Internet Pages Summary for Buffalo NY Central Terminal
By J. M. Hague

1 November 2002

Buffalo's long-unused New York Central Terminal (BCT) complex, alongside the New York-to-Chicago CSX (originally NY Central) main line about two miles east of downtown, currently includes:

Only the main building with tower and the M & B building are owned by CTRC; other structures are owned by the City of Buffalo or CSX Transportation. An aerial view of the complex c. 1984 is shown in a Sanborn map available in Room 101 City Hall (Vol. 7, #729).

Other buildings (east of the terminal), which can be seen in old photos, such as the adjacent central heating plant with smokestack and water tank, interlocking control towers 48 & 49, and car-service buildings, were demolished more than 20 years ago.

Many photographs of the station complex and associated trains, passengers, railroad personnel, and various written records, have been made available over the 75 years since construction work started in 1927, and the scores of photos documented here have been found and incorporated into web pages on the Internet by various rail station enthusiasts such as Floyd Baker, Beverly Plack (granddaughter of NYC employee Joseph Busselle), David M. Rote, J. Henry Priebe, Jr., Anthony M. Fedele & son & grandson, John M. Hague, Jim Schweitzer, Jeff Kuchta, M. T. Hastreiter, John C. Dahl, Alan Harris, Mike Ray, Chuck Maley, Mark Kohan, Dan Syrcher, Tim Willcox, Garnet Cousins, Chuck LaChiusa and many other photographers, writers, and webmasters.

These web pages have been printed and organized into a 3-ring binder and documented in a Lotus "1-2-3" spreadsheet, which will serve as a starting point until more web pages are reported and added. Information gathered so far is described with web addresses and brief summaries below.

1. NY Central Trackage in Buffalo, NY in 1950 by J. Henry Priebe, Jr. Set of 9 trackage maps and aerial photos

2. "B.C.T. Telegraph Office c. 1959-'64," by Floyd Baker, Al Tuscher, Jim Timmons, Norm Neubig, Hal Schup, Ted Frytag, Mike Panaro.

3. Joe Busselle et al.: Five photos at or near B.C.T.

3A. Joe Busselle and eight co-workers at retirement ceremony

3B.
Nineteen workers around conference table (18 men in suits & ties, one woman)

3C.
Joe and six cronies (suits, ties, hats) outside Curtiss St. Terminal Lunch ("EAT" neon sign)

3D. "GEN. FREIGHT OFFICE, N.Y.C.R.R. BUFFALO MARCH 15 1952"; about 20 staff, men plus a few women, at desks.

3E.
"MACHINE ROOM SEC.3 CAR SERVICE MARCH 20 '52 N.Y.C.R.R.BUFFALO"; about 14 staff at teletype machines.

4. "B.C.T.--35 N.Y.C. Named Trains Passing Through Buffalo in 1944" (plus two Southern, SAL, & FEC trains); plus "151 Numbered Trains Passing Through Buffalo in 1944"

5. Dan Syrcher's Aerial Photos of Bufflo Centrl Terminal in the summer of 1999 Six color photos taken at about 1,500 feet altitude

Three yard or loading platform photos by Floyd Baker


6A. Three diesel switchers & caboose

6B. Several passenger trains parked at loading platforms

6C. View S.to stockyards across loading platforms & main line

7. Tower view E.up approach ramp: "SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI"

8. "37-A NY Central Terminal (1997)"; Tower photo w. narrative by David M. Rote.

9. Three essays with photos c. 1997:

9A. "Central Terminal: Judging our Age" by Eric Miller

9B. "Central Terminal: For the Future" by Eric Miller

9C. "Photographic History of B.C.T. (1929-Present)" by J.M. Hague, Tho's A. Fedele, & Michael Fedele (NYCSHS, Inc. CENTRAL HEADLIGHT 4Q 1997)

10. 58 photos by Alan Harris, Mike Ray, & Chuck Haley

11. History 1842-1945

12. Decline 1945-1990

13A. NY Central E. Buffalo stockyards

13B. East Buffalo stockyards

14. "Recalling the E. side stockyards" by M. T. Hastreiter

15. "Great Railroad Stations, Buffalo" by John C. Dahl

16. "Central Terminal" by Mark Kohan

17. central.terminal.railfan.net/pics/*.jpg

17A. Framework of tower, 1928

17B. 20th Century Ltd.@ B.C.T. (steam at night)

18. central.terminal.railfan.net/pics/1950-1970/*.jpg

18A. 20th Century Ltd. "Water Level Rte." schematic

18B."Century" & "Ohio State Ltd." @ B.C.T. (1948)" photo

19. 1950 U.S. Geological Survey-based maps of Western New York (14 trackage areas scanned from USGS Quadrangle maps courtesy of railfan.net, the first two areas covering the NY Central Terminal).

20. Sanborn maps of the BCT area, at the junction of the the New York Central Belt Line and Main Line are available at http://central.terminal.railfan.net/CT_Sanborn. See especially
1917 (before the terminal was built), 1939, and 1951.

21. Sanborn map of 1984 New York Central Railroad Terminal in Buffalo, NY

Buffalo and Erie County's extensive railway lines and yards that existed in 1950, second only to Chicago in mileage and area, are available on the internet as a set of fourteen Western NY maps, of one to four contiguous 9" x 11" sheets per map. The "thumbnail" picture of each map is accompanied by a description, summarized below. The maps' orientation is usually east-west, e.g. in the former New York Central areas of downtown and east Buffalo; though not in South Buffalo and Lackawanna, where the lines run southwest. The maps were scanned by railfan.net people, from U.S. Geological Survey quadrangle maps of 1950, with trackage highlighted, and are accessible at www.railfan.net/cgi-bin/trainthumb.cgi?maps/1950usgs/*.jpg or gif.

These map files, in alphabetical order, are:

1) bison50.jpg =East Buffalo trackage, including NY Central E. Buffalo yard which became CSX Frontier Yard; Delaware Lackawanna & Western (DL&W) E. Buffalo Yard which became Bison Yard, dismantled in 1980s, then partially rebuilt in the '90s for Norfolk Southern (NS); Erie's E. Buffalo yard which became SK Yard, still used by Canadian Pacific (CP) & NS; New York Central (NYC) Central Terminal area, including stockyards now partly occupied by Main Post Office; and Lehigh Valley (LV) E. Buffalo Yard, with DM Interlocking where Pennsylvania (PRR) and DL&W interchanged and were crossed by LV (trackage now gone...).

"Iron Island" was the designation of the rectangular Lovejoy district east of Bailey Avenue, north of William St., west of Ogden St., & south of Broadway because it was surrounded on all sides by trackage.

2) cterm50.gif =All NYC, from top to bottom on left: Stockyards, Tower T Interlocking, Tower 48 Interlocking, Central Terminal, Tower 49 Interlocking, Tower 49A Interlocking, Tower 50 Interlocking.

From top to bottom on right: Erie E. Buffalo Yard, Tower FW Interlocking, Erie trackage to downtown Buffalo & (to right) to Katherine St. industrial yards. FW Interlocking: top to bottom is Erie, left to right is Buffalo Creek (BCK) RR, & upper right to lower middle is PRR with its Babcock St. Yard to upper right of FW (which is no longer interlocking point for CSX and NS). Just below Smith and Seneca streets, Erie had a sizable shop complex which was dismantled in first half of 1900s. At middle bottom is trackage (right to left) of PRR, NYC, Erie, NYC, and LV.

3A) centerm50.gif

3B) aercterm50.gif

4) draw50.gif =Middle of map l. to r.: FW Interlocking, BCK Yard (top), NKP Yard (below), Buffalo River drawbridges, Buffalo Jct. yards.

The LV passenger main to downtown passed overhead parallel to Perry St. and the DL&W passenger main passed overhead left of the Buffalo River drawbridges. Buffalo Creek owned top bridge, NKP owned the lower--which is still in use today (1950 or 2002?) as CP DRAW.

5) dtbuff50.jpg =DL&W coal docks are at bottom left below downtown terminal (since 1980s used by NFTA) at foot of Main St.; BCK Ohio St. yards grain elevator trackage is across Buffalo R. on both sides of West Channel. NYC lines west main crosses Buffalo R. on double track bascule bridge at upper right, just left of elevated DL&W passenger main. (95 percent of this trackage is gone today (1950?), DRIVEN AWAY by outrageous city property taxes on every piece of track, signal, or railroad-owned structure.)

6) dtbuffs50.jpg = Central Terminal at upper left, downtown Buffalo at middle left, Erie E. Buffalo Yard at middle right. FW Interlocking at right center, PRR Babcock St. Yard at center right.

NKP and BCK yards run between Seneca St. and Buffalo R. BCK Ohio St. yards (owned by Erie and LV) serving grain elevators and mills are at lower left. Yards at bottom center, l. to r., are: LV, NYC, Erie, NKP, and DL&W.

7) eben50.jpg =three PRR yards: small yard at top is Mineral Springs Yard, middle yard with top leg of a wye is Ebenezer Jct. Yard (junction with NYC Gardenville line), two yards at bottom are Ebenezer Yard proper.

All PRR yards gone today, but the main still (1950?) goes through to locations of DM and FW Interlocking (though most trains use connection to left to reach CSX Seneca Yard). Conrail, NS, and CSX called this connection GJ, Gardenville Jct. NYC Gardenville Yard, to right, was removed in 1950s, and Gardenville Cutoff, much ballyhooed when built in late 1880s, was downgraded and dismantled. PRR roundhouse still stands, used by freight car rebuilder Eastern Railway Supply.

8) ebuff50.gif=Yards to far right are NYC E. Buffalo Yard and West Shore Yard, later combined into automated Frontier Yard. The lower LV line branching off main line at Tifft Jct. went to LV Tifft Yard complex, BCK Ohio St. Yard, and LV Lake Erie coal docks.

All LV trackage is long gone, abandoned after formation of Conrail. Upper LV line went to downtown terminal at Main & Scott Sts. but was dismantled in 1950s for construction of downtown section of NY State Thruway. NY State purchased LV's short-lived Dingens St Terminal, at Weiss St. Both DL&W lines wyeing off their E. Buffalo Yard were dismantled in early 1980s as part of Conrail's "Scorched Earth" policy which removed all EL bridges on line to Black Rock so that right-of-way couldn't be used by any competitor. That was done while federal gov't still owned Conrail! Certainly in the public's best interests, wouldn't you say?

9) erie-eb50.jpg=Erie's E. Buffalo Yard complex. Left center is FW Interlocking, below and to right, DM Interlocking. Top left is BCK connection to NYC near Tower 49 Interlocking. PRR Babcock St. Yard is between FW and DM interlockings. DL&W "City Branch" crossed PRR at DM, and LV crossed over both on a grade-separated embankment.

To upper right is LV's E. Buffalo Yard and engine facility. All DL&W and LV trackage shown is gone today, and only 15 percent of Erie E. Buffalo Yard remains, used by CP and NS. FW and DM are gone; and PRR single track continues from GJ to "Transisco Wye" which was where FW was.

10) fw50.gif =FW Interlocking and surrounding trackage. Erie E. Buffalo Yard is to right. PRR connection to NYC and PRR downtown trackage is at Tower 49A Interlocking at upper left. The NKP and BCK yards are at bottom, left of center. A labelled map of FW Tower area is also available.

11) fyard50.jpg =NYC E. Buffalo and West Shore Yards. The NY, West Shore & Buffalo was acquired by NYC when J. P. Morgan got tired of the NYC and PRR's war games in the late 1800s and told them to "Play nice, OR ELSE!"

The West Shore main runs east at upper left. It is no longer used, but most of it remains intact. The old NYC main, today's CSX Chicago main, runs left to right at bottom. Tower 47 is at extreme lower left and Tower 46 was a square dot at bottom center below the engine facility. The DL&W Black Rock branch crossed over the left end of the yard and Erie's Niagara Falls branch crossed over the NYC and West Shore mains half a mile to the west. Both are gone today save for the northern stub of the Erie, used to service American Axle's Delevan plant.

Where Erie crossed left of the Sycamore Wye is now called "Phantom Bridge." Tower T was just off the map to lower left on the NYC Belt Line. The NYC Stock Yards were just off the map at bottom center, past Tower 47. The West Shore roundhouse and engine facility are directly in the center of map. The quarter roundhouse below was NYC's and survives as a storage facility for a construction company. The car shops below, and the NYC roundhouse, were owned by Pullman. Aside from the roundhouse, no buildings or track remain. In the mid-1950s when NYC rebuilt E. Buffalo Yard into Frontier Yard, it was touted as the most modern freight yard in the world. Aside from the NYC and West Shore mains, arrangement of the yard is completely different today.

12) gdvil50.gif=Gardenville Yard, built as part of NYC's Gardenville Cutoff project to bypass downtown Buffalo in mid- 1880s. This sprawling facility and the cutoff itself were made obsolete by construction of Frontier Yard and numerous grade crossing eliminations on the mainline through Buffalo. Ebenezer Jct. with the PRR is to the left; and to the right the cutoff crosses under the LV, Erie, and DL&W, respectively. Many Hudsons were observed on the Gardenville dead line in the early 1950s.

13) h-50.jpg =Detail of NYC H Tower Interlocking and the DL&W and Erie Black Rock Yard near International Bridge to Canada. NYC Niagara Branch from downtown Buffalo runs through map from right to left. NYC Buffalo Belt Line enters the map at top center right. Erie's Black Rock Branch cuts across middle of map and crosses two legs of NYC wye to get to their yard. Map is inaccurate in this respect. DL&W swings down from top left of map and crosses NYC Niagara Branch on overpass at middle left to reach DL&W Black Rock Yards. NYC Tonawanda St. freight house is at lower middle right where Crosscut Branch curves up through Pratt & Letchworth plant to rejoin the Belt Line at Elmwood Avenue. The siding at Elmwood was just removed in 1999.

14) lack50.gif =S. Buffalo, Lackawanna, & Blasdell area. (See details on link to "S. Buffalo Yard/Lackawanna.") At lower left are BCK Ohio St. Yards and LV coal docks. Bethlehem Steel Lackawanna Plant & S. Buffalo Railway's trackage are at lower right. LV Tifft Yards are toward middle left above "East Canal" adjacent to BCK Yard.

Above the LV are the NYC, then the Erie (Buffalo & Southwestern), then the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O), then the DL&W Abbott Road Yard. The NKP and BCK Buffalo River bascule bridges are at upper left. That area was known as Buffalo Jct. and is now CP DRAW. Obviously S. Buffalo & Lackawanna were busy railroading sites 50 years ago! About 15 percent of this trackage remains today. CSX, Buffalo Southern, NS, and Buffalo & Pittsburgh westbound/southbound mains are still there, although B & P hasn't been used for a few years. The South Buffalo still serves the remains of Bethlehem Steel and a Ford plant.

15) norbuf50.jpg =Large map showing North Buffalo [parts of which are described above in #12) h-50.jpg]. Erie and DL&W lines are shown from from their E. Buffalo yards swinging around from Int'l Jct. to Black Rock. The NYC Belt Line winds northwest from Central Terminal area to the Niagara Branch connection at H Tower in Black Rock. H Tower was demolished in 1998.

J. M. Hague, P.E.
NRHS, WNYRHS, NYCSHS
Former "BCT Engineer"* for Tony Fedele, R.I.P.
Member NY Central System Historical Society


*Hague, J.M., P.E. "Energy Survey of Main Plant Bldg., Central Terminal Plaza" and "Wood-Energy Survey of Central Terminal Plaza" (through NYS Energy Office "EASI" and "WEASI" programs, 1985).


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