Finishing up the travelog for our recent vacation, on July 15, needing a break "from family", my wife and I took a ride along the southern tier in NY, east from Westfield back to Salamanca. This was an old railroad town, where many lines used to intersect, and is also the home of the Seneca-Iroquois Nation Government. (Note: the tribe has built a huge casino on I-86 on the west edge of town - a seriously ugly building that doesn't fit in with the landscape at all). There are (were) two different depots in Salamanca; the old Erie RR structure (first set of pictures); and, the old Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh depot, which has been restored as a train museum. The Erie RR depot was totally destroyed in a fire on July 29, 2014, so my photos may well be some of the last railfanning photos taken. Here's a railroad.net thread on the fire This is the view of the Erie depot from the BRP depot, across the tracks and across the street
The Erie RR depot was quite run down, as can be seen in the photos. It was owned by the Seneca Nation, and there had been many years of disputes, and false starts, over restoring / repurposing the building
Except for the casino on the west end of town, the place really looks run down. I can remember driving through here back in the late seventies (before the freeway was put in), and while not booming, it was a cute little town in southern NY, with your typical stores, cafes, etc. Now, except for a couple of fast food joints at the freeway exits, the drug store and an "Antiques Mall", the town is on its last legs. Most of the older buildings are empty, there were a few burnt out shells, etc. Very sad This is a view of the old "main street" heading from the stations right across from the Erie depot is the old post office
The Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh depot has been fully restored and turned into a museum, and layout exhibit. These are views of depot from the railbridge (abandoned) over the street
The parking lot / entrance view a corner view A plaque, outside, memorializing a head on collision that occurred here
Inside the waiting room is a nice sized N-scale layout. No one was there to work or operate on it, but -- bad club -- they left their Digitrax DCS 100 on, and a 402 throttle plugged in on the outside, with track power on. I powered off the track, could not get into the center to power down the command station.
Outside, to the west, there were these two large cement things, clearly on some old siding, that must have loaded hoppers with something. Not sure what, though, but made for some cool photos. I also loved the old girder bridges across the street
If they were not for something such as coaling, I wonder what those cement silos were used for back when...?
Rick, thanks for those. Sad to see the old Erie depot allowed to run down as it has. Also sad to see so many of the old railroad towns run down.
I agree, it's sad to see so many towns throughout America that sprang up based on a single industry, e.g. railroad, forests, mining, etc. Then see those towns die because no one had the fore-sight to see the end of that industry on the horizon. Consequently nothing was done to diversify before the folks with get-up-n-go got up and went. After that there's only so much that the remaining town fathers and visionaries can do with no tax base and eager young folks to attract potential investors. Sadly, hindsight is 20/20, and then it's too late.
OK. I have checked with a friend. He is a BIG time BR&P history researcher, and has spent a lot on time on that specific line segment. Those concrete structures were indeed part of a coaling station in steam days.
Yes. They are also different from what I saw as a little boy, and in historical references. I am now wondering how common such facilities were, in the same region? Or, was this one unique?
Due to the recent upgrades to TB, all the links to the photos were broken. They can all be found in this RailImages Album http://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?media/albums/salamanca-ny-depots.1468/
