the new Allegany Central platform caused
a little confusion among those accustomed to the first arrangements when the B., E. & C. platform did serve for all the trains.
Oil Echo, Richburg, Feb. 28, 1882
Locomotive sparks set fire to a large quantity of oil on the flats below the village yesterday and, although there was no valuable
property endangered, the appearance of the dense smoke created some alarm among those in the village.
Oil
Echo, March 4, 1882 The arrival and departure of trains from the new A.C. R.R. platform
caused a little confusion among those accustomed to the first arrangement. when the B., E. & C. platform did service for all the trains. Oil Echo, Richburg, Tues.,
March 14, 1882 If there is one branch of the newspaper industry that requires more energy and pluck than another, it is that which is conducted by the news agent on
the railroads. There is one person in this section of oil country who, through close attention to duty, has achieved a great success in the news selling business.
His name is L.J. Smith and he has the entire patronage of the Allegany Central trains running between Angelica and Olean. His morning sales of the Echo have often
reached as high as 100 copies. Courteous and accommodating to passengers, and withal a sharp eye to business, Mr. Smith is on the right road to prosperity.
Oil Echo, March 13, 1882
The Allegany Central railroad have their own conductors on the B., E. & C. trains
running the seven mile trip between Bolivar and Ceres. The road belongs to the Allegany Central and the use to which is put by the B., E. & C. R.R. is merely for
the accommodation of its patrons, all pecuniary benefits falling to the Allegany Central.
Cuba Evening Review, April 6, 1882
The Allegany Central Railroad authorities have made an arrangement to put on a through coach every Saturday from Richburg to Bradford
returning through from Bradford to Richburg on Monday morning. It is thought that the through coach will ere long become a daily institution.
Oil Echo, Friday, April 14, 1882
RAILROAD RACKET
The Allegany Central company have now the exclusive use of their track between Bolivar and Ceres, and
aside from this they now have a road of their own from the latter place to Eldred junction.
Heretofore they have used the B., E. & C. trains over their own new track between Ceres and Bolivar.
The B., E. & C. railroad company are working on both ends of the Cuba branch.
The Allegany Central railway will be running through to Swains, on the Erie road, in twenty five
days. Within two months this road will be in shape to send passengers through to New York and Albany via Rochester and the New York Central Railroad.
Oil Echo, Richburg, April 14, 1882
RAILROAD RACKET. ____
The Allegany Central company have now the exclusive use of their track between Bolivar and Ceres, and aside from this they have a road of
their own from the latter place to Eldred junction. Heretofore they have used the B., E. & C. track. The latter company are running trains over their own new track
between Ceres and Bolivar. The B., E. & C. railroad company are working on both ends of the Cuba branch. The Allegany Central railway will be running through to
Swains, on the Erie road, in 25 days. Within two months this road will be in shape to send passengers through to New York and Albany via Rochester and the New York
Central railroad.
Oil Echo, Richburg, Sat., April 15, 1882
A Spotter Foiled. By the recent change in the track of the Allegany Central road near Ceres, that railway does not enter Pennsylvania but
keep on the New York side of the line as a well behaved producers' railroad ought. By this means, Roberts' man Wheeler is deprived of a means of pursuing his honest
(?) calling, to wit: that of a spotter. on Wednesday morning last this "honest" man, anxious to earn 30 pieces of silver, boarded the train at Olean, intent upon
the practice of his "honest" profession. As the train approached Ceres, the Gretna Green of his hopes, and he saw that it did not cross the line, but kept sailing
right along in the Empire state, he didn't serve any papers on that trip. The Olean producer can now make the trip between his home and this field without being
pestered with the presence of the spotter.
Oil Echo, Richburg, April 24, 1882
The A.C. R.R. are, it is understood, about to arrange with the Olean, Bradford & Warren R.R. to run through trains to Bradford and back at
lower rates and in much quicker time than at present. A new turntable is being constructed on the A.C.R.R. track a little south of the depot.
Cuba Evening Review, April 24, 1882
Still They Come.
_____
Another Railroad to Cuba
It is reliably reported that the Allegany Central railroad is surveying a branch line from Westons to this place. The work was commenced this morning. Men are
already busy securing the right of way, and the work is to be rapidly pushed. Graders will be set to work as soon as the surveying corps has finished its work. The
road is to connect with the Genesee Valley Canal railroad at this place.
As Cuba will be the terminus of this branch, it will be a great benefit to our town. This new enterprise makes No. 6 in the railroad column for Cuba.
Oil Echo, Richburg, Thursday, May 18, 1882
Railroad Notes Ten o'clock in the morning is the busiest hour at the depots. Then and shortly afterwards trains arrive and depart on
the Allegany Central and Bradford, Eldred & Cuba railroads, always heavily laden with passengers who are rushing away to some point on the respective roads, or
arriving by the incoming trains for a short time enliven the railroad platforms, soon to be scattered through the town or adjacent territory. Ten o'clock at the
depot today and the same time of the day even so short a time as three months ago, presents one of the most striking examples of the rapidity with which the
Allegany field has been developed, populated and progressed. The new timetables of the B., E. & C. R.R., and the A.C. R.R., which go into effect this morning will
be found to be a great improvement on the old schedule. Richburgers will hereafter be place in closer communication with the outside world. The switch engine plying
between Richburg and Bolivar ran off from the track below the pump station on Tuesday afternoon and interrupted the progress of trains for the balance of the day,
the tender being thrown crosswise on the track and the locomotive half off. The Bradford short line was opened yesterday, an excursion party made up of railroad
officials and newspapermen passing over the road from Titusville to Bradford and return. The condition of the road was pronounced excellent and the excursionists
expressed themselves highly pleased with the trip. Regular trains will commence running over the road today.
Cuba Patriot, Friday, June 11, 1882
Track-laying on the Allegany Central road was completed on Friday. The track-layers on this road and those laying the
third rail on the Rochester, Nunda & Pennsylvania road from Rochester, met near Swains, in this county, thus completing a narrow gauge line from Bradford to
Rocheser, via Olean. When the third rail is laid from Eldred to White House, on the B.N.Y. & P., the line will be much shorter and more direct.
Nunda News, Dec. 29, 1882
Improvement on the Allegany Central
Arrangements will be completed in a few
days by which standard gauge freight car bodies will be used on the Allegany Central railroad between Swains and Friendship. By this arrangement the labor and disadvantages of transferring is avoided and freight shipments are made quicker and cheaper.
The Erie would not consent, however, to
the use of their car bodies from Friendship to Olean on the Allegany Central, as that part of the road is in direct competition with itself.
A better feeling prevails between both roads
than formerly, much to their own advantage as well as the benefit of the public. The change is made by changing tracks at Swains. -
(Elmira Advertiser)
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Central New York & Western Railroad,
Railroad News Items from the "Bolivar Breeze"
UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED
Contributed by Richard Palmer Nov. 19, 1892
RAILROAD RUMORS
____
Bolivar May Yet Be on the Line of a Standard Gauge Road.
____
Prospects are very bright just now for a standard gauge railroad through Bolivar, to
be known as the Central New York & Western. The promoters of the enterprise are the company of New York capitalists who recently purchased the Lackawanna & Southwestern and the
Rochester, Hornellsville and Lackawanna roads. The propose to widen the gauge of the Lackawanna & Southwestern from Olean to
Angelica, connect there with the standard gauge and with the D.L. & W. and Wayland. The course of the road bed will be changed slightly in a few places along the line to avoid
unnecessary curves and grades. Should this scheme go through, Bolivar will have excellent freight and passenger
service both east and west A canvass is now being made of the towns along the line of the road to see about how much traffic there is to be secured. Representatives of the new company
were at the Newton House on Monday evening and met with the majority of Bolivar's business men who signed an agreement to give the new road their business if it proves to be a "go."
With a standard gauge railroad and equitable freight rates, Bolivar might blossom
out into a manufacturing center of considerable importance. With free sites, natural gas and the close proximity of large bodies of timber land just across the state line, Bolivar
might be in shape to induce a number of manufacturing establishments to locate here. We can talk of this matter more earnestly however after the road is converted from paper to
reality. Friday, Jan. 6, 1893 Engine 4, of the C.N.Y. & W. snapped a drive wheel tire in the
yards here yesterday noon, and as No. 5 was in the shops no trains
moved over that line yesterday afternoon. Trains are running on
schedule time today. Friday, Jan. 13, 1893
A party of surveyors were in town, Tuesday. They were working
on the line of the C.N.Y. & W. R.R. Friday, March 3, 1893
The C.N.Y. & W. Railroad.
It is thought probable that the shops of the Central New York &
Western railroad will be located at Angelica and that all the machine
work and repairs will be done there. The old shop at that place where
the work was formerly done will be reopened. The matter of locating
the shops has not been fully decided and may possible be located in
this city. - Hornellsville Press. Friday, March 17, 1893
High water in the Allegany near Portville compelled the C.N.Y.
& W. trains to abandon a through run on Monday and tuesday, and a
connection was made with the Western New York & Pennsylvania trains
at White House. Friday, March 24, 1893
It was rumored yesterday that the C.N.Y. & W. would purchase
the defunct B.E. & C., and operate the spur between Bolivar and
Wellsville. The rumor lacks confirmation. Friday, March 31, 1893
A special train will be run over the C.N.Y. & W.., on Sunday to
accommodate those wishing to attend Easter services in Olean. The
train will leave Bolivar at 9 a.m., and the round trip will be 50
cents. Returning, train will leave Olean at 1 p.m.
General Superintendent Blair of the C.N.Y. & W. was in town
Saturday. In conversation with a reporter he stated that the company
now owns nine standard gauge engines, and that a few days ago he
purchased a string of new boxcars and three new standard gauge
passenger coaches. Over 100,000 new ties have been contracted for
and all indications point to a broad gauge railroad. Supt. Blair
stated that the new rolling stock was purchased for cash and that
everything pointed to the fact that the present owners of the C.N.Y.
& W. mean business. the gauge cannot be widened too soon to suit the
shippers and the rest of the folks along the line.
Friday, April 14, 1893
The east bound passenger train on the C.N.Y. & W. was derailed
at Main Settlement Saturday evening. A boxcar jumped the track,
spreading the rails and allowing the baggage car and coach to leave
the track. The engine and one boxcar remained on the rails. None of
the 20 passengers were injured. They were transferred to the
remaining boxcar and the train resumed its journey to Bolivar. The
derailed cars were placed on the track late Saturday night and Monday
morning trains were moving as usual. It was a lucky accident.C.N.Y. & W. engine 5 came out of the shop yesterday looking as
bright and trim as a Columbian souvenir coin. For three weeks
Engineer Saeger and his assistants have been busy making repairs, and
the result of their work is plainly apparent. No. 5 hauled a freight
train extra over the road yesterday and helped clear the blockade in
the Ceres yards caused by the recent flood in the Allegany near
Portville.
The Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh will put up a handsome
station at Bradford in place of the one recently destroyed by fire. A
passenger coach is now used as a ticket office and waiting room. April 28, 1893
Chief Engineer Parsons of New York passed over the CNY&W last
Friday on a tour of inspection. When his report is submitted the
question of widening the gauge will be decided upon, the mystery
will soon be solved.
Friday, May 5, 1893
Burglars visited Ceres Thursday night. The C.N.Y.& W. depot was
entered through a window and the American Express office and the freight house were ransacked for plunder. Several express packages
and perhaps a dollar in pennies were secured in the express office.
The money drawer was torn from its place and left on the floor.
Several large sample trunks belonging to C.M. Cummings, a Rochester
dry-goods salesman, were in the freight house. These were pried open
with a bar and their contents scattered about the depot.
One trunk was carried several hundred feet down the track and
left in a lumber yard. Cummings lost over $50 worth of underwear and
furnishing goods. The thieves then stole C.H. Gleason's speeder and
started toward Olean. Mr. Gleason found his speeder at White House on
Friday morning. One wheel was broken. The thieves secured in all
perhaps $100 worth of plunder. Two suspicious characters lounged
about town on Thursday. They disappeared on Thursday night and are
supposed to be the thieves.
Friday, May 12, 1893
You would have a hard time of it if you tried to convince
Station Agent Dunn of the C.N.Y. & W. that 13 is not an unlucky
number. He remarked yesterday that No. 13 was the unluckiest car that
ever ran over the road. "If a consignment of freight is stolen,
delayed, or lost or cannot be accounted for, it is always sure to be
billed in car 13, and I have known," he went on to say, "of instances
where the freight was by mistake not shipped at all, but strange to
say the waybills located it in car 13.
"Do I believe that 13 is an unlucky number? Well I should say I
did at least as far as car 13 is concerned, but of course you know I
am not superstitious," and with a knowing wink he turned to the
ticket window and informed an inquisitive old lady that the 7:05
train would leave at five minutes past seven. Friday, May 19, 1893
Supt. Blair of the C.N.Y. & W., informed a reporter on Wednesday
that two reliable contractors would go over the road in a few
days, preparatory to making a bid for doing all the grading for the
standard gauge line. Four more new passenger coaches have been
ordered and just now it looks as though the line would be widened
this season. May 19, 1893
The regular monthly payroll on the narrow gauge division of the
CNY&W amounts to $1,500.
Friday, June 16, 1893
Beginning next Sunday, the C.N.Y.& W. will run a Sunday train
between Bolivar and and Olean. Train will leave Bolivar at 9 a.m. and
arrive in Olean at 10:20, stopping at all stations along the line.
Returning, the train will leave Olean at 2 p.m. and arrive in Bolivar
at 3 p.m. The round trip from Bolivar will cost 75 cents.
July 14, 1893 B.F. Palmer, the CNY&W express messenger, is something of a sprinter himself. At Bolivar
on the 4th he won the 100 yard dash in 12 seconds.
Friday, July 14, 1893
NO BROAD GAUGE THIS YEAR
_____
So Says General Supt. Mitchell S. Blair
____
Perhaps the C.N.Y. & W. Will be Standard Gauged
Next Year, But Not This Year.
____
It is given out on good authority that the C.N.Y. & W. will
not be standard gauged this year. The road will continue to operate
as it has been since Supt. M. S. Blair took charge of it.
Arrangements were completed, so we are told, to begin the work of
widening the gauge and pushing the line through from Olean to
Angelica when the money panic came on.
Capital at once became shy and the officials of the road
decided to delay the contemplated improvements until next spring at
least. The mill men and other heavy shippers along the line will
regret that this step was necessary, but the fact is the railroad
people could not do otherwise. Wind may jolly a sailing vessel along
but it won't build and equip railroads in these panicky times.
Friday, July 14, 1893
The running time of the Sunday train on the C.N.Y. & W. will
next Sunday, July 16. The train will leave Bolivar at 9 a.m.
arriving at Olean at 10:20 and connecting with the W.N.Y. & P. train
for Rock City and Bradford. Returning, the train will leave Olean at
7 p.m. arriving in Bolivar at 8:20. Those who desire can spend the
day either at Millgrove, Olean, Rock City, or Bradford. Returning,
the train will leave Olean at 7 p.m. arriving in Bolivar at 8:20.
Those who desire can spend the day either at Millgrove, Olean, Rock
City or Bradford. Under the new schedule, the Sunday train ought to
become popular. Friday, Aug. 25, 1893
General passenger and freight agent, C.H. Hammond of the C.N.Y.
& W. has been compelled by continued ill health to cease work and go
to southern mineral springs to rest and recuperate. This move has
caused quite a change in the station agents on the line.B.D. Dunn, of Bolivar, has been called to Hornellsville to fill
Mr. Hammond's position. Agent Lathrop of Angelica, has charge of the
Bolivar office and C.H. Gleason, of Ceres, formerly agent for the
B.E. & C. has charge of the Angelica office. The change is but
temporry. Mr. Hammond is troubled with nervous prostration and has
been ill for two or three months. He is popular as he is competent,
and his legion of friends all along the line hope for his speedy
recovery.
Friday, Sept. 8, 1893
It would be hard to find a more accommodating corps of railroad
men than the employees of the C.N.Y. & W. narrow gauge. From
Conductor McLaughlin to Brakeman Laffin, they are courteous and
considerate. and that is the principal reason why the road is so well
patronized. Friday, Oct. 13, 1893
Next week the C.N.Y. & W. narrow gauge will sport a gaudy
passenger train. Two coaches and a baggage car have been completely
overhauled. New floors have been pt in and the cars have been painted
and lettered in an artistic manner. The interior of the baggage car
has been remodeled, and it is as handy now as a pocket in shirt.
The work work has been done by Engineer Seager, Casper Weiler
and D.J. Stull, and reflects much credit.
Friday, Oct. 20, 1893
The depots along the line of the C.N.Y. & W. are now being
repaired by the carpenter gang. The target house at White House has
been newly roofed and sided.
Friday, Oct. 27, 1893
The work of ripping up the C.N.Y. & W. narrow gauge between
Bolivar and Nile will begin this morning. A gang of about 20 men will
be employed, the majority of whom are already here. An engine and a
train of flat cars will aid in the work, and the old iron will be
shipped from Olean. It will take two weeks or more to complete the job.
Friday, Nov. 10, 1893
The morning train on the C.N.Y. & W. came into the city Monday
morning with a string of elegant new passenger coaches. This road is
one of Olean's best feeders, and under the efficient management of
Supt. M.S. Blair, it is doing a large and paying business. - Olean
Times. Friday, Dec. 8, 1893
Train service on the Kane & Elk narrow gauge railroad, running
from Eldred to Bradford was abandoned Tuesday, and the chances are
that the iron will be ripped up This move leaves Duke Centre and
Rixford without a railroad. The K. & E. did not pay.
The Olean, Oswayo & Eastern Railroad is completed from Genesee
to Ellisburg. The rolling stock has not arrive, but the W.C. & P.C.
trains make trips over the new line for the accommodation of
passengers and the transportation of freight daily.
The completion of this road during the recent stringency in the
money market is a triumph in financiering that reflects credit upon
Mr. J.B. Rumsey, the originator of the enterprise and the man who has
carried it forward to success.
We understand that the people along the line and particularly
in the vicinity of Ellisburg, have been very enterprising and
generous toward this great public enterprise. Many, we may say nearly
all the property owners gave the right of way through their premises
besides donating liberally in money. - Wellsville Democrat.
Friday, Dec. 15,1893
There is more travel on the C.N. Y & W. between Bolivar and
Olean than many people suppose. Conductor "Jack" McLaughlin's cash
fares average about $400 a month, and the receipts of the ticket
offices and the sales of mileage books must amount to as much more.It is doubtful if there is a more accommodating or gentlemanly
set of employees in the employ of any road in the country than the
C.N.Y. & W. can boast of. From General Supt. Blair to Brakeman Laffin
they are courteous and accommodating. it is simply another
illustration of the value of civility in business.
Jan. 19, 1894
The CNY&W purchased 50 new broad gauge box cars this week. Supt. Blair says that all
indications point to a standard gauge through Bolivar in the spring.
Jan. 26, 1894
The speeder livery business along the line of the CNY&W is at an end. Notices have
been posted for a year or more warning speeder owners not to trespass on the company's premises, but no attention was paid to them. Speeders were kept for hire and netted the owners
quite a nice thing, and also interfered with legitimate passenger traffic.
On Thursday morning C. H. Gleason hired his speeder to a couple of Ceres residents
who wished to visit Olean. The speeder met the east bound train with Supt. Blair on board near Main Settlement, and the train hands were ordered to place the speeder in the express car
and it was taken to Bolivar and placed in the car shops for safe keeping. Mr. Gleason is naturally quite angry but as he was personally notified to keep his speeder off the railroad
premises, the outcome ought not to surprise him. - Ceres Mail
Feb. 2, 1894
The CNY&W track was blockaded with snow drifts on Tuesday and the trains moved with
much difficulty, but managed to run pretty close to scheduled time.
March 23, 1894
The interior of the CNY&W passenger coaches are now as attractive as could be
wished. The cars have been ceiled with Georgia pine finished in hard oil, and all the wood and iron work, including the floors have been brightened up either by paint or varnish.
Nothing appears to be too good for the CNY&W patrons. The work was done by Engineer Seager, D.J. Stull and R.A. Barber.
John W. Scott, for eight years past, a trusted section foreman for the CNY&W narrow
gauge, will resign his position on April 1st and go to Deposit, N.Y., where he has purchased a fine farm with his savings, and will settle down for good.
At one time Mr. Scott's section extended from Richburg to Olean but later was
divided and for a few years past he has had charge of the line between Bolivar and Main Settlement. For a year past, Mrs. Scott had been in charge of the station at Little Genesee.
When "Jack" and his estimable wife bid good bye to their home at Little Genesee, they will carry with them the best wishes of the railroad boys and a large number of friends beside.
April 20, 1894
Mr. C.H. Hammond, of Hornellsville, general freight and passenger agent of the CNY&W
and Mr. H.C. Barlow, of Bradford, division freight agent of the Erie R.R. were in town this morning, enroute for a visit to Shingle House and other points along the Oswayo valley. A
large portion of the freight shipped over the CNY&W comes from the Oswayo valley and the outcome of this visit of the two freight agents will be a more equitable joint freight tariff.
Heretofore the Erie officials have not realized that it would be to their advantage
to make a joint rate with the CNY&W but when they see the amount of through freight handled by the latter road they take a different view of the matter.
April 27, 1894
The CNY&W telegraph line is being repaired between Bolivar and Angelica. The repair
gang is composed of Midge Williams, Jack and Dan McGorgian and Henry Young. The latter is "boss."
May 11, 1894
The great coal strike is causing many manufacturing concerns to shut down. there is
no soft coal to be had now and not a pick is swinging in the mining regions. The railroads are nearly all in bad shape and many of the engines are being fitted with hard coal burner.
The CNY&W narrow gauge has a three month's supply of coal on hand but the standard
gauge division has only few carloads left. Thirty-five carloads for the standard gauge were confiscated by one of the big roads while on the way from the mines a few days ago.
May 25, 1894
(Lengthy article on damage caused by flooding on May 20, 1894). It mentions the
CNY&W depot at Portville was moved from its location nearly across the track, and into the old canal bed. The damage to the CNY&W track was heavy. In many places the rails and ties
were swerved from the roadbed and the damage to the trestles could not be ascertained until the water receded. The CNY&W train was to connect with the Western N.Y. & Pennsylvania
train at White House until through trains could be restored.
The CNY&W's long bridge at Olean was saved, though considerably damaged, after a hard
fight. Bad washouts occurred at Delevan and above Eldred.
May 25, 1894
Supt. Blair of the CNY&W has placed a switch and sidetrack at the gravel bank just
above Bowler's, and in a day or two a construction train will begin to draw gravel to Portville to repair the washed out roadbed.
June 1, 1894
The work of repairing the flood wrecked section of the CNY&W goes steadily on.
Between Weston's and Gordon's, a half mile of the road bed is as smooth as a floor. Not a tie or rail is to be seen. The flood swept them into the river and they are now buried under
great piles of logs in the Weston boom. New standard gauge ties and standard gauge iron is used entirely in the repair work. Supt. Blair hopes to have trains running into Olean on June
12th.
June 22, 1894
The CNY&W passenger train pulled out of Olean last evening with 71 passengers
aboard.
The CNY&W passenger coaches and he Wellsville and Friendship stages are gaily
decorated with banners advertising Bolivar's big celebration.
A through train service was resumed on the CNY&W Monday morning. The damaged section
of the line between Portville and Olean is now in better shape than before the flood.
July 20, 1894
the work of repairing the washed out section of the CNY&W between White House and
Olean has been completed, and the construction train has ceased running. The road bed is now in much better shape than before the flood
Sept. 14, 1894
The steam cars now run out of Oswayo with a regularity that greatly pleases the
residents of that lively hill encircles town. The Olean, Oswayo & Eas†ern railroad which was recently completed from Genesee Forks to Oswayo, is a broad gauge* line and opens up new
territory. it gives Oswayo direct railroad connections with Wellsville and the road ought to pay. At present Oswayo is the terminus of the road. Whether it will be continued to
Coudersport or Ceres is what folks along the proposed routes are very anxious to learn. The chances are that no more track will be laid before spring.
A party of Col. John Byrnes and Frank S. Smith, of New York, Supt. M.S. Blair of
Hornellsville, F.M. Van Wormer of Ceres, Fred Tarbell, E.E. Alderman and Allen B. Williams of Olean, and a representative of this paper, passed over the CNY&W from Olean to
Bolivar
and return on a special train, Friday afternoon. Col. Byrnes is president of the road and Mr. Smith is one of the principal owners.
The outlook for a standard gauge line is quite bright just now though no move will
be made this fall. Stops were made at all stations and the ground was carefully looked over. President Byrnes frequently took occasion to compliment Supt. Blair on the masterly manner
in which he has handled the narrow gauge division. the roadbed and rolling stock are now in good condition and the line is more than paying expenses. The widening of the gauge would
be of great benefit to Olean and all the towns along the line.
*In this instance "broad gauge" means standard gauge, or 4 feet, 8 1/2 inches.
Oct. 12, 1894
A Substantial Present Worthy Bestowed.
From the Ceres Mail
Yesterday afternoon when the CNY&W passenger train pulled into the station, and
conductor "Jack" McLaughlin alighted on the platform he was met by Mr. F.M. Van Wormer who presented him with a very handsome heavy silver plated conductor's lantern, upon the globe
of which is etched the recipient's name.
Mr. McLaughlin is the most accommodating and best liked conductor who has ever
pulled the bell cord on this line since the road was built. He has numberless times done Mr. Van Wormer a good turn in placing cars properly in the yards and in doing extra
switching which he was not really required to do. Mr. VanWormer did not want the deal one sided, so in order to get even presented "Jack" with a very handsome and valuable
testimonial of his good will. From. Supt. Byrne to the track walkers, the officials and employees of the CNY&W are courteous and gentlemanly in their treatment of the patrons of
the road.
Oct. 19, 1894
Oswayo folks will celebrate the completion of the OO&E railroad to that place by a
jubilee and ox roast, which will take place on Friday and Saturday of this week. A good program of sports has been prepared and an interesting blowout is anticipated.
Nov. 16, 1894
Railroad Gossip.
C.H. Hammond, passenger and freight agent of the CNY&W R.R., was in town last week
seeking data for warranting rebuilding of that road throughout as a standard gauge railway. If it can be made self-sustaining it will be re-established and another factor in our
prosperity nailed. The gentlemen who are backing the enterprise are wealthy and mean business. - Friendship Register.
Nov. 30, 1894
More Railroad Gossip
_____
A Hornell Correspondent Tells What the C.N.Y. & W. Folks May Do.
HORNELLSVILLE, Nov. 28. - The project of extending the Central New York & Western
from Angelica, its present terminus, over the roadbed of the old Allegany Central to Olean, is again revived and it looks as if the proposed extension might this time be made. The
Allegany Central was built in 1882, during the oil excitement in Richburg and Bolivar, Allegany county, and was a narrow gauge.
The original road was built from Angelica to Friendship and then to Richburg, it
was extended four miles farther down the valley to Bolivar a little later in the year, and was finally extended to Ceres and Olean. It is safe to say that during the life of the
Allegany oil field no road in this section of the county paid better than did the old Allegany Central, for trains of a half dozen coaches were often run over the road with standing
room at a premium, and many times in the history of the road it was necessary to used flat cars for the purpose of carrying passengers.
With a standard gauge built from Angelica, the present terminal, to Olean, the
Lackawanna will gain an entrance into important and flourishing towns which it cannot now reach and which would, undoubtedly, be of great advantage to towns along the way which would
now have no railroad or which have but one railroad and therefore no competition. Should the extension be made the main offices of the company will probably remain in this city.
Dec. 21, 1894
There is every indication that the CNY&W will be broad gauged* next spring, between
Olean and Bolivar, if not the entire length of the narrow gauge system.
(*Meaning standard gauged).
Jan. 25, 1895
A new ice house has been erected in the C.N.Y.& W. yards in Bolivar. It holds 50 tons
and was filled last week brought from the Allegany river, below Portville. It is a standard gauge ice house.
Feb. 1, 1895
The Bolivar bound train on the C.N.Y.& W. due in Ceres at 6:55 p.m. did not reach here
until 2 a.m. Sunday morning. The down run in the afternoon was made on time. The track was drifted in several places but engine 5 went through the piles of snow lie a hot knife through
oleomargerine.
While in the yards at Olean two flues were blown out and No. 5 was disabled. A message
was sent to Bolivar for No. 4, and a start was promptly made. Near Main Settlement a big drift stalled the engine and it was after midnight before Olean was reached. No. 5 was repaired on
Sunday and returned to Bolivar. Monday morning the passenger train was pulled through by both engines and the run was made on time. - Ceres Mail.
Feb. 15, 1895
Portville Pointers.
A genuine Dakota blizzard struck Portville Thursday night and lasted until Sunday.
Trains on the W.N.Y. & P. were nearly all abandoned Saturday, the only ones to pass Portville were the Clermont short line, in the morning, over an hour late, from Olean, and the Express
from Buffalo due Friday evening at 6:26 which arrived late Saturday evening.
The C.N.Y. & W. train which passed Portville Friday p.m. one hour late, got stalled in a
snow drift this side of Gordon's and did not get out until Monday. The passengers engaged Trenkle's trolley to convey them to Olean. On the return trip the wind blew the
trolley over but
hurt no one. Road are in a fearful state. Much extra work will have to be done to clear them. It is by far the most severe storm ever known in Western New York.
Feb. 15, 1895
The worst blizzard that has visited this section in half a century was turned on last
Friday, and lasted until Saturday night. Outside it was bitter cold and a low gas pressure made life a burden to people who tried to keep warm indoors. The air was filled with flying
snow
and at times it was impossible to distinguish an object three rods away.
It was bitter cold and the wind howled and roared like a band of reckless Comanche
Indians gone mad. Stage lines and railroads trains were abandoned and travel came to a standstill. Business was practically suspended. The storm was not local in character, it extended
from sea to sea and harrowing stories of suffering and death came from all quarters. Even on the Atlantic, the storm was terrific in its force and it is feared that several ocean liners
now many days overdue, have foundered in mid-ocean.
S. A. Wertman had a new experience during the blizzard. He was enroute from Galeton to
Austin on a Buffalo & Susquehanna train. The train was stalled in the snow on top of the hog back mountain near Cherry Springs at 4 o'clock on Friday afternoon, and was unable to move
until six o'clock Saturday morning. The steam heating apparatus in the cars was shut off to save coal and the passengers huddled about the stone in the baggage car, where they had hard
work to keep warm. the fourteen hours fast was made u p for when Austin was reached.
March 1, 1895
Railroad News.
An Angelica special to the Buffalo Express says: The Central New York & Western Railroad
Company is making arrangements to open their shops in Angelic with a full force of men about March 1st, and work will soon be commenced to broad gauge the road between Angelica and
Olean, via Friendship and Bolivar.
C.N.Y. & W. engine 5 blew out a flue in the yards at Bolivar Monday morning and the down
train was two hours late in reaching Ceres. The master mechanic L.B. Heers, came over from Angelica yesterday and repaired the damage. Engine 4 has been disabled for several days.
March 8, 1895
Frank Decker of Angelica, was greeting old friends in Bolivar this week. Mr. Decker
formerly was a conductor on the C.N.Y. & W. narrow gauge, and now yanks the bell cord on the standard gauge division. The most exciting event in Mr. Decker's life took place on May 10,
1891, in the woods near Austin. He had charge of the ill-fated train which was surrounded by a forest fire that day and narrowly escaped death.
He was terribly burned and for 14 months was unable to do a stroke of work. It will be
remembered that Supt. W.H. Badger who was with Mr. Decker that day, was burned to death, after a gallant struggle for life. Though compelled tore main idle for more than a year, Mr.
Decker never received a nickel from the millionaire, F.H. Goodyear, in whose employ he was when he faced the sea of fire.
March 8, 1895
Conductor "Jack" Kelley of the O.O. & Eastern, is as popular a man as ever jerked a bell
cord or handled a punch. Kelly can hold his base with the best of 'em.
Will Judd, formerly fireman on the B.E.& C. railroad, now pulls the throttle on the O.O.&
E. flyer. Charley Frank, another old reliable B.E. & C. man, is head brakeman on the W.C.& P.C. road.
W.W. Atwood, formerly superintendent of the B. E.& C. railroad, is now general
superintendent of the Middlesex Valley Railroad, a 40 mile line that connects Naples and Geneva. Mr. Atwood lives in Naples.
Charles Young of Birdsall, has been appointed section fireman on the C.N.Y. & W. narrow
gage line to succeed Anthony Dougherty.
April 12, 1895
The Allegany river at Portville is on the rampage. Tuesday morning the water was six
inches over the track and still rising. The C.N.Y. & W. trains were unable to reach Portville and connection was made with the W.N.Y.& P. trains at White House. The water has begun to
fall and it is thought that through trains will be running again today. The damage to the track is slight.
April 19, 1895
Better Railroad Facilities
During the past two weeks the freight tonnage on the Central New York & Western railroad
has been greatly increased by the revival in the oil business. Oil at $2 or better means that several hundred wells will be drilled in the Allegany field this summer and that hundreds of
old rigs will be torn down and rebuilt.
The demand for oil supplies and lumber will be large and nearly all the supplies must
necessarily come in over the C.N.Y. & W. Added to this is the stimulus that trade in Bolivar, Richburg and Allentown will receive, means a heavy increase of freight receipts in all
branches of trade.
With a standard gauge road through Bolivar the freight and passenger traffic would be
even larger than we have outlined. The oil boom will, we trust, hurry along the widening of the gauge from Olean to Angelica. Bolivar needs better railroad facilities and ought to have
them right away.
April 26, 1895
M.S. Blair, the always-the-same Superintendent of the CNY&W was in Bolivar on official
business, Wednesday. Mr. Blair believes that business is improving all over the country, that the tide has turned at last, and that brighter days are not far away.
May 3, 1895
The CNY&W narrow gauge railroad has not cars enough to handle all the freight offered at
present. New switches have been put in at Slade's crossing and at the Tidewater pump station.
May 17, 1895
No one was surprised last Friday when Supt. M.S. Blair tendered a free special train to
the family of Robert Laffin and friends. Mr. Laffin has been a faithful employee of the road for several yeas and the policy of the CNY&W has always been one of courtesy and liberality
toward its employees. We doubt if thee is a railroad in the country where the relations between employees and officials are more cordial. If more men of Blair's stamp were placed at the
head of great enterprises, strikes and lockouts would be few and far between.
May 17, 1895
BROAD GAUGE ROAD.
____
The Central New York and Western to
Be Broad Gauged Right Away.
____
The Question Settled Wednesday.
___
The Work of Widening The Gauge Between Olean and Bolivar Will
Begin at Once. Welcome News.
____
The question of widening the gauge of the C.N.Y. & W. was settled Wednesday and the
verdict of the owners of the property is a favorable one.The road will be widened between Olean and Bolivar right away, and the road will in all probability be extended from Bolivar to Angelica before snow flies.
On Monday Supt. Blair purchased 10,000 standard gauge cedar tiesat Buffalo, to be delivered at White House at once. The abandonedstandard gauge line from Belfast Junction to Angelica is being rippedp and the iron will be used between Olean and Bolivar.
The C.N.Y. & W. already has plenty of standard gauge engines and cars and there will be no delay on that score. The news that the C.N.Y. & W.is to be standard gauged will be hailed with delight by very shipper along the line of the road. "Its a good thing; push it along."
May 24, 1895
The CNY&W narrow gauge is doing a big business these days. The volume of freight and
passenger traffic is extremely pleasing to the officials of the line.
May 31, 1895
Looks Like Business
___
C.N.Y. & W. Standard Gauge Ties Arriving at White House
The laugh is very likely to be on the pessimists this time. Two weeks ago this paper
announced one day in advance of any other newspaper, that the CNY&W was to be broad gauged from Olean to Bolivar. The news was authorized by officials of the road. A few pessimistic
individuals promptly declared that the road would never be broad gauged a rod. On Monday five carloads of new cedar ties arrived at Olean, and yesterday they were transferred and dumped
at White House. This certainly looks like business. - Ceres Mail
June 7, 1895
Ties are arriving all the time for the CNY&W railroad and are being put in as fast as
possible. The standard gauge rails from the Belfast division are being taken up and the prospects look very bright for a standard gauge road to Bolivar. - Olean Tramp.
July 5, 1895
A new ice water tank has been placed in the CNY&w station. Ice is received every morning
from the railroad company's big ice house in Bolivar, and cool water is always on tap.
There is nothing to indicate that the CNY&W will be broad gauged this season.
Oct. 4, 1895
The CNY&W carried 15,000 passengers to Riverhurst Park this season. The CNY&W crew are
building a new drawbridge across Dodge's Creek just above Portville.
Nov. 1, 1895
The CNY&W railroad have graded up and lengthened out their sharp curve at Baxter's mill,
and put in heavy iron all the way across the bridge. This is a much needed job well done and the boys can now slide around with "her in a Hornellsville notch" as John Aylesworth, the
veteran engineer, used to say. - Olean Tramp.
Dec. 20, 1895
The CNY&W depot at Rogersville was destroyed by fire a few days ago. There was an
insurance of $600 on the building and contents. It will be rebuilt.
Jan. 10, 1896
Hornellsville people believe that the C.N.Y. & W. will be running standard gauge trains to Olean within a year. The big trestles between Hornellsville and Angelica are to be filled in, and the
contracts have already been let. It will require 250,000 cubic yards of earth to fill the three trestles, at an expense of over $35,000.
Three
steel bridges have been contracted for. The grading for the extension of the road from the present terminal at Hornellsville to the heart of the city is completed and the rails will soon be
down. The workmen in the shops at Angelica are busy repairing and overhauling engines and cars.
Men as
bright as Major John Byrne and Frank S. Smith are not likely to be spending such large sums of money for permanent improvements on a line that they are about to abandon. It looks very much as
though they meant business.
Bolivar Breeze, Friday, January 10, 1896
Mitchell S. Blair Surprised
____
The Genial Railroad Superintendent Presented
With a Gold Headed Cane
by His Employees
A pleasant event transpired in the Central New York and Western station at Bolivar shortly after noon on Tuesday. It was the presentation to General Superintendent Mitchell S. Blair of a gold headed cane by the employees of the narrow gauge division.
The cane was a very fine one, handsomely chased, suitably engraved, and valued at $25. Since Mr. Blair was placed in charge of the C.N.Y. & W. the relation between officials and employees have been very friendly and the employees appreciating Mr. Blair's uniform courtesy
and fairness decided to forcibly remind him that they were pleased with his administration of the affairs of the road.
Mr. Blair was much surprised at the gift and heartily thanked the donors. Mr. Blair is one of the most popular of railroad men and i is little by plays like this that make life worth the living.
Jan. 31,
1896
When
the C.N.Y. & W. train stopped at Little Genesee the other day, there were quite a number of cripples at the station and a passenger asked Express Messenger Palmer if the place was Cripple
Creek.
Feb. 28, 1896
Interesting Railroad News
_____
The President of the C.N.Y. & W. Buys Stock in Two Short Lines. Looks Lie an Extension.
Tuesday's Bradford Era contained the following interesting bit of railroad news: for a long time Mr. A.G. McComb, the
well-known engineer and railroad builder, has been running lines through this county from the south to the New York State line and beyond. Many guesses have been made as to the real
object of the enterprise, but the inquiring ones have as yet been unable to gratify their curiosity.
The general opinion is that a connecting link between two great railroads is the chief motive. The whole matter will soon
become public property, however, as the work on the new railroads is soon to be commenced and will be rapidly prosecuted to the finish.
Gen. John Byrne, the noted Wall Street capitalist, has purchased from Mr. McComb 3,992 shares of the Smethport & Olean
railroad stock and 992 shares of the Emporium & Mt. Jewett railroad, a continuation of the road first named. The transaction involves the immense sum of $500,000.
Bolivar Breeze, Friday, July 31, 1896
A Pleasant Affair.
____
Superintendent M.S. Blair and Wife of C.N.Y. & W.,
Handsomely Remembered
(From the Hornellsville Evening Tribune)
Superintendent Mitchell S. Blair and his worthy wife will long remember the 26th day of January 1896.
Mr. Blair as receiver and later as Superintendent of the C.N.Y. & W. R.R., has long been in active charge of the road, and has also been remarkably successful in his management, which is due as much to hard work and a watchful regard for details as to the natural
shrewdness of the Superintendents.
He has also been very thoughtful of the comfort and well being of the employees. Yesterday morning a special train brought a large number of them to this city and they met Mr. and Mrs. Blair in the waiting room of the passenger station.
Word was sent to Mr. Blair to come over and look at a disabled engine, and Mrs. Blair was also taken over to meet a friend, and on arriving there found the room full of employees and of residents of Angelica, their former home and some residents of this city.
Ex-Congressman D.P. Richardson was among them. After greetings Mr. Richardson stepped forward and in a well worded address presented Mr. Blair with a costly gold watch suitably engraved, the inscription upon which said it was "Presented by the employees of the S. G. (Standard gauge)
division of the C.N.Y. & W. R.R., January 1896." It also contained a monogram of his initials "M.S. B." very daintily executed.
Mr. Blair was completely surprised and overcome by this unlooked for event, but after awhile managed o express his gratitude and appreciation very nicely. He spoke of the condition of the road, as it came into his hands, which, he said, outsiders referred to it as
"consisting of the right of way and two streaks of rust.," but by hard work, it had been brought to a respectable condition with very flattering prospects for the future. This was due, he said, not only to good management but to the cordial and intelligent cooperation of the
employees in every department, all of whom had striven hard and had performed their duties perfectly, and he spoke in the highest terms of all his associates and assistants.
Mrs. Blair was then in turn presented with a beautiful gold ring set with diamonds and rubies as a token of appreciation of many courtesies received by the employees.
The occasion was one that will long be remembered by all concerned, and was an event that reflected the highest credit upon all participants, upon Mr. and Mrs. Blair, because they have by their uniform courtesy and kindness won the good will of all whom they came in
contact and upon the employees who desired to show their appreciation in a substantial manner.
Aug. 28,
1896
The
C.N.Y. & W. employees received their monthly checks last Friday. The total monthly pay roll of the narrow gauge division is very close to$1,700, and $800 of it is paid to employees who
reside in Bolivar.
Sept. 4, 1896
The C.N.Y. & W. employees have presented Mr. and Mrs. B.S. Dunn with a very handsome curly birch chamber suit as a token of
their esteem and goodwill.
Sept. 26, 1896
The C.N.Y. & W. carried over 500 passengers to Olean Thursday, to see the Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Bolivar Breeze, April 2, 1897
The Central New York and Western opened an office at Little
Genesee yesterday. Joe Leonard is ticket and freight agent. The move
will no doubt be approved by the people of Little Genesee.
Wed., Nov.
10, 1898
C.N.Y. & W. Train Derailed.
____
Passenger
Train Ran Into an Open Switch at
Gordon's
Mills. Passengers Were Shaken Up.
____
The
C.N.Y. & W. passenger train from Olean for Bolivar ran into an open switch just this side of the station at Gordon's Mills, Monday evening. The carpenter crew had run their hand car on the
switch and forgotten to throw the switch back.
The engine, baggage car and the forward
trucks of the passenger coach were derailed. There were about 20 passengers aboard and one of them, J.H. Chapman, a Chicago drummer was well shaken up but was all right the next day.
The train was running slow and the
accident happened on a straight piece of track. On the left side of the track the embankment is about four feet high but the engine did not topple over. After five hours of work, the train
crew, with the assistance of an engine from Bolivar, had the derailed engine and cars back on the track and speeding toward Bolivar.
There was no damage done to the rolling
stock and a few dozen new ties made the roadbed as good as ever. The train reached Bolivar at 2 o'clock, Tuesday morning.
Bolivar Breeze, March 9, 1899
Important Railroad Deal
____
C.N.Y. & W. Railroad Assumes Control
Of a Pennsylvania Line Direct to
The Coal Fields.
___
From the Buffalo Commercial.
Major John Byrne, president of the Central New York & Western, has been installed as president of the Buffalo, St. Mary's & Southwestern, and will assume personal charge of both interests. This means that the two companies will be allied by the Central New York practically absorbing the St. Mary's road.
The Central New York at present needs a feeder and in the St. Mary's it has found a very valuable one. The St. Mary's road taps the rich Shawmut bituminous field in
Northern Pennsylvania. It consists of 10,000 acres an is one of the best mining properties in Pennsylvania.
The St. Mary's road is about 50 miles in length running from Shawmut to Clermont, where it connects with the Western New York & Pennsylvania. Thus the Central New York & Western obtaining trackage rights over the W.N.Y. & P. from Clermont to Eldred and Olean can form direct communications with its own line in Olean.
The C.N.Y. & W. has placed an order with a Michigan firm for 500 new standard gauge cars.
Bolivar Breeze, March 16, 1899
The first shipment of standard gauge ties for use along the C.N.Y. & W. R.R. between Angelica and Swains has arrived, and workmen are busily unloading them. Thirty thousand in all have been bought.
Bolivar Breeze, April 20, 1899
MORE RAILROAD NEWS
_____
Another Extension to the C.N.Y. & W.
This One to Connect With
the West Shore
_____
Hornellsville, April 17. - There has been filed in the county clerk's office at Bath the articles of incorporation of the Central New York & Northern Railroad Company,
a corporation which is formed for the purpose of building a railroad to connect the Central New York & Western railroad, from a point near Perkinsville, with the West Shore at Macedon, Wayne County.
The principal stockholders are New York capitalists, but among the list are mentioned Hon. W.W. Clark, Martin Kimmell, and Mr. Pratt of Wayland and Harry Granger, now of New York, formerly of this city.
The building of this road would realize the dream of George D. Chapman of Lackawanna & Pittsburg fame. His idea was to build such a road to connect the coal fields of western Pennsylvania with the iron ore beds
of the Lake Champlain country. The Lackawanna & North Eastern was organized to build such a road and acquired the right o cross the Lackawanna and erie roads at Wayland.
This new road will probably secure the right and continue down the Mud Creek valley from Hemlock Lake to the West Shore railroad, making aline of great importance.
Bolivar Breeze, June 1, 1899
Supt. Blair thinks that if the gauge of the C.N.Y. & W. was widened between Bolivar and Friendship that the business of the road would increase three fold, and if the line ran on to Angelica that it would increase four fold.
Mr. Blair wants a railroad connection at each end of the line and the rails spread out so that the heavy expense of transferring will be done away with. Standard gauge cars could run into Bolivar. Every pound of freight that is shipped out or in has to be transferred at
Olean.
Bolivar Breeze, June 29, 1899
The Central New & Western narrow gauge division is doing an immense freight business these days. Shippers have much difficulty in getting cars.
-------------------------- From: Vol. 1, New York State Railroad Commissioners Report, 1893. INSPECTION REPORT
--Back to List, Top of Page--
|
Lackawanna and Pittsburg Railroad, 
Photo Submitted by Richard Palmer Lackawannna & Pittsburg "Cannonball." Left to right, Ed Osgood,
later in furniture business in Caneada; William Owens, Engineer,
later went to Lehigh Valley and New York Air Brake; James King, later
in the shoe business in Rochester; Gus - Pullman porter; Daniel
Cunningham; Patrick Maloney, fireman in cab; brakeman unidentified.
Rushford Spectator, Thurs., Dec. 20, 1883
The citizens of Angelica ran an excursion to "Stony Brook Glen," over the L.& P.
R.R., Tuesday. The famous gorge is in the town of Dansville, Steuben Co. The great iron bridge just completed over Stony Brook Glen is 700 feet in length, 238 feet in height from the
bottom of the gorge (6 feet higher than the famous Portage Bridge) and is a triumph of mechanical skill.
The Board of Supervisors and representatives of the county press were favored with
invitations, and those who took part had a most enjoyable trip. On the return trip the train was stopped outside of Angelica village and the rich editors and wealthy Supervisors were given
a chance to "go through" the new county buildings, &c. Supt. Barnum favored the hungry millionaires with a most palatable repast, and the handsome management of the L. & P. R.R.
From: Annual Report of the New York State Railroad Commissioners, Vol. 1, 1883
Inspection of the Lackawanna and Pittsburgh Railroad
(P. 344) The original organizations embraced in that of the Lackawanna and Pittsburgh Company are the Olean Railroad Company, Olen to Bolivar, 18 mils, the Friendship Railroad
Company, Bolivar (P. 345) to Friendship, 11.30 miles, and the Allegany Central Railroad Company, from Friendship to Swains, 28.60 miles, all single track, three foot gauge roads.
The Lackawanna and Pittsburgh Company was organized to construct a standard gauge line from a point one mile south of Belfast on the Genesee Valley Canal railroad to Angelica, six
and one-half miles. The widening of the Allegany Central between Angelica and Swains, and the construction of a road from Swains to Perkinsville, a distance of 17 miles, forming at the latter place a junction with the New York, Lackawanna and Western road, all of which is now
accomplished and the road will soon be in operation. This connection is 56 3-4 miles in length.
The narrow gauge division, from Olean to Angelica is about 40 miles. The Lackawanna and Pittsburgh also operate the Rochester, New York and Pennsylvania railroad, which extends
from Swains to Nunda Junction on the Genesee Valley Canal road, a distance of 14 miles making a total of standard gauge lines 56 3-4 miles, and of a narrow gauge 40 miles, all merged into the Lackawanna and Pittsburgh Company.
The narrow gauge division has been in operation about two years, and is generally well built. Right of way thirty-three to fifty feet wide, and fenced entirely with barbed wire
four strands, and roadway very neat and well ditched, and ballasted with clean gravel. Ties mostly hemlock, and distributed at the rate of three thousand per mile; rail all iron, 35 lbs. per yard except on the 125 feet grade south of Notch Summit, thee is three miles of 40 lb. steel.
All the narrow gauge equipment is new, in good order, and supplied with the latest approved appliances. The surface and lines of this narrow gauge are commendable for their
excellent condition. The bridges are generally sufficient in construction for a standard gauge road, and all openings provided with the best flooring.
Trestles on curved line are provided with inside guard-rails of iron, an rails. Every precaution appears to have been taken to protect against accident from derailment. The
maximum curvature is fourteen degrees. Stub switches in general use. The highway cross signs were none of them in place, but have subsequently been erected. There is one low overhead bridge that should have warnings provided.
The standard gauge division not being fully completed, no particular examination was necessary, nor could it well be made. The rail is steel, well tied, and, so far as completed,
thoroughly ballasted. The road between Swains and Nunda has recently been entirely rebuilt. The station buildings are of reasonable size, mostly new, conveniently furnished, and comfortable for public use. They were also found quite neat, and clean floors, windows and walls were
noticeable.
Cuba Patriot, Jan. 10, 1884
ANGELICA - This being court week the the trains that arrive here are pretty well loaded with passengers. Trains are running between here and the junction of the L.& P. with the Genesee
Valley road near Belfast, so that nearly all parts of the county are well accommodated with direct rail communication with this place.
A few minutes after 12 o'clock yesterday, four trains came in nearly together, the time being less than ten minutes between the arrival of the first and the last of the four. Last Saturday
afternoon, there were at one time six trains standing on the main and side tracks.
Cuba Patriot, Thurs., Jan. 10, 1884
ANGELICA - This being court week the the trains that arrive here are pretty well loaded with passengers. Trains are running between here and the junction of the L.& P. with the Genesee
Valley road near Belfast, so that nearly all parts of the county are well accommodated with direct rail communication with this place.
A few minutes after 12 o'clock yesterday, four trains came in nearly together, the time being less than ten minutes between the arrival of the first and the last of the four. Last Saturday
afternoon, there were at one time six trains standing on the main and side tracks.
On Monday morning last another connection was made with the outside world was opened to Belfast. The connection is the new Lackawanna & Pittsburg railroad, just completed to this village,
running from here to Perkinsville where it makes connection with the N.Y. E. & W. road, which is one of the best built and most important roads in the country.
At 11:30 o'clock Monday morning the first train from this village over the road started, returning gain in the evening at 7 o'clock. The time will remain the same for this week on account
of court, after which the running will be discontinued until the roadbed is ballasted and in perfect condition.
Thus another feather is fastened in Belfast's head gear, and increases her shipping accommodations immensely. Belfast should now work and secure the car and repair shops of this road, by
so doing our village would acquire a very important industry, and one that would have a tendency to promote the growth and welfare of the village, as well as being an inducement to
manufactories to locate among us. Cuba Patriot, Thurs., Jan. 24, 1884
The L. & P. Road.
_____
Belfast - It is expected, in fact the order has been given, that freight trains are to immediately be put upon the Lackawanna & Pittsburg road. Station agent Stedwell has been notified
that he will be expected to take charge of the business of the new road as well as to continue in his old position on the B., N.Y. & P.
A small depot about 20x30 feet, will be erected at the junction for a register station. The Valley depot will remain in its present position and is to be used as a union depot by both
roads.
To move the depot from where it is now stands would not please the citizens of Belfast muchly, and might be a detriment to the town. If Belfast had seen the point and made the necessary
move to have had the road go around north of the village and make a junction with the B. N.Y. & P. just below the depot, it would have been a great benefit..
Cuba Patriot, Thurs., April 24,1884
Lackawanna & Pittsburg
Arrangements are perfected by which this route as heretofore predicted to be part of a grand through trunk route from the west to the east, for both freight and passengers. The L. & P. are
to start trains from Oil City, which shall run over the tracks of the Pittsburg River and Rochester Division of the B.N.Y.& P. to Belfast and thence to Perkinsville. There close connection
will be made with the Lackawanna trains from the east.
Pullman cars will be attached to this train, running through without change from Oil City to New York. On Tuesday the cars to commence this service passed west through this place, but
regular running will not be commenced until the 1st of May or later.
Cuba Patriot, April 24, 1884 The Lackawanna & Pittsburg
_____ Another Through Line for Cuba
_____ The L.& P. are now running mixed trains from Belfast to
Perkinsville, connecting with the 12 and 2:30 trains on the Buffalo, New York & Philadelphia road, and with trains on the great Delaware, Lackawanna & Western at Perkinsville. This gives a
new route for all in this section to Angelica and with points on the Buffalo Division of the Erie and with eastern points on by the Lackawanna. The L.& P. is also part of the newly formed
Globe Fast Freight line which will give it a traffic and standing on through freight business from the start. Therefore although no new track is being built through Cuba, those
arrangements give all the benefits of a new second trunk line. Cuba Patriot, Thursday, May 22, 1884
A special train ran over the Buffalo,
N.Y. & Philadelphia road passed through Cuba Tuesday afternoon. It was a Lackawanna & Pittsburg excursion train from Buffalo to Stony Brook Glen and carried a number of railroad officials
interested in the new Globe Fast Freight Line which was hold a meeting in Buffalo and of which the L.& P. is a member.
Cuba Patriot, July 12, 1884
Belfast - The single passenger train on
the Lackawanna & Pittsburg has been taken off the road between this place and Angelica. It connected with nothing on the Buffalo, N.Y. & Philadelphia, and its arrival at the Junction was
seldom on time and therefore commanded but little patronage.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Nov. 26, 1884
The Lackawanna and Pittsburg railway recently purchased the Angelica Machine Works and Foundry and since then have put in a turntable near the works and are about to
erect a building 140 by 60 feet to be used through the winter for an engine house. In the spring the company will build a large roundhouse. Cuba Patriot, Thursday, Nov. 27, 1884
The Globe Line Fast Freight ____
The Globe fast freight line ceased running on Friday last, and whether it has been suddenly done for and cease to be, or whether it has chosen
other routes of travel is not positively known here. It has been running over the Lackawanna and Pittsburg, Buffalo, New York & Philadelphia and West Shore, the transfer being Genesee
Junction. The line has done a large amount of business and only a few days ago was supposed to be flourishing like a green bay tree. The Post Express a week ago stated incidentally that
there were differences existing between some of the roads and the freight line, and later that the differences had been adjusted. A contemporary stated that the report of trouble was
untrue. There was trouble, and there is no question that the present discontinuance arises from that trouble. A report given some credence is that the line will continue to run over the L.
& P. to Perkinsville and thence over the D.L. & W. to Buffalo and eastern points. This leave out the B. N.Y. & P. and West Shore. Another report is that the new route will be over the West
Shore from Buffalo. These conjectures are, however, useless, and it is best to await an official proclamation before pretending to state facts. If the West Shore and B.N.Y. & P. are shut
out the importance and usefulness of Genesee Junction as a transfer point will be materially decreased. In that case there will be only the local freight of the two roads to be
interchanged there. The new freight house there will have been built for naught almost, and the recent appointment of agents will not have so much significance. Allegations are that the
B.N.Y. & P. and L.& P which have been so intimately connected with each other are seeking alliances with other through and heavier routes. There is a possibility that the Rochester &
Pittsburg may catch on to the Globe line in connection with the West Shore. There are such rumors. The Globe line ran on that route a short time and was doing well when it suddenly went
over the L. & P., West Shore and B.N.Y. & P. - Post Express,
Allegany County Democrat, Wed., Dec. 17, 1884
Receiver Appointed for the Lackawanna & Pittsburg
_____
The Lackawanna & Pittsburg railroad company which has been in financial difficulties for a long time, was
yesterday brought into Judge Haight's court on an application for a receiver. A.J. Wellman was the complained and he having shown that default had been made in the payment of interest
bonds held by him against the company to the amount of $10,000, proceedings were instituted by Attorney General O'Brien to dissolve the corporation and effect a settlement with the
directors. It was shown that the road the road and its offshot, the Allegany Central, have $3 million of bonds outstanding, and stock to the amount of $5 million. Default has been made on
$75,000 coupons; a floating debt of $250,000 is another item and $40,000 is due the employees, who have not paid for four months. The headquarters of this unfortunate concern are at
Angelica, Allegany county. Judge Haight was not long in arriving at the conclusion that it was in sore need of a receiver and appointed George D. Chapman of Angelica temporarily under a
bond of $60,000. - Buffalo Telegraph
Allegany County Democrat, Wed., January 14, 1885
The Lackawanna & Pittsburg railroad seems to have bright prospects for the future, notwithstanding its present financial embarrassment. It is reputed that a new passenger line from New
York to Chicago will be established at once. The proposed line is from New York to Perkinsville via the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, thence to Belfast by the Lackawanna and Pittsburg,
thence to New Castle by the Buffalo, New York and Philadcelphia, thence to Chicago via the Baltimore and Ohio.
Rushford Spectator, Thurs., March 5, 1885
Monday morning the employees of the Lackawanna & Pittsburg Railroad refused to run trains until they received their back pay which is
due for six months' work. In December George D. Chapman of New York was appointed receiver but made no move toward paying the men, who are becoming destitute. Attorney General O'Brien has
been notified of the fact and legal steps will be taken at once to recover the amount due.
Roman Citizen, Rome, N.Y., Sept. 11, 1885
Two to Four Months' Pay in Arrears
Olean, N.Y., Sept. 11 - All trains on the Lackawanna and Pittsburg Railroad
were tied up yesterday. The employees of the road have from two to four months' pay due them, and refuse to work till paid. They were promised payment yesterday, but did not receive it and struck.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Sat., Sept. 19, 1885
An attempt was made by the new superintendent of the Lackawanna and
Pittsburg railroad to run trains the first of the week and it was not success as the track was torn up and bridges destroyed by the strikers and the trains could not run. The receiver's report filed with the court at Buffalo shows that there is a balance of a trifle over $1,000 on
hand with which to pay $25,000 due the striking men.
Cuba Patriot, Thurs., Dec. 24, 1885
(From the Rochester Democrat)
The L. and P. Railway.
____
C.W. Carr, representative of Post, Martin & Co., of
New York, arrived in this city
yesterday morning. Mr. Carr has secured a locomotive and eight passenger coaches from the standard gauge division of
the Lackawanna & Pittsburg road. The cars were brought over the Buffalo-Philadelphia road to the Terminal road and thence transferred to the New York Central, They will be taken to New
York today.
Mr. Carr states that the coaches and engine were leased of Post, Martin & Co., by the Lackawanna & Pittsburg
company. The owners not having received any money of late on their lease, sent Mr. Carr to recover the rolling stock. He went to Angelica and succeeded in obtaining the property and taking
it to Belfast Junction. Here the collector of the town seized it, on a judgment of $50 for school taxes, issued against the Lackawanna & Pittsburg, and engine and cars have been kept on a Buffalo-Philadelphia siding for the past week, until
the school tax was satisfied by payment.
Now it is understood that the Buffalo-Philadelphia company propose to sue the town of Belfast for blocking the
track, claiming that the steps taken were illegal. The rolling stock spoken of, it is claimed, comprises about all the passenger equipment left on the standard gauge division of the
Lackawanna & Pittsburg. The narrow gauge division is still in operation.
(The above is about as near correct as the Democrat ever gets when speaking of the
the L. & P. railroad. The collector did not attach the passenger coaches or engine, but eight box cars on the track
of the L.& P. and they are still there, and that brought the money. The coaches and engine were left on the siding of the B., N.Y. & P. at request of Mr. Carr, and the permission of the
Superintendent).
Cuba Patriot, Thurs., May 7, 1886
The Lackawanna Train.
______
A NEW THROUGH LINE FOR CUBA.
______
On Monday the new Lackawanna train
running through this place over the B., N.Y. & P. R.R., commenced its through Pullman car service from Olean to New York City. As explained last week, this train is the outgrowth of the
Express contract and was started for the purpose of allowing the United States Express to reach a large number of places in this region. Its scope is now enlarged and it forms a new, quick
and convenient passenger route to New York City.
The run is over the Delaware,
Lackawanna & Western to Wayland, thence over the Lackawanna & Pittsburg, through Canaseraga, Angelica, & c., to Belfast Junction, thence over the B., N.Y. & P. to Olean. The train leaves
New York City at 6 p.m.., passes here at 7;45 a.m., and arrives at Olean at 8:19. It leaves Olean at 4:10 p.m., passes here at 4:40 and connects at Wayland with the train arriving in New
York at 7:10 a.m. From Wayland to Olean the train is wholly under Lackawanna & Pittsburg management, it i is said that on June 6th, they will have an entirely new outfit of engine and cars
for the service.
Rushford Spectator, Thurs., May 7, 1885
Lackawanna & Pittsburg
L. & P. Time Table.
For the benefit of our readers who have business in Angelica, we give the new
timetable of the L.& P. R.R., which went into effect March 16th. Trains leave Angelica at 1:50 p.m. and 6;45 a.m. Arrive at Friendship at 2:23 p.m. and 7:37 p.m. Trains leave Friendship at
12:46 p.m. and 8 p.m. and arrive at Angelica at 1:21p.m. and 8:43 a.m. A train leaves Angelica at 1:30 p.m. , arriving at Belfast at 1:05 p.m., returning, leaves Belfast at 2:05 p.m.,
arriving at Angelica at 2:25 p.m.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Sept. 2, 1895
A force of men are engaged in tearing up the track of the old Lackawanna & Pittsburg railroad, between Angelica and Belfast.
The rails are to be shipped to Olean and White House and are to be used on the narrow gauge division of the Central New York & Western railroad.
Sept. 20, 1895
The news comes from Angelica that a force of men is engaged in tearing up the track of
the old Lackawanna & Pittsburg railroad between Angelica and Belfast. the rails are to be shipped to Olean and White House and are to be used on the narrow gauge division of the CNY&W.
Nunda News, January 17, 1883
Our Railroad Facilities
_____
Eight Trains Daily Through Nunda.
_____
Nunda ought to be pretty well satisfied with her present railroad facilities, and she is. With the train on the Swains branch running between the Junction and Swains, connecting with the Erie, Allegany Central and the Canal road, there are eight trains daily stopping at the depot in the village. A person can step on the cars here and go east or west, north or south, to Hornellsville, New York,
Buffalo, Rochester, Olean or any other point.
The depot is but a step from the business center, and with all these facilities is hear from certain quarters, sneers and slurs in regard to our railroad. It is unfortunate to be so constituted as never to be satisfied, but the great majority of the people are pleased
with the railroad facilities now afforded Nunda and hardly expect anything better.
Nunda News, Sat., Aug. 18, 1883
Changed Hands.
On Saturday the Swains branch of the B., N.Y. & P. from the junction two miles north of Nunda to Swains, was turned over to the Lackawanna & Pittsburgh company. The Rochester Democrat says:
“Whether the road has been leased or sold to the latter company does not come to light yet, but at any rate the Buffalo, New York & Philadelphia trains will run over the Swains branch as heretofore.” There is no change in the running of trains on the branch thus far and
probably will not be. It is to be put in good order.
Nunda News, Feb. 23, 1884
New Mail Route for Nunda on the Lackawanna & Pittsburg Railroad
____
The Postmaster General has ordered a mail service on Route 6059 from Angelica to Nunda Junction via Birdsall, Knightsville, Swains and Nunda, by the Lackawanna and Pittsburg railroad, to commence next Monday, Feb. 25th.
This will give direct mail connections with Angelica and intermediate points, and take the New York mail from the Erie at Swains, which will arrive here now at 10 a.m. instead of 12 midnight, making the regular New York mail two hours earlier. The eastern mail to New York in the afternoon will also close about two hours later, probably about 6 p.m., and connect with the same train
on the Erie at Swains for New York.
There will be but one service on the Star route between Nunda and Dalton, and this will be in the morning at 8 o’clock as now, taking the eastern and western mail, and returning at 12 midnight with the western and way mail on the Erie. This arrangement will also cut off the messenger service between Nunda Post-Office and the B., N.Y. & P. road, as the company perform this service.
When fully established and in working order, this arrangement will give Nunda more mail facilities and better than ever, if everything works as expected.
Nunda News, Nov. 29, 1884
Railroad Rumblings
____
The Globe fast freight line will not thunder through Nunda hereafter over the L. & P. road as some difference among the companies in regard to trackage has caused a change, and it will hereafter go over the D., L. & W., or the R. & P. In this connection the Rochester
Post-Express publishes the following:
Indications are that the B., N.Y. & P. and L. & P., which have been so intimately connected with each other, are drifting apart, and that the L. & P. is seeking alliances with other through and heavier routes. There is a possibility that the R. & P. may catch on to the
Globe line in connection with the West Shore. They are such rumors. The Globe line ran on that route a short time and was doing well when it suddenly when it suddenly went over to the L. & P., West shore and the B., N.Y. & P.
Nunda News, Nov. 19, 1884
Lackawanna & Pittsburg R.R.
______
Swains Branch – Trains Pass Nunda.
Going North: Going South:
6:30 A.M. 10:20 A.M.
9:07 A.M. 6:10 P.M.
1:30 P.M. 8:00 P.M.
Nunda News, Sat., January 3, 1885
Who is to Blame?
There would seem to be no excuse for leaving the Rochester mail on the platform at Nunda Junction once a month or once a year. It was left there Wednesday morning and it is annoying to those who get mail at Nunda, as it is a large and important mail. It is somebody’s
business to see that the mail is put on board the train for Nunda. If it does not come up in the morning it lays there until night, unless the postmaster at Nunda sends a special messenger after it, as was done on Wednesday. The L. & P. company has the contract for carrying this mail.
Will receiver Smith, of the L.& P., see that the party who is responsible for handling the mail at Nunda Junction attends to his business?
Nunda News, Sat., Jan. 3, 1885
Tuesday night the small depot at Nunda Junction was entered by burglars, and they tore open everything to find money. They carried off Agent Lanning’s new rubber boots, an overcoat, a new pair of pants, and tore the lock off his trunk, taking out some shirts. They opened
every box and drawer to find money, but were unsuccessful, as none is left there.
No tickets were taken, although the cases were opened. They pried open a window to get in, and made general havoc after entering. The depot at Cuba was entered a night or two before, where they secured 17 cents. It is probably the work of railroad burglars, who are engaged
in this business along the line. Detectives are upon their track, and it is hope they may be arrested.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Feb. 11, 1885
G.A. Baker, the new traffic manager of the Lackawanna and Pittsburg railroad, formerly general freight agent of the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia railroad, informs your correspondent that the business of the road is increasing rapidly and it will soon be on a solid
footing again under the able management of receiver Chapman.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, March 19, 1885
The receiver of the Lackawanna and Pittsburg has discontinued four trains between Friendship and Angelica, two between Swains and Angelica, two between Swains and Nunda Junction, and two between Swains and Wayland.
Nunda News, Oct. 10, 1885
The Lackawanna & Pittsburg Railroad.
______
The Lackawanna & Pittsburg railroad is in a bad situation, with very little prospect of improvement, as the road now stands. The experience of the past year proves that it cannot be successfully operated on its present line. In this age of competition, a railroad must make
a pretty direct line between some points where there is business, and where people desire to go.
No one at Angelica or Nunda would ever think of taking the L.& P. to Perkinsville to go either east or west. A car of freight loaded at either end of the line, is practically no nearer market at the other end than at the point where it was loaded. The road from Canaseraga
to Perkinsville is of no use whatever, and can never earn a dollar.
If it were taken up from Ross’ crossing to Perkinsville, and laid down on the east side of the Erie direct to Hornellsville, it would be a road worth operating, and might earn something for its owners. Connecting at Nunda Junction with the B., N.Y. & P., it would make a
direct line between Hornellsville and Rochester. These are points between which there is business and travel.
A couple of coaches running on a direct line from Hornellsville in the morning to Rochester, and returning in the evening, would never run empty. It would cost very little to change this road from Perkinsville, where there is nothing, to Hornellsville, where there is
considerable. The iron in the Glen bridge would help largely in the expense.
Why not organize a new company in Nunda, buy the whole thing for what it can be got for, and put it where it will be of some use and general profit. Just as well have the general offices in Nunda as at Angelica. There is money and brains enough in Nunda to get a railroad
through on which the wheels will be kept rolling.
Nunda News, January 21, 1886
Railroad Affairs of Nunda
The railroad companies do not seem to be carrying out their agreement made with the State railroad commissioners and the people of Nunda, made on the first of June. The railroad companies proposed within thirty days to do certain things which they have not done, and the
following is a copy of the decision of the Board of Railroad Commissioners on the matter of the citizens of Nunda vs. the Lackawanna & Pittsburgh R.R. company:
The Citizens of Nunda, against The Lackawanna and Pittsburgh Railroad Company.
Albany, July 13, 1886.
On June 1st a hearing was had herein at Nunda, by Commissioner Kernan, at which the complainants were represented by Chauncey Hagadorn, Esq., and others, and the railroad by F.T. Smith, Esq.
At the close of the hearing the complainants requested that the proceedings be suspended for thirty days, in order to enable the road to carry out an agreement then and there made, and designed to redress the grievances. Upon the same day the Commissioner met the receiver
and officials of the Buffalo, New York & Philadelphia Railroad company, at Nunda Junction, and conferred with them as to the agreement in so far as it affected their road at that point.
The Board is now informed that the roads have not fully complied with the agreement. Under these circumstances the Board recommends in pursuance of said agreement, as follows:
1.That the train service in operation to and from Nunda, on June 1st, 1886, or its equivalent, be continued with promptness, so as to make the connections with the Buffalo, New York & Philadelphia to and from Rochester.
2.That the road provide an agent, waiting room, ticket office, telegraph office and freight house facilities at Nunda.
3.That the railroad and the Buffalo, New York & Philadelphia provide jointly proper station facilities at Nunda Junction for the interchange and protection of freight and passengers at that place.
By the Board,
William C, Hudson, Secy.
The L.& P. and the and the B., N.Y. &P. do not seem to harmonize, and the fault seems to be more with the latter company than the former. It looks as though the B., N.Y. & P. desired to force the L. & P. off from this branch of the road, by not giving them any business.
Freight from Rochester billed to Nunda, is taken off at Nunda Junction, where no place for storage has been provided as agreed upon, and is left exposed to rain and storm, and then brought up by teams, as the B., N.Y. & P. company have consumed all the freight charges and left nothing
for the L.& P. company. The merchants and business men of Nunda have carried out their agreement, by ordering their goods shipped direct to Nunda, but they do not want them left at Nunda Junction, where no freight house facilities have been provided as agreed upon.
An agent has been furnished to Nunda, and a waiting room, but no tickets are on sale here to Rochester or any other point. There is no telegraph office, and proper railroad facilities, according to the general understanding and agreement, have not been provided. It would
seem to be for the interest of both companies to provide and accommodate the people of Nunda with railroad facilities, but the fault, as stated heretofore, seems to be mainly with the B., N.Y. & P. company, and to them the Board of Railroad Commissioners should direct their attention.
Buffalo Express, Feb. 4, 1886
Trains are now run on the standard gauge division of the Lackawanna & Pittsburg Railroad between Angelica and Wayland two days each week, Tuesdays and Fridays.
Nunda News, Feb. 13, 1886
Two Trains Each Week.
Commencing with today, Friday, two trains will be run each week over the L. & P. to Nunda Junction, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. These can bring in freight and if sufficient business is secured the former train service between Swains and Nunda Junction will be resumed daily.
Nunda News, April 14, 1886
Frank S. Smith, Esq., President of the Allegany Central, came down from Swains to Nunda on a hand-car in 35 minutes to catch the morning train for Rochester. He caught it, as he always does when he starts. This is quick time for eight miles on a hand-car, but after
crossing over the Erie, the car needed no working on the down grade to the village. President Smith has been over all these lines of road on foot, by carriage¸hand-car and every other way, and is a thoroughbred railroad man.
Nunda News, Aug. 7, 1886
A New Manager for the L. & P. Road.
_____
Mr. William Badger, conductor on the Lackawanna, has been appointed general manager of the Lackawanna & Pittsburg railroad, which intersects the Lackawanna at Wayland. Mr. Badger knows all about railroading, having served in all capacities. As a locomotive engineer he had
no superior during the many years he operated that end of the train, while the satisfaction he gave as conductor on the Lackawanna induced Superintendent Halstead to recommend him for the new position, the duties of which he will assume on Aug. 1, Gen. O’Brien¸ the present manager,
retiring on that date. – Buffalo News, 29th.
There has been indications of late that the L. &P. was to fall into the hands of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western and be operated by that company. The Angelica Republican says that company now practically controls the road, and regards it as fully establishing its
security.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Aug. 31, 1886
The Lackawanna & Pittsburg railroad is pushing to the front in good shape. The passenger and freight traffic on the standard gauge division has increased to such an extent that two more trains each way will be put on the road at once, also another freight each way on the
narrow gauge division.
Although the Erie company is placing all the obstacles it can in the way to hinder the building of the Lackawanna & Pittsburg to Hornellsville, nevertheless the Lackawanna & Pittsburg is building the road and will have trains running before snow flies. The Lackawanna &
Pittsburg has several locomotives now building, which will be delivered at an early date.
Nunda News, May 19, 1887
(Advertisement)
The Lackawanna Route.
_______
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western R.R.,
and Lackawanna & Pittsburg R.R.,
the new route.
The Cannon Ball to the Front.
Commencing May 23, 1887, the Cannon Ball
With
Pullman Sleeping Car attached will run daily, as follows:
Leave Olean 4:15 p.m., Swains 6:24. Connecting at Wayland
With the popular Delaware, Lackawanna & Western R.R.
Arrive Bath (90 minutes for supper), 3:15 p.m., Corning 9:11,
Elmira 9:40, Binghamton 11:25, arrive New York 7:10 a.m.
For further information, time tables, tickets, sleeping car
Accommodations, apply to any ticket agent of the L.& P.R.R.
Or W.G. BOOTH,
General Pass. Agt. L.& P.R.R., Angelica, N.Y.
Nunda News, January 7, 1888
The L.& P. are surveying a new road from Swains. By putting in this section they will avoid crossing the Erie tracks, and also save building a new trestle, which would have to be done in a short time, as the present trestle work is very imperfect. It is expected to build
this piece or road immediately. – Hornellsville Tribune.
Nunda News, June 23, 1888
A special train on the L.& P. Tuesday morning, with a palace coach arrived in Nunda, and from Auditor Blair who was on board, we are informed that the officials were making an inspection of the road with German representatives where money was expected to be obtained on
bonds to make the improvements contemplated. They had been over the proposed Geneva extension in carriages and after inspecting the whole line would make their report. It is contemplated changing the line from Swains to Ross Crossing, to this side of the Erie, doing away with the
trestles at Ross Crossing and Swains, and making a junction at Canaseraga besides the extension to Geneva. Hope they will get the money and make a good road of the L.& P. in the near future.
Nunda News, Sept. 22, 1888
The station agent at Nunda Junction has been “called in” and it looks as though nothing would be done there for the present at least. The W.N.Y. &P. and the L.& P. united in paying Agent Flagler but as the L.& P. has ceased running and the W.N.Y. & P. have an agent at
Nunda they think there is no necessity for maintaining a depot at the Junction.
Nunda News, March 23, 1889
The Angelica Republican of last week goes into ecstacies over the foreclosure sale of the L.& P. railroad, which is to take place there April 18th. It publishes the official notice of the sale and says upon authority of John S. Rockwell, Esq., referee, that it means the
“re-organization of the road and the early payment of the men.” It is probably to go into the hands of the new company organized to take it, the Lackawanna & Southwestern R.R. Company.
We hope that this is the beginning of the end of all the troubles on the L.& P. Its sale under a foreclosure would seem to mean that it is to be put in repair for business to run again. No company would want it unless they expected to revive it and put trains upon the
track. The L. & P. road does not come any nearer Nunda than Swains, but this company has had a lease of the track which belongs to the W.N.Y. & P. company from Swains to Nunda Junction.
After the sale this portion will revert to that company and be run by them probably unless they should make a lease of this track to the new company. In either event we believe the branch from Swains to Nunda Junction will be run by one company or the other and it is this
portion of the road that Nunda is principally interested in.
Ceres Mail, Feb. 16, 1898
Queer Oil Region Roads - In 1882 the Allegany Central was completed from Olean to Angelica. Freight receipts at
Richburg for the first 30 days were $12,000. Ten passenger trains and four freights were operated each day with extras when the occasion demanded.
Passenger rates were five cents per mile. Rails were taken up through Richburg in 1893. Soon after the Allegany
Central was completed from Olean to Friendship. George D. Chapman swecured control of the road and extended it to Angelical in 1882. Chapman then built a standard gauge line from Angelica
to Wayland to connect with the D.L. & W. , and secured control of a couple of other standard gauges and coupled them up.
He operated his lines in a lavish manner and when he ran short of money he changed the name by reorganizing the
road as the Lackawanna & Pittsburg. he had a total of 91 miles of railroad. In 1892, Chapman was ousted from the receivership and the property was sold to a company of New York men. The
line from Angelica to Bolivar was ripped up and one of the standard gauge spurs was abandoned (Angelica to Belfast Jct.) The line then became known as the Central New York & Western.
The Bradford, Bordell & Kinzua was originally built from Bradford to Eldred; later from Kinzua Junction to
Smethport. At a later date the line from Ormsby to Kane was purchased by the Pittsburgh & Western.
The Peg Leg (monorail) known as the Bradford & Foster Brook ran from Bradford to Derrick City. It was paralleled
by the Olean, Bradford & Warren. Construction began in 1878 and ceased as the result of a boiler explosion which killed six of the crew and injured six others. Conductors' cash receipts
sometimes ran as high as $50 per day.
The B.B. & K. carried 190,000 passengers in 1881 and paid 33 percent dividends on a capital stock of $350,000.
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Lackawanna South-Western Railroad
BOLIVAR BREEZE
Sat., Oct, 1, 1892
The L.& S.W. Sold
The Lackawanna & Southwestern railroad property was sold by the referee, W.S. Servis,
at Belmont on Saturday. The only bidders were Byrne & Smith, representing a syndicate of New York capitalists. Their bid was $15,000 and the property was knocked down to them at that
figure. The standard gauge division is advertised to be sold in a few days and the
purchasers of the L. & S.W. expect to purchase it. When they have secured control of the line, some marked improvements will be made, we are told. The new owners have not divulged
their plans yet, but say they will in a short time.
Sat., Oct. 22, 1892
The R.H. & L. R.R. was sold on Tuesday by Referee Servis. It was bid in by Charles
Adsit, of Hornellsville, for $27,000. It is understood that Adsit bid it in for New York parties who recently purchased the L. & S.W. end of the line. The movements of the new
syndicate will, as the Scio Scorcher would say, "be watched with interest." Sat., Oct. 29, 1892
Receiver Blair, of the L. & S.W., was in Bolivar on official business Wednesday. He
says that the new owners of the road will take their time to figure out just what is best to do with the line in the way of broadening the gauge and building feeders. For the present,
the rolling stock will be improved and the train kept in motion. It may be spring before any big move is made that will effect the future of the road. that the line, in the hands of
the present owners, will be developed and extended for all it is worth, Mr. Blair has no doubt. But they will take their time.
The Lackawanna and Southwestern done an excellent business during the campaign. In
the eight weeks preceding the election they carried over 4,000 excursionists to attend blowouts along the line, and this without interfering with the regular trains. The Lackawanna
is all right and boasts of the most courteous employees of any road in seven states.
The Receivership of the Lackawanna & Southwestern Railroad will cease with the
current month, The Central New York & Western R.R. will take possession of the property December 1st. M.S. Blair will be general superintendent under the new turn of affairs. Every
day that goes by brightens the prospect of widening the L. & S.W. out to a standard gauge. Officials close to the new owners of the property state that is a sure "go."
Sat., Oct. 15, 1892
A carload of long leaf Georgia pine was unloaded in the Lackawanna & South Western yards one day last week. It is of excellent quality and the entire pile
does not contain a single knot.
It will be used for beams in repairing flatcars. Receiver Blair say that the rolling stock is all to be repaired as soon as possible.
Georgia pine is not as expensive as many might suppose. This lot cost $25 a thousand, delivered in Olean.
Sat., Oct, 22, 1892
Many people would think they had traveled extensively if they
had covered as many miles as the old black grip which Receiver Blair,
of the Lackawanna, always carries with him. Mr. Blair tells me he has
carried that particular grip for a quarter of a century, and in that
time it has traversed over 50,000 miles, a distance equal to that of
twice around the globe. And in that time it has held many a hundred
thousand dollars. It cost $25 when the owner purchased it and I
doubt very much if you could purchase it for that amount today. Mr.
Blair would as soon think of voting the Democratic ticket as parting
with that black grip.
Sat., Oct. 29, 1892
A corps of railroad surveyors are at work above Oswayo, near
Rose Lake, which gives rise to more railroad talk. The latest rumor
is that a standard gauge railroad is to be built from Olean to
Hornellsville and connect with the D.L. & W. The "proposed" line is
to pass the Oswayo valley and have a branch line extending into the
Potter county forests.
Saturday, Nov. 19, 1892
Quite a number of cars of pipe for the new United States
seaboard pipe line were unloaded in the L. & S. W. yards this week.
Thirteen miles of pipe will be distributed from Ceres. The work of
laying the line is being pushed with all possible speed.
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Pittsburg, Shawmut and Northern Railroad
Researched and Submitted by Richard Palmer
Bolivar Breeze,
Thurs., Feb. 21, 1899
Truman Pierce of Richburg was among the callers at this office on Saturday. He is very anxious to have the Shawmuit Line built through Richburg, not because the survey runs
through a house owned by Mrs. Pierce but because he wants to see the big coal trains go roaring by and to have the southern part of the county connected with the northern part by ribbons of steel.
Bolivar Breeze, Thursday, Aug. 10, 1899
THE NEW SHAWMUT LINE
____
Interview with Vice President,
Frank Sullivan Smith.
______
(The following dispatch appeared in Tuesday's Buffalo Express based on a
personal interview with President Byrne and Vice President at Angelica by J.P. Herrick. It covers the ground to date).
____
Bolivar, N.Y., Aug. 7 - After three years of preliminary work a
syndicate, headed by Major John Byrne, of New York, has consolidated six short lines of railroad in Western New York and Northern Pennsylvania into a trunk line that will connect the great soft col fields of Elk, Jefferson and Clearfield counties in Pennsylvania with the five trunk
lines that cross New York state from east to west, finally, when connections are perfected, forming a through line from Pittsburg to Rochester.
The consolidated line will be known as the Pittsburg, Shawmut &
Northern. Included with the railroad properties the syndicate secured the Shawmut coal property of 10,000 acres and mines with a daily output of 160 cars. In addition long time options have been secured on 30,000 acres of valuable coal land in the Shawmut section, some of it
underlaid with veins six feet think. Along the line of the road in Pennsylvania is an immense body of virgin fores, a big block of which is owned by the syndicate.
In McLean county the line passes through the Hazelhurst district
where several big glass factories have been built in the past two years, a section that is bound to become famous as a glass making region and will furnish heavy tonnage. There is natural gas in unlimited quantities, and the hills are covered with rock that is 96 percent glass. In
Allegany county the line passes through the center of the oil belt at Bolivar. From Friendship to Macedon the road travers one of the finest farming regions in the state.
The The properties included in the transfer, which was recorded at
Harrsburg and Albany, are: The Clarion River road, from Hallton to Croyland; the Buffalo, St. Mary's & Southwestern, from Hydes to Clermont; the Clermont, Mt. Jewett & Northern from Mr. Jewett to Smethport; the Smethport & Olean, from Smethport to Okeab; the Central New York &
Northern, from Perkinsville to Macedon, the present terminus with a spur from Honeoye village to Hemlock lake.
The new road will cross the Philadelphia & Erie at at St. Mary's, the
Western New York & Pennsylvania at White House, the western division of the Erie at Friendship, the Buffalo division of the Erie at Swains, the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western at Wayland, the Lehigh Valley, the Lehigh Valley at Farmington and the New York Central and West Shore at
Macedon. Work is now under way on the extension from Perkinsille to Macedon, sixty-five miles.
The narrow gauge division of the Central New York & Western from Olean
to Bolivar will be widened out. From Bolivar to Angelica, twenty miles, the new line will follow very closely the grade of the abandoned narrow gauge line that was ripped up six years ago, avoiding as far as possible the trestles on the old line. Th only difficult hill on the entire
line is between Richburg and Friendship, where a long detour will be made to avoid a tunnel. Surveyors will begin on the hill within ten days. Much of the right of way from Bolivar to Angelica is still held by the railroad company. The line passes through the towns of Bolivar, Wirt,
Friendship and Angelica. The total length of the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern is 358 miles.
The capital stock of the consolidated lines is $12,000,000, divided in
120,000 shares of $100 each. Bonds to the amount of nearly $6,000,000, have been placed, largely in Chicago and St. Louis. The Vanderbilt interests have fought the consolidation bitterly, and when an application was made to the railroad commissioners for permission to extend the line
from Perkinsville to Macedon it was strongly opposed but unanimously granted, When an attempt was made to float the bonds in the East the same interests were at work to discourage investors. Western capitalists were interested, and after a careful investigation of the properties the
gold bonds secured by a first mortgage were quickly taken. The consolidation scheme was ready to be floated last year but the war delayed it.
The officers of the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern are: President, John
Byrne; first vice president, Henry Marquand, New York; second vice president and general counsel, Frank Sullivan Smith, New York; treasurer, H.M. Gough, New York; secretary, Lewis F. Wilson, New York; auditor and assistant treasurer, H.S. Hastings, Angelica. The head offices are at
No. 54 Wall street.
President Byrne is now a guest at the summer home of General Counsel
Frank Sullivan Smith at Angelica. In an interview Mr. Smith stated to The Express correspondent that the work of connecting the lines would go forward as rapidly as possible. Heavy purchases of steel rails were made before the recent advance in prices, in anticipation of the
consolidation, and these will be delivered promptly.
Six hundred new coal cars, with steel-pressed trucks, air brakes and the
latest coupling devices, have been purchased and delivered at the mines. The railroad shops at Angelica are busy building freight cars and rebuilding engines, and the force will be greatly increased at once. There will not be a grade crossing on the line, and the new bridges and
trestles will be of steel. The work of filling the wooden Horseshoe trestle, 2,200 feet long, over the Erie tracks at Swains, which was begun two years ago, will be hurried to a finish.
Mr. Smith states that no traffic arrangement has been entered into with
any of the great trunk likes that the new road will cross, although he has been approached by representatives of each. He says that no traffic arrangement will be entered into, and that the property will be operated as an independent line, delivering freight to all connecting roads
and extending special privileges to none. The name selected for the property is the Sawmut Line, and it will be conspicuous on all rolling stock. Shawmut coal is well known all over the country, and the aim of the syndicate will be to make it better known.
Mr. Smith is very enthusiastic over the outlook for the Shawmut Line.
Ever since he became interested in railroad properties in 1882, he has kept in mind the idea of a line from the coal fields of Pennsylvania to Central New York, and in a large measure he is entitled to the credit of the consolidation. With Mr. Byrne he bought the Central New York &
Western property when it was about to be sold for junk, and converted it into a paying property. He says that the officers of the short lines will retain their old positions for the present.
It is said that Charles H. Hammond, general passenger and freight agent
of the Central New York & Western; Henry S. Hastings, auditor, and Mitchell S. Blair, general superintendent, all personal friends of Major Byrne and Mr. Smith and old employees will be well taken care of when executive officers of the Shawmut Line are picked out.
Mr. Smith believes the immense coal and lumber tonnage that will come
to the Shawmut Line will make it one of the best paying properties in the country, not counting a big passenger traffic, which seems certain, as the new line is 30 miles shorter than any other that covers the same region. It is estimated that the coal properties alone will furnish
tonnage for at least 100 years if the present daily output is trebled.
Bolivar
Breeze, Aug. 17, 1899
PITTSBURG, SHAWMUT & NORTHERN RAILROAD
ENGINEER CORPS HERE.
Work of Locating Railroad Line Under Way. The Crossing of the West Notch Hill is the Most Difficult Feat on the Shawmut Line. Talk With Chief McComb.
_____
The Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railway’s corps of engineers arrived in Bolivar Monday evening [Aug. 14] and Tuesday morning began the work of laying out the route from
Bolivar to Friendship. The first stake was set at the crest of West Notch Hill and the corps is working towards Bolivar. A. G. McComb of Bradford is chief of the staff and he willingly answered all questions asked him by the writer. His information is summed up in the following
paragraphs.
The survey of the line from Macedon to the coal fields is completed with the exception of the link between Bolivar and Friendship. The crossing of West Notch Hill he
considers the most difficult job on the line. The thing sought is to get an easy grade hat will not require a pusher to boost the heavy coal trains over the crest. He also wants to avoid deep and expensive cuts and high trestles.
The distance of the line from Bolivar to Friendship is eleven miles. He estimates that the railroad line owing to detours will be thirteen miles long. The line will go
through the West Notch somewhere near the roadbed of the old abandoned narrow gauge line.
Mr. McComb estimates that it will require four weeks to complete the survey. The engineers are divided into three parties and they will make Bolivar their headquarters.
Down in the coal country the engineers discovered many rattlesnakes while running lines. The killed four, skinned them and tried out the oil. Engineers dread poison ivy more than
they do rattlesnakes.
Mr. McComb says that the Shawmut Line will be 40 miles shorter than any other from the coal country to Macedon [New York] and it will be one of the finest equipped roads in
the country. The work of grading the Smethport and Hazelhurst branch was completed yesterday [Wednesday, August 16th, 1899] and the laying of rails will begin at once.
Bolivar Breeze, Aug. 17, 1899
Shawmut Line Mortgage Filed.
There was entered for record in the Allegany county clerk’s office at Belmont, August 4th, a mortgage not to exceed $12,000,000 in favor of the Colonial Trust Company of New
York to secure the payment of that amount of 5% 50-YEAR GOLD BONDS. The mortgage covers all the railroad and coal property, telegraph lines, franchises, contracts and privileges of the Shawmut Line. It is agreed that $4,000,000 of the bonds par shall be disposed of and the proceeds
used to extend and connect up the different short lines that will compose the trunk line. It is provided that no less than 1,000,000 gross tons of coal be mined on the Shawmut property and delivered to the railroad annually.
Bolivar Breeze, Sept. 28, 1899
ON THE SHAWMUT LINE.
Road Possesses Many Natural Advantages. It Taps Coal Beds and Timber Lands. Coal is Now Mined by Electricity. The Outlook.
St. Marys, Pa., Sept. 22.—Knowing how interested any of the readers of my own newspaper and those of the other local newspapers along the line of the Pittsburg, Shawmut &
Northern are in the prospects and plans of the new trunk line. I sailed over here on the steam cars and sized up the situation from the highest hill on the line. Through the courtesy of Major Byrne and his assistants I was allowed the freedom of the town and shown through the
manufacturing plants that are springing into life here and at other points on the system and enjoyed a side trip to the famous Shawmut coal mines.
At Larrabee I ran across Mr. H. S. Hastings, auditor and assistant treasurer of the Shawmut Line, a gentleman extremely well qualified for the work he has to do and who is very
closed to Major Byrne. At Smethport Major Byrne boarded the train. We stopped at Clermont for dinner. Clermont is a little coal town set down at the head of a valley just on the edge of the Big Level. Some fifty men are now employed in mines which are owned by the WNY&P
railroad. The coal is of a rather poor quality. Clermont is the end of the Clermont division [branch] of the WNY&P and the present terminal of the St. Marys division of the Shawmut Line.
The ride from Clermont to St. Marys, 28 miles, is nearly all the way on a mountain top. The road bed is in good shape and the train races along at a fine rate of speed. There
are no wooden structures on the line and only two or three deep “fills,” and about as many deep cuts. It is a well built road. G. C. Wollard, formerly a civil engineer on the western division of the Erie, is the maintenance of way engineer and I heard nothing but praise for his
work by the officials of the road. A big steam stone crusher near St. Marys is grinding out many carloads of ballast every day which is being distributed along the line. From Clermont to St. Marys the road runs through many miles of virgin forest, so the trip is a picturesque one.
Just now, when the frost has arrayed the woodland with all the glories of rainbow tints, it is twice picturesque.
St. Marys is a town of some 4,000 population. It straggles along the slopes of several low hills. Originally it was settled by a lot of Germans who imagined they were going
into a settled and paid for region. When they arrived here and found the land agent had deceived them, they didn’t pack up and go home.
One reason was that they had no home to go to and the other was that they were broke.” So they set to work to battle with the forest and to clear up little farms. In time a
settlement sprang up in the wilderness and then a church and school house followed. One day some bright fellow discovered a soft coal bed. The coal and timber finally attracted capital here, but the town didn’t profit much by it because the coal was hauled away and the timber was
shipped to other places to be worked up.
So the town, though it grew slowly, failed to amount to much. A couple of years ago it woke up. The citizens realized it was about time to do something. So they decided to
have the timber that grew on the ridges fashioned into useful articles here at home. A chair factory that employs 150 men was secured, a hub factory followed, and now there are a half dozen wood working establishments either running or in the course of erection and the town’s future
has a roseate hue.
The Shawmut Line has a finely equipped foundry and machine shop here. The business offices are temporarily located in a private residence. Mr. Hastings has a corps of clerks
that work over time. B. E. Cartwright, general manager of the Shawmut properties, is said to be one of the best posted men in the state on coal and timber properties. I remarked to a native of St. Marys that Mr. Cartwright belonged in the hustler class. “He is the greatest hustler
in the state,” was the quick rejoinder of the native. Hall, Kaul & Co., who are the whole thing in St. Marys in a financial way are building a fine office building in the heart of town. It is of buff Shawmut brick and modern in every detail. When it is completed in a month or so
the Shawmut offices will be moved into it occupying the entire third floor and a part of the second floor.
This region is very rich in natural resources that have lain dormant awaiting the advent of capital and push. The Shawmut mining property of ten thousand acres, one of the best
properties in the state, is owned by the Byrnes syndicate, of which Henry Marquand & Co. of 160 Wall street are the financial agents. Two of the group of eight mines have been equipped with electrical plants of the latest pattern. The coal is now mined by electric machines, and the
cars and ventilators are run by motors. The present output of the mines is 200 cars a day, which will be increased to 400 as soon as all of the mines are equipped with electricity.
In addition to the Shawmut property the syndicate has options on 30,000 acres of additional coal lands that have been thoroughly tested by the syndicate’s experts. The experts
estimate that th3e coal lands owned and under options of the syndicate will produce 400 cars a day for two centuries. Some of the properties are underlaid with four veins, some of them six feet thick. The mines at present employ 800 men.
For miles the Shawmut line runs through a solid forest that is under contract to be shipped over the syndicate’s trunk line. Experts estimate the timber at 800,000,000 feet
which it will require at least 25 years to saw out. In addition there will be an immense tonnage of hemlock bark from the timber land and of leather and hides from the tanneries on the line of the road. There are erected or under way five chemical plants on the Shawmut line. St.
Marys has a big chair factory, hub and handle factories, and others are planned. These plants will work up the hardwood timber. The Sugar Trust is erected a big stave mill here, and a big carbon works is nearly completed.
Two immense kindling wood factories, on in St. Marys and one of the Clarion river division of the Shawmut Line are working up the slab wood. The manner in which the timber is
worked up today is very different from the wasteful methods employed fifteen years ago. Then only the perfect trees were cut and the slabs were burned up. Today every tree as big as a telegraph pole is cut and hauled to the mill. The band saw has replaced the circular saw because
the kerf is less. The circular saw cuts out an eighth of an inch for sawdust every time it rips off a board. The slabs are cut into kindling wood or lathe, and even the sawdust and shavings not needed for fuel is baled and sold.
The Shawmut coal lands are underlaid with a four foot vein of fine clay and a big brick plant has been erected at Shawmut, where a superior building brick is made. The natural
color of the brick is buff and already an extensive market for Shawmut brick has been secured in New England. In addition to fine pressed brick, paving brick and tiling will be made. A fire-proofing works is to be erected at Shawmut. Fire-proofing requires clay, sawdust and cheap
fuel for raw materials, all of which are at Shawmut.
The Shawmut Line is encouraging manufacturers to locate along its lines by offering free sites, cheap raw material, low taxes, cheap fuel, and unsurpassed facilities for the
distribution of manufactured products. The Shawmut Line when completed will cross or connect with every trunk line in New York state. As fast as the forest is cut away colonies of emigrants will be settled on the rich lands along the line and thriving towns will spring up. This
district is in the hemlock belt, one of the healthiest sections of the United States. Today the Shawmut Line is the newest and liveliest factor in the development of this section of Pennsylvania.
The work of connecting up the short lines that comprise the Shawmut trunk line is going forward rapidly. On the mountain grades 100 pound rail is being put down, the line is
being ballasted with stone, grades are being cut down and work on the extensions is being rushed. The motive power will be 100 ton engines and the 4,000 new coal cars will have a capacity of 40,000 pounds. Only the best white oak ties are used and there is not a wooden structure of
a grade crossing on the line. The equipment will be of the latest model. As soon as the connecting links are completed a through train service from th4e coal fields to New York will be established via the Erie and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western.
Our people at home need not get nervous for fear that the Shawmut Line will not be extended across the state line into Allegany county and beyond. The Brooklyn bridge was not
built in a day, and the work of building a trunk line railroad cannot be pushed as rapidly as that of a four foot board walk. It is doubtful if the work of standard gauging the division from Olean to Bolivar will be started before spring [1900], although the rails will be
distributed this fall. Major Byrne is as anxious to get the short lines connected up as anyway, but he know better than anyone else the difficulties that must be overcome. – John P. Herrick
Bolivar Breeze, June 14, 1900
STANDARD GAUGE TO CERES
------------------
Shawmut to Lay a Third Rail from Mesereaus to Ceres.
Work Began Yesterday.
The Shawmut Line will be widened to standard gauge between Ceres and Mesereaus, where a connection will be made with the W. N. Y. & P.
The work began yesterday. The ties needed will be taken from the stock piled up in the yeards in Bolivar.
This move is made for the benefit of F. M. Van Wormer of Ceres who has several million feet of logs and several thousand cords of bark to ship. There are not enough narrow gauge cars to
handle the lumber and bark and standard gauge cars will be run direct to Ceres. A narrow gauge engine will handle the cars.
There will be no change in the passenger service at present. Bolivar people would very much like to see the gauge widened all the way from Olean to Bolivar.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, July 15, 1900
The Shawmut Line
_____
Narrow Gauge Taken Out of Service
____
Ceres, July 14. – The work of standard gauging the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern railway from Ceres to White House was completed today, and the first train of the standard gauge
cars reached Ceres this afternoon from White House, where connection is made with the Western New York & Pennsylvania.
It is expected that the narrow gauge system of the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern, from Olean to Bolivar, would be standard gauged at an early date. Just when the work of
connecting up the Smethport division of the Shawmut line with the Angelica division will begin is uncertain. The railroad people asked the towns to contribute money to buy the right of way, and in the event it was done, the line would be built this season. Ceres has raised $1,400,
Little Genesee $1,200, Bolivar, $900, Richburg $800, and Friendship $800, about two thirds of the amount required to buy the right of way.
When completed, the Shawmut line will connect the soft-coal fields of Pennsylvania with Central New York, the terminus of the line being Macedon, N.Y.
Bolivar Breeze, July 26, 1900
SHAWMUT LINE NOTES
_____
Outlook For Bolivar Getting The
Main Line is Quite Bright
____
The right of way for the Shawmut Line through Friendship will cost $20,000.
_______
Passenger Agent Hammond says that the excursion business on the branches of the Shawmut Line is excellent.
_____
Five carloads of new steel have arrive at Olean for use on the line between Olean and Bolivar. This looks encouraging.
_____
Major John Byrne, President of the Shawmut Line spends most of his time at St. Marys, from which point he directs the business of his different coal and railroad properties. He
is a busy man.
____
Vice President Smith of the Shawmut Line went to the Jefferson county coal fields on Tuesday where he will spend a week closing up options on additional coal properties that
recently been acquired.
____
The expense of making the survey for the Shawmut Line amounts to about $500 a mile. The cost of the recent survey from Angelica to State Line was about $16,000. It costs money
to find the best grade for a trunk line across a broken country.
____
A legal notice published in this issue of The Breeze looks very encouraging for the Shawmut Line. At Buffalo, August 9, application will be made to the Railroad Commissioners
for permission to widen the gauge of the Shawmut Line between Olean and Bolivar, and Bolivar and Angelica.
____
The Shawmut Line offices in the new Hall & Kaul block in St. Marys are among the finest and best equipped railroad offices to be found in Pennsylvania. In Auditor Hastings'
office are ten employees, in General Manager Cartwright's office are ten employees and in Passenger Agent Hammond's thee are three employees.
_____
Forty cars of steel rails arrived at St. Marys last Friday for use on the fourteen mile extension of the Shawmut Line from Paine to Weedville, to reach a new coal property
recently purchased by the Shawmut Line. The grading is completed and the rails will be down within sixty days. It is known as the Kersey branch.
Buffalo Express, Aug. 11, 1900
ON THE SHAWMUT ROAD.
Work of Construction is Progressing – Delay By
Inability of Mills to Deliver Goods
(Special to The Buffalo Express).
Bolivar, Aug. 10. – Mitchell S. Blair, general superintendent of the Central New York & Western Railroad and purchasing agent for the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern road, said
today that the first consignment of 10,000 tons of 85-pound steel rails for the Shawmut line has been shipped by the Pennsylvania Steel Company, and will be unloaded at St. Mary’s, White House and Angelica this week. Fifteen thousand tons more will be shipped from the mills in a few
weeks. The order for these rails was placed ten months ago. The first car of spikes for the new road arrived in Bolivar today.
Mr. Blair states that work on the construction will be delayed sometime, owing to the trouble in getting iron and steel material. It is said there is not a firm in the world
today that will accept an order for switches, frogs or any other structural material to be delivered within twelve months. There is also a tin famine. Mr. Blair has been able to buy 13,000 ties for sue between Smethport and Mt. Jewett were 35,000 are needed.
Orders were some months ago placed with the Pittsburg Locomotive Works for two 90-ton and two 100-ton freight locomotives. Two have been delivered and the others are promised
soon.
The work of equipping the Shawmut mines with electricity and compressed air is now under way. These mines, which are owned by the Shawmut line, are among the most valuable
soft-coal properties in Pennsylvania. After several months’ investigation a party of experts has reported that there are six veins of coal on the Shawmut property, some of the veins six feet thick. Many holes were drilled and the test was thorough. The report says that the mines will
produce 300 cars of coal a day for 110 years. In addition to this property the options on 26,000 acres more will bring the coal supply that will be controlled by the Shawmut line up to a daily capacity of at least 300 cars a day for 350 years.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., Nov. 15, 1900
SHAWMUT LINE COMING
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All Indications Favorable to The
Bolivar Route.
_____
After ling dormant for several weeks the proposed building of the Shawmut Line through Bolivar and Friendship is again the paramount issue. The question will be decided within ten days, and every indication is favorable to this route. The maps designating the property it
was proposed to cross in this county were filed at Belmont yesterday. This is purely a legal matter and has no special significance.
Vice President Smith came to Bolivar yesterday and met with the right of way committee. He stated that it was desirable to close up the matter of right of way at once. Where a reasonable price is made on the land needed it will be paid but no fancy prices will be paid to
anyone.
Where a settlement cannot be made promptly condemnation proceedings will be instituted at once. The work of building the road will begin at once through Bolivar or by way of Belfast, with indications favoring this route. Already an order has been issued doubling the force of men employed on the extension this side of Angelica.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., Nov. 29, 1900
SEVENTEEN ACRE GRAVEL PIT.
____
Shaumut Line has Purchased One of That
Near Canaseraga
____
The Shamut Line has closed the purchase of 12 acres of gravel near Canaseraga, from S.N. Bennett, making 17 acres purchased in one body. The gravel is said to be of excellent quality for railroad work and sufficient in quantity to ballast the entire line.
As soon as the lines are connected either via Belfast or Friendship and Bolivar, it is proposed to put a steam shovel in the gravel pit and load returning empty coal cars with gravel for the Pennsylvania division,
thee being no gravel there.
Work Begun on the Shawmut Line
Col. W.M. Rixford, Superintendent of construction for the Warren-Burham Co. has arrived and directed work to begin on the cut across the Phillpen farm. Clearing was commenced Wednesday and ground was broken for the cut which is to be from 15 to 20 feet deep.
Saturday night a carload of Italians arrived in Angelica as an additional force in the work of taking out the Joncy cut. A number of dump cars and a large supply of tools have also been received.
Bolivar Breeze, July 18, 1901
Change in Railroad Rates
____
Shawmut Line Reduces Rates on Narrow
Gauge System to Three Cents a Mile
An important change in railroad rates went into effect on the Shawmut Line narrow gauge division on Tuesday, July 16. Heretofore the rate from Bolivar to Olean, 18 miles, has been 75 cents and round trip tickets have cost $1.50. Under the new tariff the rate is three cents a mile, 54 cents one way or $1 for a round trip ticket.
The fare from Bolivar to Little Genesee is now 10 cents, to Bowler 15 cents, to Ceres 24 cents, to Main 30 cents, to Portville 39 cents, to Gordon's 42 cents, to Weston's 45 cents, to Olean 54 cents. From Olean to Weston's the fare is 12 cents, to Gordon's 15 cents, to
Portville 18 cents, to White House 31 cents, to Main 27 cents, to Ceres 33 cents, to Bowler 42 cents, to Little Genesee 48 cents, to Bolivar 54 cents.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Sat., July 20, 1901
Work on Broad Gauging the Pittsburg,
Shawmut & Northern to Begin Monday
____
At a meeting of the officials of the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern held in Bolivar yesterday afternoon, it was decided to begin work at once on the widening of the narrow gauge
system from Olean to Bolivar, converting into a standard gauge,
eighteen miles in length, making connection at Olean with the Buffalo division of the Pennsylvania railroad.
All of the material has been purchased and is stored along the proposed route. The rails will be eight five-pound steel and new rolling stock will be purchased for this
division. The route will be a new one, surveyed last year, and will be on the direct line of the Shawmut Trunk road from the coal fields of Pennsylvania across New York State to Macedon.
Work will begin Monday, the first gang of men arriving from Pennsylvania yesterday. The standard gauging of this division leaves only a twenty-mile open link between Bolivar and
Angelica to connect up all the standard gauge division and that will probably be speedily constructed. Vice-President Smith, of the Shawmut line, states that the failure of Marquad & Co., for which he is assignee, in no way affects the Shawmut line, and that the road is in better
shape today than ever before. The people of Bolivar voluntarily contributed $10,000 to the right of way fund and other towns in the county have done as well.
The Shawmut line owns 35,000 acres of the best coal lands in Pennsylvania and its trunk line when completed, as it will be speedily traverses a region rich in coal timber, clay,
glass rock, natural gas and petroleum in fact the richest manufacturing country in Western Pennsylvania. In New York it runs through a rich manufacturing and agricultural country. The work of constructing the new line will be in charge of Frank P. Byrne, of Detroit, president of the
Interior Construction Company and a brother of Mayor John Byrne, president of the Shawmut line.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., Aug. 1, 1901
Work Under Way
____
Force of Men and Teams Making Roadbed
for Shawmut Standard Gauge
The work of widening the gauge of the Shawmut Line between Bolivar and Olean is under way in earnest. Engineer Macomb said yesterday that 80 men and 20 teams were at work just below Little Genesee where a camp of eleven tents has been made for the Italian laborers. A well has been drilled for water and in honor of the Chief Engineer the camp has been named
Camp Macomb.
The Italians are paid 13 1/2 cents an hour and the teams are paid $4 a day. The Italians observe Sundays, all feast days and holidays and an interpreter keeps things moving smoothly between the men and their employees.
Engineer Macomb says that the Shawmut's steam shovel will be put at work in a couple of weeks and that a standard gauge work train will be put on as soon as the steam shovel comes. He says that most of the work
will be done by the steam shovel and the teams, and there is really not much of the work that will be done by the Italians. The right of way contracts are being closed up rapidly and the engineers are blazing the way close on the heels of the right of way men. It is expected now that
the standard gauge trains will be running into Bolivar by the first of December.
Bolivar Breeze, Aug. 8, 1901
Railroad Work Humming
Work on the construction of the roadbed of the standard gauge line of the Shawmut Line between Olean and Bolivar is humming in the vicinity of Little Genesee where 30 teams and about 150 men are at work. In all but three cases the new right of way between Bolivar and Main Settlement has either been bought and paid for or can be closed up at once. The steam shovel is expected
to be in use on the new line in a few days.
Bolivar Breeze, Aug 15, 1901
THE RAILROAD SITUATION
The citizens of Bolivar have reason to shake hands with themselves over the present railroad situation. For half a century, ever since the Erie railroad was built across
Allegany county and gave Bolivar the go by, the people of the town have hoped that some day a standard gauge railroad would be built through here. When the oil boom came it brought with it two flimsily constructed narrow gauge railroads which answered the purpose of transportation
as well as narrow gauge railroads can, but when the boom went out one of the narrow gauge roads went with it and the other faded into a right of way and a streak of rust. The owners did not want to spend any more money on it because it was rough and crooked and they hoped some day t
build a full grown, standard gauge road on a new survey road on a new survey to replace the little road that had answered when the boom was on.
And the work of constructing the new line is well under way, so there is no longer doubt of the completion of the enterprise. President Byrne of the Interior Construction
Company who has charge of the construction of the new line states emphatically that standard gauge trains will be running between Bolivar and Olean by Thanksgiving Day. Before another ear has rolled away there is every reason to believe that the open link of 20 miles between Bolivar
and Angelica will have been connected up and coal trains running from the mines down in Pennsylvania out across to Wayland, and beyond.
The policy of the Shawmut Line is to help develop the towns along the line through which the road passes. If you don’t believe this, visit St. Marys, Smethport, Hazelhurst,
Coryville or ay of the towns through which the line runs. And this spirit is not altogether unselfish, for every industry located in a town along the Shawmut Line means more freight, more passengers, increased earning power—and larger dividends for stockholders. A standard gauge
railroad for Bolivar means the same freight rates that Olean enjoys, means a two cent mileage book, means that Bolivar will become more important as a shipping point for hay, potatoes, live stock and other farm products, means that with the natural has supply that has lately been
acquired, and the nearness to the coal beds of Pennsylvania that Bolivar will be in just as good position to secure manufacturing plants as Olean, Wellsville, Bradford, or any of the cities and towns in this part of the country.
Now—right on the eve of the consumation of hopes long deferred is it wise to antagonize our friends, the railroad men, by granting permission to a trolley line to come in and
carry off the passenger traffic that is rightly theirs? If they take hold and help build up Bolivar are they not in justice entitled to fair treatment? Should they not be encouraged rather than discouraged? The writer believes that the railroad people intend to faithfully carry
out every promise made to the people of Bolivar—if they don’t—well, they’ll wish they had—that’s all.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., Aug. 15, 1901
Railroad News
____
Standard Gauge Trains Promised
For Thanksgiving
_____
Thee are no indications that the Shawmut Line will run any Sunday trains between Bolivar and Olean this summer. The Sunday excursion trains last summer did not pay expenses.
__________
Yesterday the Shawmut Line purchased of William Bowler of Little Genesee the fifteen acre gravel pit at the mouth of Slade Hollow, and within a few feet of the Shawmut track.
The bed is 30 feet in thickness and will be used for grading between Bolivar and Olean.
______
A foundation was completed on Monday for the new steel turntable to be placed in the Bolivar yards. It is located just north of the old turntable and will be used by the
narrow gauge engines until the gauge is widened and standard gauge trains are running to Bolivar.
'______
The Shawmut engineer corps is now working between Olean and White House. The work of laying out the new line in Olean was completed Monday. For a long distance between Gordons
and Merserveau's the new grade will be three feet higher than the old grade and big fills will be made. The new tracks will be above high water mark.
______
There will be no change in Bolivar terminals when the standard gauge trains are put on between Bolivar and Olean, for the present, anyway. The station and yards now occupied will
be used as heretofore. When the line is completed through to Angelica, it is expected that a passenger station will be established uptown.
_______
Hundreds of pounds of dynamite wa was used by the Shawmut Line construction crew in the rock cut between Ceres and Little Genesee during the past week. A new and wider roadbed
has been blasted out along the rocky ledge and the standard gauge track will set on solid rock. The new grade is six feet lower th n the old grade, the grades have been eliminated and the sag in the line will be filled in. The line for a distance of 2,000 feet in the cut is being
relaid with heavy steel and yesterday the trains ran over the new right of way.
________
The Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern R.R. Co. commenced, on Friday last, to run through passenger trains between Smethport and Larrabee to connect with all passenger trains on the
Buffalo and Allegany Valley division of the Pennsylvania R.R. The Shawmut trains use the Clermont branch between Coryville and Larrabee. This arrangement will be of grate convenience to all Smethport passengers, as it will land them right in town, thus saving the trip back and forth
between this borough and East Smethport. - Smethport Democrat item.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., Aug 20, 1901
LIVELY SUNDAY IN CERES.
______
Shawmut Line Builds 1,600 Feet of New
and Heads off the Trolley Line.
There was considerabl excitement in Ceres last Sunday. At four o'clock that morning the Shawmut Line engineer corps headed by Capt. A.G. McComb, and reinforced by 150 Italians
and 30 teams invadced Ceres and began the work of laying out, grading and completing a Y 1,600 feet in length.
The Y was built on the Carter lot just below Ceres, on which the Olean Electric railroad had filed notice of location of their line two days previous The 1,600 feet of track
was surveyed, graded, ties and rails laid and switch connections made before midnight on Sunday.
In addition a standard gauge engine was brought from Smethport to Ceres and placed on the Y along with a number of cars to prevent the track from being torn up. The Ostrander
lot on which the Shawmut Line had previously surveyed a Y was purchased Saturday night at a fancy price by the trolley people. The reason for building the Y on Sunday was that no injunction could be served on that day by the trolley people, thus interfering with and stopping the
work.
W.R. Page hurried from Olean to Ceres on Sunday morning and served a notice of location on Engineer McComb, who stuck it in his pocket. After watching the Italians stack up
clay for a few minutes, Mr. Page drove down the road that leads to Olean. The building of the Y shuts the proposed trolley out of Ceres and the matter will likely be fought out in the courts.
Bolivar Breeze, Aug. 22, 1901
PITTSBURG, SHAWMUT & NORTHERN RAILROAD
----------------------------------
About 20 dump cars were delivered at the rock cut this side of Ceres this week and are being used in place of dump scrapers for carrying grade material.
----------------------------------
One construction gang is working on the new roadbed at the A. J. Hall farm between Little Genesee and Bolivar, and the work is being pushed along rapidly.
----------------------------------
Just above Bowler’s a new channel has been cut for Bolivar creek and the course of the stream changed for 300 feet in order to save the water cutting into the Shawmut
Line grade in times of flood.
Bolivar Breeze, Oct. 3, 1901
THE LATEST RAILROAD NEWS
The Shawmut Line steam shovel is now at work at Swains filling in the great horseshoe trestle, work on which was partially completed two or three years ago. As soon as he work
at Swains is completed the steam shovel will be moved to the Bolivar division. It will arrive next week.
____
The New York & Pennsylvania railroad company is expected to be running trains over their new extension from Shingle House to Ceres early in November. The grading has been
completed to Myrtle, within two miles of Ceres and nearly three miles of ties and rails are down. The longest bridge on the line is across Honeoye Creek and is built of heavy timbers.
___
Joseph Way, conductor on the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern railroad was run over by the cars at Hornellsville on Monday of lasxt week. His leg was broken just above the ankle
and he was badly bruised. He in some manner caught hold of the car just as the wheels passed over his leg, and he was dragged a long distance before the train was stopped. He was taken to his home in Angelica on a special train.
____
A Shawmut Line train is stationed on the switch at White House constantly to prevent the trolley line from being thrown across the Shawmut tracks on a grade. Steam is kept up
in the engine and a train crew is on duty day and night. The Pennsylvania is also watchful and has two night patrolmen and one day patrolman on guard constantly to see that the trolley line is no rushed across their roadbed on a grade.
___
There was a small railroad war at Smethport on Tuesday morning of last week between the employees of the Shawmut Line and a crew of Italians in the employ of E.K. Kane's
Kushequa Route. About one o'clock Tuesday morning he Shawmut Line force went to work on a switch across land owned by Kane to connect their line with the glass works and put them in line to receive a share of the freight.
At daylight the work was well underway and soon the Kane forces appeared and the air was full of rocks, pick handles and Italian swear words. Several of the men were injured
but none seriously. A truce was agreed on and the matter was referred to to Judge Morrison for adjustment. The Shawmut Line switch is still uncompleted but what was built has not been disturbed.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., Nov. 28, 1901
STANDARD GAUGE
____
First Train Reached Bolivar on Sunday, November 24.
_____
The first standard gauge train to run into Bolivar reached the Shawmut station at five o'clock, Sunday afternoon, Nov. 24, a date
to jot down in your diary. A work train drawn by Engine 9 with S.E. Heers at the throttle and John Jacques in the fireman's seat came first, followed by Engine No. 11, in charge of Maser
Mechanic L.B. Heers and fireman John Van Brunt. No. 11 pulled a fine new coach destined for the Bolivar and Olean run. the new combination smoker and baggage ca will not reach Bolivar from
the shops for a week yet and in the interim a box car will answer for a baggage car. The trains arrived at the lower end of the yards at three o'clock and as both engines began tooting
their whistles a mile down the valley, many people thought there was a fire down near the station, and naturally a big crowd ran down that way and was on hand to greet the trains when
they arrived. A keen wind was blowing and a light rain falling. When the trains came the track through he yards was not widened out but in two hours the narrow gauge switches had been torn
out by the roots, the big rails were down and spiked, and the edge of the station platform sawed off so that the standard gauge cars could run by. The trains remained at the station
but a few minutes and all who desired were given a free ride to Ceres and back. The narrow gauge engines made their last trip over this end of the line on Sunday afternoon when they left
for White House. The work of standard gauging the line from White House to Olean will proceed rapidly, and President Byrne of the Construction Company says that with favorable weather he
will have standard gauge trains running into Olean from Bolivar one week from next Monday. Mr. Byrne says that under the new schedule soon to go into effect that the running time from
Bolivar to Olean will not exceed 40 minutes and may be reduced to 35 minutes. It is expected that the number of trains will be increased though no official statement to that effect has
been issued. The old narrow gauge line is to be ripped up at once and the iron shipped to the mines n Pennsylvania for use on the company's coal roads. The old roadbed will be
abandoned on Jan. 1. The new road bed which has been built under the supervision of Chief Engineer McComb, is a fine one, substantially and nearly all of the curves in the old line have
been eliminated and the grades reduced. The roadbed is still a little "soft" but the work of ballasting and leveling up is proceeding rapidly. The first regular run over the new
road was made on Monday by Engine 11, in charge of Engineer William Johnson and Sam Smith as fireman. Conductor John McLaughlin was in charge of the train and John Hale and Len White were
the brakemen. James McLaughlin will continue as American Express messenger. The new coach is finished in oak, the seats are upholstered in elegant red plush. Thetrain crew transfers to
the narrow gauge at White House and completes the regular run to Olean and return twice a day.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Dec. 10, 1901
LINE FROM CANISTEO THROUGH CERES
______
The new extension of the New York & Pennsylvania railroad from Shingle House to Ceres, five miles, was opened for traffic yesterday, giving the New York & Pennsylvania a through line from Canisteo to
Ceres, fifty-seven miles. At Canisteo the New York & Pennsylvania coinnects with the Erie railroad, at Ceres, with the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Norther, making a valuable feeder for both the Erie and
Shawmut lines.
During the past two years many manufacturing plants have located in the Oswayo valley, along the line of he New York & Pennsylvania, for the purpose of working up the hardwood forests that cover the hills.
At Shingle House, which is located in the famous Potter county gas belt, one of the largest glass factories in the world is building; the plant covers nine acres and will use a million feet of gas a day. Natural gas is furnished to the plant the first year for three cents per
thousand, and the ten-year contract calls for gas at an average price of about six cents.
An unlimited amount of glass rock, that is 92 percent silica, lies a few miles out of Shingle House, on one of the hills. Through trains will be run from Canisteo to Ceres and connection made with the
Shawmut Line passenger trains from Bolivar for Olean. The New York & Pennsylvania will use the Shawmut yards, water tank and station at Ceres, and for the present F.H. Call will act as agent at Ceres for both roads.
The last strip of oil region, narrow-gage railroad in New York state is being ripped up, and within a month the narrow gauge division of the Shawmut Line, eighteen miles in length, connecting Bolivar and
Olean, will have disappeared. The gauge has already been widened out to White House, where the Shawmut line crosses the Buffalo division of the Pennsylvania, and work is well underway on the strip between White House and Olean, a distance of seven miles.
The standard gauge line between White House and Bolivar has been constructed on a new survey, the grades and curves have been eliminated and the rails are 85-pounders. The steam shovel is working in a
twenty-acre gravel pit between Bolivar and Ceres, and two work trains are hurrying along the grade. The work of construction is in charge of Colonel F.P. Byrne of Detroit, president of the Interior Construction Company; and A.G. McComb, of Bradford, chief of the engineer corps of the
Shawmut Line, lays out and directs the work of the forces. About 150 Italians are working on the grade.
When the new line is in operation, the running time from Bolivar to Olean will be reduced from one hour and ten minutes to thirty-five minutes, and the freight and passenger service both materially
improved. With the coming of spring, it is expected that the line between Bolivar and Angelica, twenty miles, which line had been surveyed and cross-staked, and right of way secured, and the line between Larrabee and White House will be pushed to an early completion, thus realizing
the dream of the owners of the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern, a trunk line from their bituminous coal properties in Pennsylvania to Central New York and the lake beyond.
The narrow gauge iron will be shipped to the company's mines in Pennsylvania, for use on new mine lines that are being constructed. The assistant auditor's office at Angelica has been abolished, and the
work will all be done hereafter at the main office in St. Marys. Assisant Auditor E.B. Tilden and his clerks have been ordered to report to St. Marys.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, January 20, 1902
Twenty-four Miles in Twelve Hours.
The high winds of Sunday and Sunday night drifted the snow so badly that the Shawmut road was badly crippled and only one train was run over the line Monday. That train left
Wayland at 7 a.m. and ran to Hornellsville, a distance of twenty-two miles, in just twelve hours.
The train got stalled in a drift when three and a half miles out from Wayland and could not go either way. Crews were sent from both Wayland and Hornellsville, and work was
begun on both ends of the blockade. It was slow work and it was nearly 6 o’clock before the train could proceed toward Hornellsville.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, March 1, 1902
Allegany In For It
_____
Travel Suspended on Olean Division of the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern
River Rising.
__
Bolivar, Feb. 28. - Rain has been falling steadily in Allegany county for fourteen hours and the great mass of snow that covered the ground like a blanket to a depth of three feet has melted away rapidly.
Every stream is over its bank, small bridges are washed out, cellars are filled with water, stage lines are abandoned and the words flood in years is feared tonight.
Traffic on the Olean division of the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern railway is suspended. One passenger train is stalled in the flood between Bolivar and Little Genesee, with the trucks of one car off the track. The
passengers reached safety this afternoon by walking a plank to high ground. The Allegany river at Portville is rising steadily and it is not likely that the Shawmut line will be able to move trains into Olean for several days, as the track for a long distance follows the river bank.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, March
22, 1902
Possibilities of the Shawmut
________
Almost Completed Up to Wayland
____
The latest move of the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern railroad is to seek an entrance into Pittsburg from its coal properties in Jefferson, Elk and Clearfield counties in
Pennsylvania, and a connection with the Wabash. The financial interests that have recently been allied with the Shawmut line are largely interested in the Wabash and the intention is to mutually benefit both systems.
During the past three weeks A.G. McComb, chief engineer of the Interior Construction and Improvement Company, with assistants, have been in Pittsburg looking the ground over
and planning an entrance into that city. The engineering difficulties are rather complicated but the intention is to enter the city over the Wabash terminals. The Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg found it very profitable to extend its lines from the coal fields on down to Pittsburg,
and the Shawmut line officials believe it will be just as profitable for their road, especially with a Wabash connection.
With the exception of a twenty-mile link and a seven-mile link, the Shawmut line has its different divisions connected up between Wayland on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western
and Brockwayville in the Jefferson county coal fields. Three corps of surveyors are now at work running lines over the open links and work on the construction will begin in a short time. There are now being loaded at Burnside, Ky., for the construction between Bolivar and Angelica.
The Shawmut line passes through Steuben, Allegany and Cattaraugus counties in New York and McKean, Elk, Jefferson and Clearfield counties in Pennsylvania.
The completed line will run from Pittsburg to a point on Lake Ontario, beyond Macedon, crossing all the trunk lines in Pennsylvania and New York, and giving the Wabash an open
field into New York State, with connections for New England points and the sea coast. Primarily the Shawmut line will be a coal carrying road. It owns 60, acres of rich bituminous coal lands in Clearfield, Jefferson and Elk counties, including the famous group of Shawmut mines. The
mines are now shipping several thousand tons a day, and are all equipped with electricity and electrical mining machinery, and the output will be double within a year.
At Byrne, in Elk county, is a thriving town of several hundred population that has been created during the past year and named after President Byrne of the Shawmut. The town
has a complete water plant, natural gas, schools, churches, houses that are plumbed and fitted with many modern conveniences, a town that is occupied by the employees of the new mines recently opened by the Shawmut line. The company operates hotels and stores, and where this thriving
town stands today there was nothing but stumps and brush eighteen months ago.
In addition to coal properties which provide a heavy tonnage and will for a century at least, the road taps rich timberlands, clay beds, glass sand and runs through gas and
oil territory. There are today nearly a dozen glass plants on the line of the road, numerous furniture factories, sawmills, chemical works and other industries that employ much labor and afford a large tonnage. The industrial department of the Shawmut line which is maintained at
large expense seeks to secure free sites for all manufacturers who desire to locate along the line of the road.
It is anticipated that this work now being laid out by the surveying parties will be under way as soon as spring opens. The consulting engineer, William Barclay Parsons, of New
York, who has charge or the rapid transit tunnel in New York, is a frequent visitor along the line of the road. He was in Bolivar a few days ago and stated that the hardest proposition on the line was to get over the mountain between Bolivar and Friendship, the summit of which is
five miles from Bolivar and 361 feet above this village.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, April 17, 1902
Beginning Work on P.S. & N.
_____
Forty Miles of New Line This Summer
___
The Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern railroad will build forty miles of new line this season and connect the Pennsylvania and New York divisions. Forty miles of new steel rails
are now stacked up at White House and Angelica and 150,000 ties are being loaded in Kentucky for use on the new line. The fish plates, bolts and other needed material are stored in Bolivar, Angelica and at White House.
The rails are eight-five pound and the ties of best quality. The surveys are about completed, the corps having been working steadily over a year, and thousands of dollars
spent in preliminary work. The contract has been let to the Interior Construction and Improvement Company, of which Frank P. Byrne, of Detroit, is president. The sub-contracts will be let just as soon as the plans and specifications are ready and work will begin in a short time.
It is planned to have through trains running from Cool Spring, Armstrong county, Pa., the southern terminus in the Pennsylvania coal fields to Wayland, N.Y., the present
northern terminus, by next Christmas.
Next season will see the norther terminus extended to a point on Lake Ontario and the southern terminus to Pittsburg, where a connection will be sought with the Wabash.
General Thomas Hubbard, of New York, a director of the Wabash, is none one of the strong financial men in the Shawmut line syndicate and this is significant. M.F. Bonzana, formerly with the Pennsylvania and Lehigh, is now chief engineer of the Shawmut line and has active charge of
the new surveys. The completed line will be 250 miles long.
The longest link to be built this season will be between Bolivar and Angelica, twenty-five miles. it will also be the most expensive. Mr. Bonzana has modified the survey made
last year, which cut through the residence part of the village, and the new line will follow the old survey of the valley to Richburg and the present yards and station will be used.
The new survey will be what is known as a 70 percent grade between Bolivar and the summit of the West North, midway between Bolivar and Friendship. Over this summit a pusher
will be used on all heavy trains. The right of way for long distances between Bolivar and Angelica will follow the old narrow gauge line of the Shawmut, the rails from which were ripped up several years ago when the line came into the possession of the present owners.
During the past year the narrow gauge division between Bolivar and Olean has been made a standard gauge, so thee is only a short line between White House, where the Shawmut
line crosses the Buffalo division of the Pennsylvania and Larrabee, Pa., where connection is made with the Smethport division of the Shawmut and a little five-mile strip between Clermont and Marvindale to build after the Bolivar and Angelica link is completed to connect the entire
system.
The new locomotives of the latest improved type are to be placed in service on the Shawmut line this year. Two are now building and the specifications are completed for eight
more. New passenger and freight cars are building and the equipment throughout will be of the best.
The mines of the Shawmut line are now producing and shipping 4,000 tons of coal a day. If cars could be secured the present output could be increased to 7,000 tons a day. The
mines are equipped with electricity and compressed air mining machines and a large part of the output of the mines goes o Buffalo. The Grand Trunk and the Wabash railroads and the Buffalo waterworks receive their coal supply from the Shawmut mines. The rest of the coal produced is
shipped into New England. The Shawmut line owns 80,000 acres of the best soft coal lands in Pennsylvania and has options that will be closed on 20,000 acres additional.
Asked if the fuel oil from Texas was not likely to injure the coal trade of the Shawmut mines Mr. Byrne stated that he had no fears in that direction. The market for fuel
is expanding so rapidly that there will be territory always available to be supplied with both coal and oil. Points on the sea coast and along the Gulf he thought will be invaed by the tank steamers and coal displaced perhaps by oil, but there will be no marked cut into the coal
markets in other parts of the country. he believes that oil will more readily find a market as fuel for the great steamship lines and that an increase in manufacturing industries on the gulf coast section will make way with a large portion of the fuel oil produced by the Texas
wells.
Mr. Byrne states that all sub-contractors will be required to give heavy bonds and that no contracts will be made except with large contractors who can furnish the men
needed to complete the work in the shortest possible time after it is begun.
The Olean Electric Railway, wich parallels the line of the Sawmut from Olean to White House, seven miles, is fighting for three crossings at grade for an extension from White
House to Bolivar, twelve miles. The grading is nearly all finished, the rails strung or laid and the poles set from White House to Bolivar, but the work is now held up by litigation, the mater having been sent to a referee.
The street car company has erected a large power house, six miles below Bolivar, and is drilling a gas well to supply fuel for the power house. The trolley survey crosses the
Shawmut line at White House and at Ceres and the main line a mile east of Ceres.
In event of being unable to secure a grade crossing, it is likely that the street car company will either cross over or under the Shawmut line. At White House the electric
road survey also crosses the Buffalo division of the Pennsylvania and a grade crossing has been asked for and denied. This will also be fought out in the courts. The trolley company is going ahead and completing the line with the exception of the crossing asked for. The Shawmut line
and the Pennsylvania declare that they will carry the cases to the court of appeals before they will grant a grade crossing. President Byrne, of the Shawmut, does not intend to have a grade crossing on his entire line when it is completed.
Bolivar Breeze, Thursday, May 15,
1902
President Byrne and Other
Prominent Shawmut Line
Officials Were in Bolivar,
Monday
President John Byrne of the
Shawmut Line came to town Monday in company with a party of his able lieutenants and advisors. They were on a tour of inspection and remained here only two hours, returning to
Olean on the afternoon train. The party was made up of General Manager Maroney, Chief Engineer Bonzano, Auditor Hastings, Trainmaster Hufstader, Engineer Derr, and Superintendent
of telegraph lines Tarbell.
Mr. Maroney stated in an
interview that work would shortly begin on the line between Bolivar and Angelica and that three crews would be put at work, one at Bolivar, one at Friendship and the other at
Angelica. He stated emphatically that trains would be running between Bolivar and Angelica before snow flies.
Major Byrne was in
particularly fine spirits but he won't be happy until he sees some tall factory chimneys in Bolivar. He says that the Shawmut Line will do everything in its power to build up the
towns along the line and that the railroad company will expect the hearty cooperation of the citizens and property owners of the towns.
Rochester Democrat &
Chronicle, Friday, July 4, 1902
Action To Set Aside Foreclosure Sale.
____
More P., S. & N. Litigation
____
Are the Shawmut Interests Trying to Secure New York
and Pennsylvania Property as a Profitable Feeder -
Allegany County.
___
Hon. Frank Sullivan Smith, of Angelica, general counsel for the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern railroad, has brought suit against William Richardson, of Hornellsville, Cobb
Brothers, of Spring Mills, and the other parties interested in the recent purchase of the New York & Pennsylvania railroad, to have the recent foreclosure sale set aside on the grounds of collusion and fraud.
Mr. Smith is the owner of $13,000 of the bonds of the road and is protecting his interests, as well as the interests of other bondholders. An injunction asked for has been
granted and a long and bitter fight for the possession of the road is in prospect.
The line is fifty-two miles long and runs from Canisteo to Ceres, looping through Potter and McKean counties in Pennsylvania. Thee has been litigation over the road almost
from the day the first link from Oswayo to Genesee Forks was completed. J.B. Rumsey, who made $75,000 in cash in the gas business in Ohio, organized the company originally and invested all his money in the road. An effort was made to freeze him out and the matter has been in the
courts for several years, being carried to the highest tribunal. Rumsey won but before the matter was adjusted by the courts the road was sold foreclosure by the holders of the mortgage.
It is not likely that Mr. Smith is presenting the Rumsey interests also. Mr. Smith is a consulting railroad attorney for Andrew Carnegie and for many large corporations and
has been very successful. His appearance in the litigation may mean several things.
The New York & Pennsylvania has a connection with the Shawmut line at Ceres and it may be that the Shawmut interests are concerned in acquiring the property as a feeder, as
the road passes through a region that furnishes a large tonnage of lumber, bark, leather, hides, heading, glass and other freight beside a large amount of passenger business for points reached by the Shawmut line and its connections.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., Aug. 14, 1902
ODD SIGHT IN BOLIVAR.
_____
Forty-Five Ton Steam Shovel Run Up Main Street on a Movable Steel Railroad Track. Located Near Richburg.
A big steam shovel owned by Lathrop, Shea, & Henwood, the firm having the contract for building the Shawmut Line grade between Bolivar and Friendship was moved up Boss
street onto Main street on Monday and headed for Richburg where it will be used in cutting away a hill and furnishing gravel for a big full on the Richardson farm.
The shovel weighs 45 tons and is moved along under its own steam o a sectional railroad track about 50 feet in length. The ties have handles on them and the rails are in
sections of about six feet. Then the ties and rails it has passed over are taken up and the track extended in front for another forward movement. The work of moving is in charge of “Noisy” Murphy, a big strapping fellow who knows how to get a big days work out of his Italian
assistants.
Usually long sections of rails are used which are moved by a team but they failed to reach Bolivar in time so the short rails were used and they wer moved by the
Italians. With the long rails it is possible to move the steam shovel a mile a day. The only serious difficulty in this village was in making the curve at the corner of Main and Boss streets, opposite the bank. There the rear wheels of the shovel jumped the track and some time
was lost.
The shovel is a powerful machine and in ten hours working at full speed it can load 600 dump cars with gravel or at any rate of one a minute, thus doing the work of one
big gang of men. It works with almost human intelligence and the mechanism is quite complicated. Such a steam shovel as this one costs from $7,000 to $8,000. Lathrop, Shea & Henwood own dozens of them. More than one hundred people spent all day Monday [August 11th, 1902]
watching the work of moving the shovel and handing down decisions as to the best way in which to do such work. “Noisy” Murphy is a great and he refused to receive any advice. He told anxious inquirers that the shovel weighed 90 tons and cost $120,000.
Bolivar Breeze, Aug 14, 1902
THE SHAWMUT LINE
Work Between Bolivar and Angelica Going Slowly
Probably the work that apparently presents the most engineering difficulties on the Shawmut Line is the construction of the large concrete abutments and piers for the
bridge over the Genesee river. It used to be thought that concrete could not be laid in cold weather but modern skill and methods now accomplishes this the same as in warm weather.
The north abutment is completed, says the Angelica Advocate. This extends twenty feet below the level of the river and over thirty feet above it. After the work on this
abutment was completed the most accurate measurements failed to detect a variation of one one-hundredth of an inch in the elevation of the bridge seat from the original plan. The abutment on the south side of the river is many feet above the level of the water and out of all
danger from high water.
There are to be three supporting piers between the two abutments. It has proven much more difficult to keep the water out of the casements for these piers than in
ordinary bridge construction owing to the gravelly character of the underlying soil but the contractors have several large centrifugal pumps at work and are proving themselves masters of the situation. The big fill on the Youngs farm is nearly completed to the river.
The long deep cut on the Anglican Church property is progressing as rapidly as can be with one steam shovel. With one more cut through this it will be nearly completed.
The work between Friendship and Bolivar is mostly light work and what remains to be done can be quickly completed in the spring. This is true between Friendship and West Notch, with the exception of the big cut and fill at Nile where a steam shovel is working continuously. From
Richburg to Bolivar the work is all very light.
It is now expected by the Shawmut Line officials that trains will be running from Bolivar to Angelica by July 1. The great fill on the Richardson farm on the East Notch
road will be completed by the last of March.
One mile of the Shawmut Line’s new grade between Clermont and Marvindale will cost $100,000. Within that distance there are three fills, one of which is 1,500 feet long, 100
feet high, and 300 feet wide at the bottom of the deepest point of the gorge which it crosses. An arched stone culvert seven feet wide, six feet high, and 300 feet long passes under the fill and carries away the water of a small creek. The bed of the culvert is of cement. This
great fill will be completed by April 1.
B. C. Mulhern, trainmaster of the Shawmut Line, was among the visitors in Bolivar, Tuesday. J. C. Leggett of Cuba, Stanley N. Wood of Hinsdale, and Frank N. Godfrey of
Olean have been appointed by the Court as commissioners in the condemnation case of the Shawmut Connecting Railroad Company against William E. Hornblower, a proceeding to acquire a right of way in the town of Portville. The first hearing will be at Olean January 22.
Frank S. Smith was in Buffalo Monday on the condemnation case of the Shawmut against Lucinda Norton, a case to acquire an additional width of right of way in Friendship
village. Judgment of condemnation was granted and J. C. Leggett of Cuba, George A. Beers of Bolivar and Charles F. Ingham of Hume were appointed commissioners. The final hearing will be held at Friendship on January 24.
Bolivar Breeze, Nov. 27, 1902
Since the Olean Street Railway Company has been running its cars into Bolivar the effect on the Shawmut Line's passenger traffic over the Bolivar division has been very
marked. The trolley line now carries at least 80 percent of the passengers between Bolivar and Olean.
The Shawmut rate is $1 for the round trip and the trolley rateis 60 cents. It was anticipated that the Shawmut Line would cut the rate to meet the competition of the
trolley but so far no effort has been made to meet trolley rates.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., Oct. 9, 1902
AMICABLE ADJUSTMENT
The differences between the Shawmut Line and the Olean Street Railroad Company which have been before the courts for some time have been adjusted satisfactorily to both
parties. The Shawmut Line has granted the trolley company a right to cross their Y at Ceres and to cross under their tracks at Cases.
The track has been taken out of the highway below Ceres and relaid over the Y. It is expected that the crossing at Cases will be completed within sixty days. This will give
the trolley company a clear from White House to Bolivar. For the present, there will be a transfer at Cases.
It is expected that cars will be running into Bolivar within a short time now. The Pennsylvania has to pay part of the expense for the Pennsylvania management is dead
against grade crossings on its main lines and the Buffalo division is daily becoming more and more important as a course for through traffic.
It is a matter for congratulation to all concerned that the differences between the Shawmut Line and the trolley company have been settled.
Bolivar Breeze,Thurs., Oct. 9, 1902
INTERLOCKING SWITCH
___
The Shawmut Line is installing at White House where a grade crossing is made on the Pennsylvania railroad tracks an international interlocking safety switch. It is a
complicated device and by its use it is impossible for a collision to occur on a crossing.
The switches are operated by a series of levers from a tower located near the crossing. The tower is about 24 feet high and has lookouts of glass so that a train can be
seen as well as heard a long way off. An operator will be stationed in the tower. Instead of wires, such as are used in operating the block system, gas pipes are used to control the switches and they move back and forth on rollers. The device cost $6,000, and will be in operation
about next Monday.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., Oct. 9, 1902
Shawmut Terminal at Olean
___
Since last Friday the Shawmut Line trains have not been running into the Pennsylvania railroad station at Olean owing to the fact that the Pennsylvania is now using the
track on which the Shawmut Line trains formerly ran into the station on exclusively for southbound traffic. The other track is used for northbound traffic and a regular double track service is now maintained through the Olean yards and beyond.
It is only a question of a short time when the entire Buffalo division will be double tracked. Shawmut Line trains now receive and discharge passengers at the foot of
Barry street, opposite the Acme Mills, about 260 feet from the south end of the Pennsylvania station platform.
The Olean papers printed erroneous statements regarding a row between the Pennsylvania and the Shawmut, stating that trains were not allowed to proceed beyond the highway
bridge. It is possible that within a short time that the Shawmut Line will establish an independent station at Olean, but no decision has yet been reached in the matter.
Bolivar Breeze, Oct. 9, 1902
SHAWMUT'S BIG FILL
____
One Fill Near Palmerville is 100 Feet High
and 1,200 Feet Long
____
The big fill at Palmerville is said to be the most expensive piece of railroad construction on the entire Shawmut line; thee are 250 men employed, which are apportioned
into day and night shifts, each shift working eleven hours out of 24, says the Smethport Democrat.
There are two immense steam shovels at work on this fill, each shovel having a capacity of handling 44 tons of earth and rock every ten minutes, giving one a slight
inkling of what is being done in the way of railroad construction in that vicinity.
In coming from Clermont the survey of the Shawmut gives a perfect loop across a deep ravine at Palmerville, the road crossing the ravine twice, the two crossings being
within a few rods of each other. The largest fill at its base is 370 feet across and will be one hundred feet high and about 1,200 feet long when completed.
This fill is pierced by a sluceway of solid masonry 370 feet long by 6x10 feet inside measurement, containing 1,200 yards of masonry, to accommodate a small stream that
flows through the ravine. About 30 feet of this fill has been completed.
Auburn Weekly
Bulletin, January 16, 1903
Will Build a Short Railroad.
Albany, Jan. 15. – The Northern Shawmut Railroad Company was incorporated here with a capital of $30,000 to operate a steam road 2 ½ miles long from a point on the line of
the Pittsburg, Shawmut and Northern Railroad Company in Grove, Allegany county, to Michael’s Mills, Ossian, Livingston County.
The directors are: C.W. Artz, F.H. Mollenhauer, F.J. Fieker, H.F. Granger and G.C. Atkins of New York city; A.M. Wellman and Guy Wellman of Friendship, S.M. Ayers of
Jersey City and F.W. Frost of Brooklyn.
Bolivar Breeze,
Feb. 19, 1903
TO CONNECT WITH P.R.R.
________
It is given out semi-officially that a trackage arrangement has been made between the Pennsylvania railroad and the Shawmut Line by the terms of which the Shawmut Line
trains will use the track of the Pennsylvania between Larrabee and a point near Millgrove when connected will be made with the Sawmut Line to Olean Junction on the Langworthy farm, two miles below Ceres.
A link two and a half miles long between Olean Junction and the Pennsylvania will be built as soon as possible. When this is completed and the Marvindale line is finished
through trains can be run from the Shawmut mines to Bolivar. Then only the link between Bolivar and Angelica will have to be completed before through trains can be running from the coal mines to Wayland on the D.L.& W.
The expense of a new track from Larrabee to Millgrove will be heavy as he Allegany river must be crossed and much of the land is low and subject to overflows in flood
time, making high and expensive embankments necessary to carry the track above high water mark. The trackage arrangement seems like a very easy solution of the problem, but it is not likely that the Shawmut Line will long be satisfied with anything less than their own rails all
the way.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., April 17, 1903
DEATH OF MITCHELL S. BLAIR
____
Well Known Railroad Official died
Monday at His Home in Hornellsville
____
Succumbs to Blood Poison. Was for Many Years
a Leading Citizen of Angelica. Funeral Takes Place
At Angelica Today.
____
Mitchell S. Blair, general superintendent of the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern railroad, died at his home in Hornellsville,
Monday morning. Mr. Blair had been sick for several weeks and had recently submitted to an operation for a carbuncle on his neck from which it was believed he would recover but grew
rapidly worse Sunday night and passed away at an early hour Monday morning.
Mr. Blair was born in Durham, Greene county, N.Y., Dec. 15, 1838, and moved to Angelica in Oct. 1850. he was married to Miss
Harriet Denison of Forestville, Dec. 23, 1860. For many years he was engaged in the mercantile business at Angelica being associated with William Franklin and operating one of the largest
grist mills in the county which was located about a mile from Angelica village.
Mr. Blair served as supervisor of Angelica in 1870, 1871 and 1875 and was appointed postmaster in 1878. He was one of the
county's leading and influential citizens and was prominent in Allegany politics, being a staunch Republican.
Eighteen years go Mr. Blair entered the employ of the Lackawanna & Pittsburg Railroad as an auditor, and he has since been
connected with the road, which became the Shawmut Line. Mr. Blair was promoted to general superintendent and for a time had his office in Hornellsville.
Later it was changed to St. Marys, Pa., but he lived in Hornellsville. The Shawmut is indebted to him for its present
prosperity, as he was a hardwrking official of the highest ability.
He is survived by a wife and three children, Charles E. of Denver, Colo., Frank S. of Angelica, and Miss Mary of Hornellsville.
The funeral will be held this (Thursday) afternoon at the Presbyterian Church at Angelica, of which his father was pastor for many
years. A special train will carry the body, escorted by St. John's Commandery No. 24, K. T., of Olean, of which Mr. Blair was a member and DeMolay Commandery, No. 22, of Hornellsville. The
burial will take place at the Angelica cemetery.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., May 21, 1903
THREE BRIDGES BURNED.
____
Three Howe truss wooden bridges which spanned Toby Creek on the Clarion River division were burned by forest fires on April 30, together with a section house and tool house
with tools. One bridge was 120 feet long, another 65, and the third 68 feet.
The section and tool houses were located at Finland. The bridges and buildings were valued at $8,000, and were covered by insurance. About all of the big railroad companies now
insure their wooden bridges, buildings, engines and cars. The engines are insured against explosions.
The insurance companies send inspectors to examine the engines once a year. By using the B.R. & P. and P.R.R. traffic moves over the Clarion River division as usual. The burned
bridges will be replaced with steel.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, July
30, 1903
HORNELLSVILLE WILL BE NORTHERN TERMINAL OF SHAWMUT RAILROAD
_____
Hornellsville, July 30.- The relative importance of this city as a railroad center will be greatly increased in a short time, as it will become the northern terminal of the
entire Shawmut Railroad system.
A party of Shawmut engineers have been in this city for the last few days completing surveys of the land between the Shawmut and Erie roads, with the view of greatly
improving the facilities of the Shawmut for connecting with the Erie. As soon as the new disconnected branches of the Shawmut Railroad can be connected into one line all the products of the Shawmut coal mines will be shipped in this direction, and the Erie is expected to take a large
part of the coal from the mines.
In order to do this the present transfer tracks of the Shawmut will have to be extended into a railroad yard capable of holding hundreds of cars. At the present time a single
switch serves as a source of transfer between the two roads. This will, it is expected, be enlarged into a yard covering several acres of land.
In order to accommodate the increased coal traffic as soon as the lines of the Shawmut are joined a great deal of work on the road is necessary between this city and Angelica.
About three hundred Italians are now working day and night between Hornellsville Junction and Angelica, putting in all new ties, grading and cleaning up the roadbed. The men work on the ties during the day and at night another force is kept busy hauling gravel from the bed near
Canaseraga. Every preparation is made to get the roadbed into immediate condition for the hauling of coal trains.
Bolivar Breeze, Sept. 10, 1903
(Editorial)
ANGELICA'S GOOD LUCK
____
There is a well founded rumor afloat that the Shawmut Line shops are to be located at Angelica and that within two years that village is to have 6,000 population. This much can
be relied on: If Frank Sullivan Smith's influence is powerful enough in the councils of the Shawmut Line, Angelica will gather everything in the industrial line that can be secured.
As Vice President and General Counsel for the company he will no doubt be able to wield much power in the matter. If Angelica gets the shops and the big increase of population
that will follow, Angelica will be by far the largest village in the county.
The building of the Shawmut Line across the county will be of great benefit, not only to Angelica but also to the other nine towns which the road crosses, for the policy of
the company is to do all that is possible to do to locate factories in the different towns. This will not be entirely a charitable work on the part of the railroad company for that corporation it will mean more tonnage and more passenger traffic, and of course more earning power and
dividends. It will be simply good business policy.
Bolivar Breeze, Oct. 8, 1903
APPOINTED TRAINMASTER.
____
John McLaughlin of Bolivar, for many years a conductor on the Shawmut Line has been appointed trainmaster of the Olean, Smethport and Angelica divisions, with headquarters in
Olean. The position became vacant some time ago by the resignation of W.H. Hufstader.
Mr. McLaughlin was offered the position a month ago but declined it, preferring to have a run as conductor, and expecting the best passenger run when the road was completed as
he had been with the line ever since he began railroading. But the Shawmut officials insisted on his taking the place anyway. If he does not like the work he will have his old place again as conductor. Mr. McLaughlin began his work Monday morning.
"Jack" McLaughlin as he is familiarly known is one of the most popular railroad men in Western New York. He is courteous, obliging and possesses good executive ability. The
appointment of trainmaster came to him as a surprise and as a reward for good work.
Bolivar Breeze, Oct. 15, 1903
COST OF CROSSING $10,000
____
Work is progressing rapidaly on the excavation for the underground crossing of the Shawmut Line at Cases, a mile this side of Ceres. To make this tunnel under the railroad it
is necessary to move 10,000 cubic yards of earth and grave. A large number of men and teams have been to work for three weeks and it will be a month yet before the work is entirely finished.
From one end of thexcavation to the other is a distance of 600 feet. The retaining walls or abutments on which the steel bridge will rest will be of concrete. The walls will be
about 57 feet in length. The bridge will be 40 feet in length and the roadway under the track will be 24 feet wide and 14 feet in the clear. The 24 foot roadway will be occupied by the trolley track and the highway. The rasilroad track crosses the highway at an angle which adds to
the length of the excavation.
A temporary hemlock trestle has been set up and all trains reduce speed to four miles an hour crossing it. James K. VanCampen of Olean has the contract for the excavation and
concrete work and is hurrying it as fast as possible. The steel bridge has been on the ground for several days. The cost of the crossing will be about $10,000.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., Oct. 29, 1903
Shawmut Opened South
____
Extension to Coal Fields Completed and Regular Train Service Began Monday.
_____
The Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railroad Company have completed the extension of their line from Clermont to Kasson, near
Smethport, Pa. This is the line on which the great Loop-the-Loop has been constructed, which has attracted much attention throughout Western New York and Pennsylvania for the past year or
more.
This connecting link of the road now makes a direct short route from Olean, Bolivar, Eldred and Smethport to the Shawmut Co.'s
bituminous coal fields of Elk, Jefferson, Clearfield and Armstrong counties.
Through train service was established on Monday, October 26, which will make all through connections with the Pa. R.R. at St.
Marys, Pa., and Olean, N.Y. and with the B.R.& P. Ry. at Mt. Jewett, Pa.
The Shawmut Passenger Department has issued a very neat little pocket timetable, which gives detailed information. A copy of same
can be obtained by calling on your ticket agent.
C.J. Renwick, General Passenger Agent.
D.F. Maroney, Vice President.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., Nov. 26, 1903
NEW LINE IS OPEN.
_____
Special Train Run From Hornellsville to Olean Last Friday.
Regular Service Promised Soon.
____
The first train over the Shawmut Line from Hornellsville to Olean was run last Thursday, Nov. 19. It was a special consisting of
Engine No. 2 and a passenger coach. The only passengers were Major John Byrne, President of the Shawmut Line, Col. Frank P. Byrne, President of the Interior Construction Improvement
Company and Engineer McComb. The party was on a tour of inspection and pronounced themselves as well pleased with the progress of the work, The train passed through Bolivar about 6
p.m., passing the regular at White House and arrived in Olean at 7 p.m. On Friday the trip was continued to Mt. Jewett and the train returned to Bolivar Friday evening, leaving here for
Hornellsville on Saturday morning. George Cooper was engineer and Edward Pettibone, fireman.
Old P. S. & N. RR Coach, probably at Angelica (submitted by Richard Palmer)
Bolivar Breeze, Dec. 31, 1903
New Train Schedule.
_____
The First Regular Through Trains Passed Over the Shawmut Line, Monday, Dec. 28.
- The Time Card.
The Shawmut Line began operating trains from Hornellsville to Mt. Jewett on Monday, Dec. 28 on a new time car which went into
effect on Sunday. It is an experimental time card and if not satisfactory is likely to be altered. So far as Bolivar is concerned it is not satisfactory for it is not possible to go to
Friendship, Hornellsville or Angelica and return the same day and there is no train to Olean after 10:45 a.m. The first train to reach Bolivar is a local freight which starts from
Angelica at 7 a.m., arrives here at 8:30 and leaves here at 9 a.m., arriving at Olean at 10:20 a.m. the next is a passenger train which leaves Hornellsville at 7:55 a.m., arriving at
Bolivar at 10:45 a.m., arriving at Mt. Jewett at 12:50. Those are the two southbound trains. The first train to arrive in Bolivar from he south is a train which leaves Olean at 12 p.m.
reaching Bolivar at 1:45 p.m. and arriving at Hornellsville at 5:36 p.m. The second train leaves Mt. Jewett at 3:06 p.m., arriving at Bolivar 6:55 p.m., connecting at Olean Junction with
the Mt. Jewett at 6:10. This run ends at Angelica where the train arrives at 8 p.m. The new time card gives Angelica and Friendship excellent train service and the people there are
well pleased with the schedule. The mail service has not been improved as yet, but it is expected that within a few days that it will be greatly improved as the matter has been taken up
by the superintendent of the railway mail service. The southbound through train makes connection with the B. R.& P. flyer both to and from Pittsburg at Mt. Jewett, making a short cut
to Pittsburg from this section. Bolivar people will be pleased when the schedule is modified so that they can go to Friendship, Belmont and other Allegany counts points and return the same
day. Now it is necessary to return by way of Olean.
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Sat., Jan. 23, 1904
Railroads Are Under Water and Stage Lines Are Tied Up.
______
Bolivar, Jan.22. – Two inches of rain has fallen in Allegany county during the past forty-eight hours, and it is still raining tonight with the mercury 50 above zero. Yesterday morning there was from two to four feet of snow on the hills and valleys and it has been steadily melting.
The prospects are for the worst flood in years. There is six inches of water over the Shawmut line rails at Little Genesee, three miles south of Bolivar, and water covers the rails at two of three low places on the Smethport division. Regular trains are still in service, but unless
a cold wave comes tonight the traffic will be tied up
by tomorrow.
The tracks of the Olean street railroad, leading from Bolivar to Olean, are covered with several inches of water at Little Genesee, but care are still ploughing through it tonight. Every little brook is becoming a
torrent and the ice has gone out of many of the small creeks. The stage line from Bolivar to Wellsville is tied up. The driver had to swim his horses this morning and could not return this afternoon , the stage and mail service being abandoned. The Friendship and Bolivar mail stage could
not get through on account of high water and is tied up.
This has been the hardest winter known in Allegany county in many years. Today made the sixty-first consecutive day of sleighing. The snowfall was very heavy and so for this has been the worst month ever known on the oil leases
in Allegany county. Hundreds of oil wells have been shut down, owing to the cold and deep snow, and the oil production for this
month will be 50 percent below the usual monthly output.
Tuesday morning it was 25 below zero and Wednesday it was 33 above zero, a lightning change of 58
degrees in thirty hours. The streets of Bolivar are flooded and a steady flood of melting snow is pouring down from the hills in all directions. Only a cold wave can prevent great damage to the residents of the valleys throughout Allegany County. .
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., Feb. 4, 1904
THROUGH COAL TRAIN.
______
The first through coal train from the Shawmut Lines to Hornellsville passed through Bolivar shortly before midnight, Thursday evening, Jan. 28. It consisted of a big mountain
locomotive, 25 cars of coal and a caboose. The train left St. Marys, Thursday morning and felt its way over the line carefully.
On the grade just out of Bolivar station the train became stalled but after a short stop during which more steam was raise, the big engine picked up the train and whirled it
over the West Notch and on to Angelica. At Angelica the big engine was detached and a lighter one coupled onto the train for the run to Hornellsville.
There are a number of trestles on that part of the line and the Swains bridge was not considered safe for the big engine so it was thought best not to take any chances. The
big engines will not be used on the line beyond Hornellsville until the bridges are made absolutely safe for them.
Every day now a coal train passes through Bolivar and the sight will soon be too common for remark. At present the coal is delivered to the Erie at Hornellsville.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., Feb. 4, 1904
WRECK ON THE SHAWMUT
___
One Passenger and Several of the
Crew Were Injured. Caused by
A Broken Axle Box
A bad wreck occurred at about noon Tuesday on the Shawmut road in East Olean about opposite George Pfeister's residence and near Quirin's tannery, says the Olean Herald. The
train leaving Olean for Bolivar and consisting of two freight cars and a combination express and passenger car left the rails except the engine. The draw-head between the engine and the first car broke and after running on the ties for 100 feet or more all three cars went into the
ditch.
There were four passengers on the train and of these only one was badly hurt. He is A.E. Brandon of Allentown, N.Y. His nose and left wrist were badly cut. In the express part
of the combination car were four of the train crew and Express Messenger H.J. Thayer. The latter received an injury to his right hip and Brakeman John Connors had his nose cut open. Conductor Hathaway received a bad cut to the forehead.
Just how the train came to leave the rails is at present unknown. The first car, which was loaded with feed is a total wreck. The second car rolled over on its side and slid
into a deep ditch on the north side of the track. The third car, which was the combination car, rolled over on its ditch and finally in the ditch bottom side up and then rolled back on its side. A passenger, who was sitting in the front seat was thrown into the closet and the stove
against him. he however escaped injury.
Later
Wednesday's Olean Herald says the wreck of the Shawmut train Tuesday noon nearly opposite the home of George Pfeister, who resides in East State street, was caused by the
dropping of a part of an iron axle box on the first freight car which derailed the trucks of that car and caused the three other cars to leave the tracks on the curve at that point
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, April 15, 1904
GENUINE BOOM STRIKES OLEAN
____
Olean is about to pass through one of the most prosperous years in her history. The immense plans of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company are in a measure responsible. These
consist of the erection of an immense machine shop, a car shop, a boiler shop, and roundhouse, together with a large railroad yard of the gravity pattern. The machine shop is now in process of construction, the contract having been let to the Millard-McGraw Company of Philadelphia,
which has the foundations already laid. This main shop, on which many men will be employed the coming summer, will be about 200 feet square, 75x200 of it being high enough to arrange for the use of huge traveling electric cranes, while the rest of the shop will be one story high.
The walls will be of brick and cement construction, arched with iron spans. In this building will be man ducts and engine pits to the number of nine. There will be doors on
all sides. The west end will be of temporary construction, so that at any time an addition may be put on.
The big gravity and classification yard, for which the company last year purchased about 100 acres of land, will be about two miles long and extend from the city line to the
St. Bonaventure College at Allegany. It will be about 800 feet wide.
All these improvements on the part of the Pennsylvania road will bring people here and keep money in circulation, but in addition to this the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern
railroad are also to make a number of improvements. They, too, will arrange a local yard and erect a freight and passenger station in the center of the city on land recently purchased.
This company was compelled to buy a number of residences in order to get the central land they desired, and they are now having these moved to lots they have purchased near the
proposed freight depot for the use of their employees, when they claim they will have to house themselves, so scarce are houses of low rental.
There is a big demand for houses now, the boarding houses being overcrowded. Few are for rent. Generally the rents went up here this spring.
Now there is a prospect for the moving here of a silk mill and a wooden pipe factory, the latter employing about twelve married men. These have got to be supplied with houses
also. The demand has caused several moneyed men to believe that here will be money in real estate and a large number of houses are being planned.
Several of the business blocks are to be added to this year and it is rumored that there will be one or two large structures built. Stores are at a premium, there being at the
present time several businessmen who are desirous of locating here, but they cannot find a store.
Bolivar Breeze, Thursday, April 21, 1904
BAD SHAWMUT WRECK
____
Coal Train Ran Away Sunday Morning, This Side
of Clermont. One Man Killed, 23 Cars Wrecked.
_____
A Shawmut Line coal train, consisting of mountain type engine, No. 53, 34 cars of coal, a car of lumber, a car of tile and a
caboose ran away down the hill from Clermont, at 4 o'clock Sunday morning, and a few minutes later the engine tender jumped the track in a cut, three miles above Smethport, wrecking 23
cars and the tender of the engine, killing the fireman, Ernest Brown of St. Marys and injuring Engineer Krouse and brakeman Clinton Hall.
The train started down the Clermont hill where the grade is 70 feet to the mile at at a 15 mile an hour clip, which steadily
increased until the train was running 90 miles an hour, beyond control. The heavy snowfall of the previous night had made the rails a glare of ice, and whether the air refused to work or
what the trouble really was, is not known at this time. The rule is to control the first 15 cars with air and the rest of the train with hand brakes.
Down the mountain, around the loop where the fill is 100 feet high, dashed the train, the crew every moment expecting the engine
to leave the rails. The splendid construction of the track was fully shown by this incident. When the old track was reached below Kasson and the speed of the train had slacked to 50 miles
an hour, fireman Brown went back to set some hand brakes.
The tender suddenly left the track and was followed by 23 of the cars. They were piled up and literally ground to pieces. The
body of the fireman was taken from under the wreck on Sunday evening. The engine did not leave the track.
Conductor McMarrow was uninjured. The track was clear on Monday. The loss to the railroad company will exceed $25,000. The coal
cars cost $800 each. The engine was a practically new Baldwin and cost $12,000. The damage to the engine is not heavy but the tender is smashed.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., Oct. 13, 1904
KILLED BY P.S. & N. TRAIN.
____
Daniel Crowley of Eldred, aged 65 years and deaf, was struck Tuesday afternoon by north bound Shawut train No. 2 at a point near Duffey's tannery at Eldred and almost instantly
killed.
He was walking on the ties outside the rails and when the warning whistle was blown he did not heed it. He was struck in the middle of the back by the engine and thrown quite a
distance. The train was stopped and the limp form picked up and carried to a nearby house and medical aid summoned. Crowley lived only a few minutes. The train which arrives in Bolivar at 3:33 p.m., was in charge of engineer H.C. Mead of Angelica and conductor John McLaughlin of
Bolivar.
Bolivar Breeze, Dec. 15, 1904
BRAKEMAN GETS VERDICT
_______
In the United States Circuit court yesterday a verdict for $13,660 was returned for the plaintiff in the suit of Joseph R. Lamphere of Erie, against the Pittsburg, Shawmut &
Northern Railroad company, says the Pittsburg Times of Dec. 7.
The plaintiff was employed by the defendant as a brakeman and while passing under a bridge near Mt. Jewett, Pa., was knocked from the top of a box car and had his feet taken
off. The defendant claimed the accident was due to the carelessness of the of the plaintiff, but this was denied, Lamphere alleging it was his first trip over the road. The jury was out about 2 1/2 hours.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., January 12, 1905
PATTERN SHOPS
BURN
_____
ST. MARYS, PA., Jan. 12. - Fire destroyed the big pattern shops of the Shawmut railroad pattern shops of the Shawmut railroad, the offices connected therewith and damaged
five engines last night. The St. Marys fire department by heroic work saved the adjoining shops and a large amount of valuable property belong to the railroad company.
The fire was discovered about 10:30 and an alarm brought the firemen and railroad employees. Many valuable patterns and records were destroyed. The cause of the fire is
unknown. It is understood that the burned property was insured.
Bolivar Breeze, Thursday, January 12, 1905
NO UNDERGROUND CROSSING
The New York State of Railroad Commissioners has decided against the Village of Bolivar in the matter of an underground crossing on the Richburg road in this village. The
board decides that an underground crossing is not feasible, and the present grade crossing will continue to be used.
The matter has been in the courts for several months, and the cost of the litigation to the taxpayers of the village will be between $300 and $400 so President Newell says. The
village was represented by E.M. Worth of Bolivar and DeMerville Page of Hornellsville. Hon. Frank S. Smith, general counsel for the Shawmut Line and his associates represented the railroad.
When the matter was first broached the railroad company offered to construct an underground crossiing and pay all of the expense and the matter was agreed to between the
village and the railroad. Later the village board decided that the opening ought to be high and wider and asked the railroad company to modify the plans. This the railroad declined to do. Litigation followed and the decision of the Railroad Commissioners is final in the matter.
Bolivar Breeze, June 8, 1905
TO ENTER PITTSBURG?
___
That is the Report Concerning
the Shawmut Line. Extension
of 110 Miles Now Underway
That the Shawmut Line is destined within a year ot two to gain access to the city of Pittsburgh appears to be a good guess. Work is now under way on an extension of 110 miles
that will bring the Shawmut Line within some 30 odd miles of Pittsburgh. Whether the Shamut will enter the smoky city or over the tracks of the Wabash or over those of the Bessemer & Lake Erie is not known but negotiations are under way for an entrance over one of the lines.
The new extension of the Shawmut Line taps rich coal districts where several new mines will be opened and oerated. That powerful financial interests are back of the Shawmut
Line cannot be doubted. They have spent money lavishly during thepast three or four years in extending their lines north through McKean and Allegany counties and south into the coal districts.
The construction has been very costly and has been first class, showing that the extensions were built for traffic, not for barter. The Pittsburgh district is the richest for
tonnage in the world and for a long time was monopolized by the Pennsylvania. There is a belief quite prevalent that the Wabash folks or their friends are financially interested in the Shawmut Line, so it would not be strange if these two lines should
arrangement a working agreement that would be mutually profitable. That the
Shawmut Line is destined to be a great coal road within the next five to ten years there is no doubt.
Bolivar Breeze, Aug 3, 1905
RECEIVER FOR PS&N
Frank Sullivan Smith Was Appointed on Tuesday
Default in Interest
The Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railway was put in the hands of a receiver at noon Tuesday [Aug. 1 by order of Justice Kenefick of the Supreme Court. The order was made in
chambers on application of Arthur H. Van Brunt of New York, representing the Central Trust Company, which is trustee for the bondholders.
Frank Sullivan Smith of Angelica was appointed receiver. He will take charge of the road at once and will keep it in operation. His bond was fixed at $100,000. The reason for
the receivership is because the road today defaulted on its semi-annual payment of interest on bonds. The demand for interest was made in New York City and was refused. The outstanding bonds amount to about $15,000,000. It is said the railway has no other debts of consequence.
The Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern is a coal and freight carrying road running from Olean to the mining districts of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Van Brunt says it is an independent road and that a reorganization may come about soon, but for the present there are no matured plans. There was no opposition to the
appointment of a receiver. Attorneys representing various interests were on hand and the appointment was made in a few minutes after the situation was stated to Justice Kenefick.
Nunda News, Aug. 5, 1905
Receiver Appointed for Shawmut R.R.
____
The Shawmut Railroad has gone into the hands of a receiver and Frank Sullivan Smith, of Angelica, who was the principal promoter of this railroad, is the receiver, who qualified by filing a bond of $100,000 and he will take
possession of the property at once. The failure to pay the semi-annual interest of $300,000 was the reason for a receivership. The outstanding bonds amount to $15 million. It will be no surprise to people in this section, who are so near the Shawmut line, to know that it has gone
into the hands of a receiver.
Bolivar Breeze, Aug. 10, 1905
THE SHAWMUT LINE (Editorial)
The receivership of the Shawmut Line appears to be, judging from the official statement printed in our news columns, simply a means to an end. That is to say the road needed
several extensions, some 300 miles that would cost many millions of dollars. The financial arrangements under which the road was working did not provide the necessary funds. In order to make the necessary extensions and increase the earnings and profits, a new and larger mortgage
was necessary and this could be brought about only through a reorganization. The short cut was through a receivership. So with consent of a majority of the bondholders this step was taken, and the reorganization plans are now being worked out.
Work is steadily progressing on the southern extension of 100 miles which will result in a Pittsburg connection and the receivership will not alter the plans under which the
company was operating nor will it shut down work on any of the extensions now under way. The reorganization means that the Shawmut Line will connect the coal fields of Jefferson, Elk, Armstrong, and Clarion counties with Pittsburg, Buffalo and New England, the latter through an
extension to Lake Ontario.
The appointment of acting president Frank S. Smith as receiver was the logical result of the untiring work he has performed on behalf of the Shawmut Line for many years and is
a splendid tribute to the faith of the bondholders and stockholders in his ability as a lawyer and knowledge of practical railway management.
One of the things that will receive special attention in the reorganization plans is the industrial department and a determined effort will be made to locate manufacturing
plants at all available points on the line. The future of the Shawmut Line is nothing, if not promising.
Bolivar Breeze, Aug. 10, 1905
SHAWMUT LINE PLANS
Three Hundred Miles of Extensions To Be Built.
Reason Given For the Receivership by High Official
This newspaper has received from a high official of the Shawmut Line a statement concerning the receivership of the company that will be of interest to the people of Allegany
county for it shows that instead of being in hard financial straits, the default in the payment of interest due on bonds was for another reason than that, and that within the next three or four years the line will be extended and trains running to Pittsburg, Buffalo, and Lake
Ontario, making the Shawmut Line a formidable railroad property.
This news will be welcomed by the people of Bolivar and other towns in this county through which the line passes as well as the towns over in Pennsylvania which it touches. It
means that the financiers back of the Shawmut have faith in the proposition and are going to put many more millions into construction and the purchase of coal properties. One of the many rumors floating about is that the Gould interests are now interested in the welfare of the
Shawmut and that entrance to Pittsburg will be gained over the Gould lines. The fact that Acting President Frank Sullivan Smith was appointed receiver shows conclusively that the control of the stock has not passed from the Byrne-Smith crowd. The official statement furnished this
newspaper is as follows:
“The default in interest and the receivership of the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railroad Company has become necessary in order to effect a reorganization of the financial
plans for the purpose of providing for the extension of the road to Pittsburg, Buffalo, and Lake Ontario, involving the construction of 300 additional miles of road, and the acquisition of additional coal lands.
The present mortgage of $15,000,000 it has been found is entirely inadequate for the purpose of extension and improvement, and with the underlying mortgages is to be
supplemented by a larger single mortgage. It was first thought that a general mortgage upon the property providing for the underlying mortgages might be practicable, but financiers objected to what is termed a subordinate lien, therefore it has become necessary to revamp the
financial structure, and to save time and expedite the plans, the company has consented to the receivership upon the appeal of the large majority of bonds.”
Bolivar Breeze, Jan 4, 1906
SHAWMUT TO EXTEND
Contracts Let For Building the Road to Freeport,
Where Connection to Pittsburg
Is to Be Had Via Pennsylvania R.R.
Those who have been skeptical about the building of the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern railroad, or the Brookville & Mahoning as part of it is called, can now set all their fears
at rest, for it is an assured thing. A great portion of the grading from Brookville to Mahoning has been done, and last week gangs of laborers were put on between Brookville and Brockwayville, one camp of 120 men being established at Port Barnett, on the opposite side of the creek
from the Humphrey Brick and Tile plant. Humphrey Brothers have sold them the right of way for three miles up Mill creek, and the company’s agents are busy securing the right-of-way all along the line where it has not been secured. The engineers are busy establishing the grade,
being out every day, and the work will be pushed along just as rapidly as the weather will permit. The Pittsburg Post of a recent date has the following to say about the extension of the road:
“The energy with which the new Brookville & Mahoning railroad, the extension of the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern toward Pittsburg, is being constructed is indicated by
announcement of the awarding of contracts for the construction of about 21 miles of this road, beginning, it is understood, at the northern end. Contracts for this work have been awarded and include clauses providing for an immediate start upon the grading ad excavation involved.
“The work includes the excavation of about 500,000 cubic yards, placing of 200,000 cubic yards of embankment, construction of 20,000 cubic yards of bridge and culvert and
masonry, and of 700,000 pounds of 12-inch, 18-inch, and 24-inch culvert pipe; also 1,000 tons of steel bridges and viaducts. Pittsburg firms will bid on the excavation and masonry, and the American Bridge Company will be among the bidders on the structural steel which is used.
“According to a statement of the chief engineer, work is to go forward all winter whenever the weather will permit, and it is expected that a large part of the grading will be
completed late in the spring or in the summer. Further contracts for excavation and grading will be let in the spring, and Mr. Henshey hopes to have the entire road graded [and] ready for ties and rails within from twelve to eighteen months. No time will then be lost in laying
track, and it is possible that by the spring of 1907 trains will be operating over part, if not all, of the new road.
“The Brookville and Mahoning starts from Hyde, Elk county, and extends to Freeport, Armstrong county, a distance of 103 miles. Contracts have already been placed for much of
the grading, which has been under way since last spring. About 15 miles of the road on the west bank of the Allegheny river between Mahoning and Freeport, are graded, and excavation and grading is in progress on most of the rest of this end of the line. Plans for the road so far
include no construction south of Freeport. Its purpose is to open the coal lands on the west bank of the Allegheny river and elsewhere along the route laid out, and the connection to Pittsburg will probably be via the Pennsylvania’s West Penn division from Freeport.”
Bolivar Breeze, March 15, 1906
SHAWMUT WRECK
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The morning passenger train on the Shawmut from Wayland ran into an open switch just above the station in Hornellsville about 9 o'clock Saturday morning. The train was filled
with passengers and it is a miracle that no one was injured.
The accident occurred near the Erie cross-over, where the train ran into a switch that had been left open. A string of box cars were standing on the switch, all of them empty,
with no brakes set.
Before the engineer, Henry Mead, could check the speed of the train, it smashed into the cars. The fact that the brakes were not set removed much of the force of the
collision. The first car was demolished and the pilot of the engine was smashed, besides other damages. None of the passengers were injured. The Shawmut officials do not understand how the switch came to be open, and are making a rigid investigation.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., March 29, 1906
DEATH OF W. H. COSTIGAN
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Roadmaster of the P.S. & N. Railroad
Died of Paralysis at His Home
in Friendship, Thursday Night.
Aged 61 years,
W.H. Costigan, roadmaster on the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern railroad between Bolivar and Wayland, died quite suddenly of paralysis at his home in Friendship Thursday night,
aged 61 years. Mr. Costigan arrived in Friendship on the Shawmut train reaching there at 8:20 Thursday evening. At 9 o'clock he was stricken with paralysis, his death resulting 24 hours later.
Mr. Costigan had been roadmaster on the Shawmut Line for the past three years. Previous to that he served as roadmaster on the Allegany Division of the Erie railroad for
forty years. Mr. Costigan is suvived by his wife, three daughters, Mrs. P.F. Lynch and Mrs, George Russell of Friendship, Mrs. Samuel Baker of Rochester; and two sons, James and John Costigan of Friendship. The funeral was held at the Church of the Sacred Heart on Monday morning.
Rev. Father Hardigan officiating.
Bolivar Breeze, May 24, 1906
SHAWMUT TO SPEND $2,100,000
____
Courts Have Granted Necessary Permission
___
Great Victory for Receiver Frank Sullivan
Smith. Work Will Likely Begin Right Away.
Frank Sullivan Smith, receiver for the Shawmut Line, was on Saturday granted permission by Justice Kenefick of Buffalo to borrow $1,100,000 on receivers's certificates for the
purpose of completing connecting links of the Shawmut Line, reducing grades and improving the mining properties.
The Boston parties who have been fighting Mr. Smith's plans opposed the matter before Justice Kenefick but it was no go. Among the witnesses who testified that it was necessary
to spend large sums of money before the Shawmut Line could be placed on a paying basis was William Barclay Parsons of New York, the famous subway engineer who has gone over the property a number of times during the past six years and has acted as consulting engineer.
The greater part of he money appropriated will be spent down in Pennsylvania though it is possible that some of it may be used at two or three points in Allegany county and to
extend the line north toward Lake Ontario.
Since he was appointed Receiver Mr. Smith has spent $150,000 in making permanent improvements on the roadbed and it is believed that with the new appropriation the line can
be put on a paying basis, though the estimates of the engineers called for nearly three times that sum.
It is likely that when the present appropriation is spent there will be such a marked increase in earnings and improvement in the physical condition of the property that if
more money is needed the permission to borrow it on receiver's certificates will be readily granted by the court.
____
The United States court at Pittsburgh has granted Receiver Smith the right to issue $1 million in receiver's certificates in the State of Pennsylvania. This brings the total of
$2.1 million available for the new construction and betterments.
Bolivar Breeze, May 3, 1906
SHAWMUT ANGELICA INDUSTRY
Its Coal Has Been Sold to the Erie. To Work Full Time in Shops.
Angelica, N.Y., April 27—Orders were received here yesterday that all coal stored here by the Shawmut railroad has been sold to the Erie railroad and should be loaded
immediately. The steam shovel has been in place several days ready for the order and work will begin today. About one hundred cars can be loaded each twenty-four hours.
The Shawmut shops here have been working on half time during April and yesterday the en were told that the shops would start up with a full force of men on full time May 1.
The Shawmut coal mines will also begin work on full time on that date. There are now about 130 men employed in the shops here, and arrangements are being made to increase the force during the summer, at least. The Shawmut has a contract, it is stated, with the B&S, to carry its
coal August 1, which shows that the B&S expects to be running into Buffalo on regular time about July 1
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 11, 1906
WANTS RECEIVER REMOVED
Bondholder of Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern R. R. Charges Extravagance
(Special to the Eagle.) Buffalo, May 11—Bushnell and Metcalf, of this city, have filed in the office of the clerk of the United States Circuit Court a complaint in which the
removal of Frank Sullivan Smith, as receiver of the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railroad Company is asked. The complainant is Florence A. Cochran, of Boston, Mass., who is the owner of five $1,000 5% mortgage bonds, which were issued under a $6,000,000 bond issue of February 14,
1899, at the time the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railroad Company was created by the consolidation of the Central New York & Western and five other railroads.
Other defendants are the Shawmut Mining Company, the Colonial Trust Company, the Hamilton Trust Company of Brooklyn, and Mr. Smith, as receiver of the railroad company. The
complainant also alleges extravagance and mismanagement and waste of moneys by other officers of the railroad, the total amount thus alleged to have been squandered being between $10,000,000 and $15,000,000. The suit promises to be one of the most sensational tried in the United
States Circuit Court in some time.
Bolivar Breeze, May 17, 1906
WANT RECEIVER SMITH REMOVED
Boston Woman Has a Real Grievance
She Owns Five Bonds and Wishes Someone Else Had Them
Article in Paper Amuses Folks Who Know Facts
Buffalo, May 10.—The Commercial tonight says that Bushnell & Metcalf of this city have filed in the clerk of the United States Circuit Court a complaint in which the removal of
Frank Sullivan Smith, as receiver of the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railroad Company is asked. The complainant alleges that Mr. Smith is an improper person to act as receiver, and that he has wasted the funds of the railroad company.
The complainant also alleges extravagance and mismanagement and waste of moneys by other officers of the railroad, the total amount thus alleged to have been squandered being
between $10,000,000 and $15,000,000. The suit promises to be one of the most sensational tried in the United States Circuit Court in some time.
The complainant is Florence A. Cochran, of Boston, Mass., who is the owner of five $1,000 5% mortgage bonds, which were issued under a $6,000,000 bond issue of February 14,
1899, at the time the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railroad Company was created by the consolidation of the Central New York & Western and five other railroads. Other defendants are the Shawmut Mining Company, the Colonial Trust Company, the Hamilton Trust Company of Brooklyn, and
Mr. Smith, as receiver of the railroad company. It appears by the complaint that the $6,000,000 bond issue was authorized for he purpose of taking up all the underlying securities of the Central New York [& Western Railroad Company] and other roads and to acquire these properties.
Of the total issue, $4,000,000 was to be spent in reconstructing and connecting the various roads, making a continuous line of 192 miles from Wayland, N.Y., to the southern coal
fields of western Pennsylvania. Included in the underlying securities was an issue of $242,000 in bonds of the Central New York [& Western Railroad Company]. The plaintiff said that she bought her bonds on the representation that these underlying securities were to be paid off and
the various roads reconstructed and connected.
[Editorial] The above article form the Buffalo Commercial is very amusing to the people of the Allegany county who know how hard Mr. Frank Sullivan Smith has worked to
put the Shawmut Line on its feet financially, and how capable a man he is. The statement of Florence Cochran’s attorneys is of course largely a bluff, claiming everything that could possibly prejudice the public in the interest of their client and getting the benefit that might
accrue from a newspaper interview.
Every one who is acquainted with the facts in the case knows that the Shawmut Line will never make good until the various branches are connected up in one trunk line and a
main line open from Pittsburg to Lake Ontario as the late Major Byrne and Mr. Smith have long dreamed it would be. The receiver’s certificate issue recently asked for by the receiver in the sum of $3,600,000 for the purpose of completing he work outlined ought to have been
authorized by the court. Not until large sums have been spent on the work of completion will the line be put on a paying basis. And no man is better qualified to serve the Shawmut Line as receiver than Mr. Smith. Without his untiring energy, his rare business ability and his
undying faith in the ultimate prosperity of the road there would be no Shawmut Line.
Bolivar Breeze, July 5, 1906
30 Cars of Bark
First Hemlock Shipped From Bolivar in Many Years.
Comes From the Pike Lands.
Thirty cars of hemlock bark are being loaded in the Shawmut yards in Bolivar, the first bark shipped from Bolivar in a good many
years. The bark comes from the Pike lands in Alma, where the timber was purchased last year by Elliott & Henry. This firm has a large mill in the Hog Brook woods, cutting hemlock and sap
pine.
The bark is shipped to a tannery at Olean and about half a dozen teams are hauling it to Bolivar. The distance is so long that the
teams make only one trip a day. The timber is large and the bark of fine quality. Elliott & Henry will cut several million feet of timber from the tract.
(Editor's note: For some time we have been reprinting articles
concerning our local railroads verbatim from newspapers. Although original newspapers are considered primary source material readers should realize these articles are not always 100 percent accurate. Accuracy was much more prevalent in the old days than it is now, although
reporters tended to generalize a complicated subject such as the following report).
Bolivar
Breeze, Aug 2, 1906
NEW LIFE ON PS&N – Dull Season at End
And a Period of Renewed Activity at Hand
The Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern is issuing from its dull season, caused largely by cessation of work in the mines and will shortly be doing business on a larger scale than
ever before, says the St. Marys Gazette. All along the line there are signs of renewed activity.
The new wood-working plant at St. Marys has been completed recently, which will facilitate the handling of about 50% more crippled cars at this point. The locomotive repair
shop has also received a number of new machines, which puts it in shape to turn out considerable more work.
For several months engineers have been work north and south from this point with the object in view of cutting down grades and reducing the curves. Work has been started
along this line and it will not be long before the grades and curves will be greatly reduced.
Orders have been issued for the repainting of all freight equipment. This is a big contract in itself as the road has a large number of freight cars of various
descriptions.
The road has recently placed orders for 500 steel under frame coals cars of 100,000 pounds capacity. It has also placed orders for the following locomotives: One decapods
locomotive, have five 57-inch wheels coupled, one pair 40-inch trail wheels and one pair 29¼-inch pony truck wheels; tractive power 62,600 pounds; rigid wheel base 19 feet 9 inches, total wheel base 35 feet 11 inches, total weight of engine and tender 458,000 pounds. This engine
will be used between Paine and Weedville on the hill, which is nine miles long. Two consolidated locomotives have also been ordered.
These will have four pair 51-inch driving wheels coupled and one pair pony 30-inch truck wheels, tractive power 45,149 pounds, rigid wheel base 14 feet 6 inches, total
weight engine and tender 320,000 pounds. Both the locomotives and cars are the best and finest of their kind and will add greatly to the efficiency of the road.
Bolivar Breeze, Thurs., May 16, 1907
P.S. & N. STATION ROBBED
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The Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern railroad company's station at Friendship was broken into by some unknown person or persons shortly after noon on Tuesday and the cash
drawer robbed of $20.75 in money. The station agent, George Russell was at dinner when the robbery was committed.
The money stolen was in the following denominations: $6.50 in quarters, 75 cents in pennies, two silver dollars, $1.05 in nickels, two $2 bills, and one old English
shilling date of 1820.
Officers in the surrounding towns have been notified to be on the look out for a man described as follows: Age 23, 5 feet, 8 or 9 inches tall, weight 150 to 155 pounds,
dark hair, black suit, black sateeen (cq) shirt, black hat and black shoes. A person of the above description was seen around the station previous to the burglary.
Nunda News, Oct. 5, 1907
An effort is being made to foreclose a mortgage on the Shawmut railroad of which Frank Sullivan Smith is receiver and to punish him for contempt in declining to give
testimony. Attorney Honneyman of New York, charged that he had spent $16 million on the road since his appointment and had nothing to show for it. He said the bonded indebtedness of this road was three times that of the New York Central.
Receiver Smith is a son of the late Dr. William Smith, of Allegany county, who held the office of labor master at New York City for many years and is a brother-in-law of
the late. Gov. Higgins. New York Tribune, Sep 20, 1909
NOT CONTROLLED BY LACKAWANNA
Brookville & Mahoning Extension Is
For Pittsburg-Shawmut Interests, F. S. Smith Says
Frank Sullivan Smith, receiver and acting president of the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railroad, authorized yesterday a denial of the report from Pittsburg that the line
under construction by the Brookville & Mahoning Railway Company was being built in the interest of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, and would enable that road to gain an entrance into Pittsburg. The name of the Brookville & Mahoning has recently been changed to the Pittsburg
& Shawmut Railroad.
This company, which is controlled by the dominant interests in the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railroad Company, is to have a line a little in excess of one hundred miles,
of which sixty-two miles are still under construction. Thirty-six miles of this distance will be built by contractors, the company itself undertaking the construction of the other twenty-six miles. The new line is expected to be completed in about eighteen months, when the
company will probably be merged with the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railroad as the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railway Company.
The Pittsburg & Shawmut will traverse a territory rich in coal properties, from which a profitable tonnage is looked |
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