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RE: (erielack) Refinery at Wellsville
List
It is unlikely that there was a refinery along the Genesee River north of
West State Street in Wellsville. This was the cut line between the Buffalo
& Susquehanna Railway (B&SRy) and the Buffalo & Susquehanna Railroad. In
the break-up of the B&S system following the 1910 bankruptcy the B&SRy
ultimately became the Wellsville & Buffalo Railroad Corporation which was
opened by scrap speculators and was abandoned in November 1916 and
dismantled shortly thereafter.
Station Track Sketches of Wellsville showing the B&SRy-B&SRR c. 1910
show no refinery north of State Street.
M J Connor
>From: Christopher Thurner <crthurner_@_yahoo.com>
>Reply-To: Christopher Thurner <crthurner_@_yahoo.com>
>To: Mailgroup <erielack_@_lists.railfan.net>, Smtimko@aol.com,
>ed_mines_@_yahoo.com, wshultz1@twcny.rr.com
>Subject: (erielack) Refinery at Wellsville
>Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 12:54:45 -0700 (PDT)
>
>Listers:
>
>Ed Mines wrote:
>
> >Was there ever a refinery at Wellsville?
>
> >Ed Mines
>
>Will Schultz added:
>
> >Ed,
>
> >There was at least one, the Wellsville Refining
> >Company. It was gone by
> >the end of the 1920's though as many of the small
> >refineries in the
> >area. The refinery was across the river located on
>the >Buffalo &
> >Susquehanna, not the Erie.
>
> >There was a Standard Oil distribution facility
>located >on the Erie on
> >Oak Street where it came to the Erie tracks. That
>also >partially
> >answers
> >you second question about how the gasoline was
> >delivered in general
> >terms.
>
> >Will Shultz
>
>Steve Timko also replied:
>
> >The H C Sinclair Company had a refinery east of
> >Wellsville.
>
> >I am not certain if the switch to the plant was off
>of >the EL or the
> >B&S
> >(WAG).
>
>
>Yes, there was a Wellsville refinery as Will
>indicated. It was served by the B&S and closed before
>the B&O took over. I'm not sure where it was located,
>other than on the west side of the Genesee River
>(where the B&S / WAG trackage is). Also I should
>point out, that prior to the abandonment of the B&S
>line north of the old WAG passenger station on W.
>State St., it could have been located north of State
>ST.
>
>The Sinclair Refinery complex was in the south west
>corner of the Village of Wellsville and extended
>southward into the Town of Wellsville. It was bounded
>on the east by the Genesee River and on the west by
>Brooklyn Ave. / River Rd. On the north is was bounded
>by the WAG wye and the small yard the WAG maintained
>there. It was served by the B&O and the WAG.
>
>Today, the location is home to the Wellsville campus
>of SUNY Alfred Ag. and Tech. College and a few small
>businesses (e.g. National Fuel technician dispatch
>center, among others). Many of the original brick
>buildings are in place and a few are used at the SUNY
>campus.
>
>There was an accident at the plant that caused a
>devastating fire in the late 50's and Sinclair chose
>not to rebuild it.
>
>I don't know much, and most people in the Wellsville
>area that I've talked to, do not remember much about
>the rail traffic generated from the refinery. I have
>seen pictures of the refinery with coal (interestingly
>enough!!) hoppers being emptied to be burned by the
>power house. One would think that Sinclair would have
>used it own product (>>Oil<<) for this, but my guess
>is after the technology was developed for the cracking
>process, oil was more valuable to be sold as gasoline
>or lubricating / fuel oil in the market than the cost
>of coal. The hoppers I've seen bear B&O reporting
>marks. My guess is that this traffic was based from
>the B&O. After the WAG takeover, I don't think the
>WAG had an interchange with the B&O, I don't know if
>B&O supplied coal was still used or not. Not having
>an interchange with the B&O wouldn't necessarily
>prevent it from being supplied, as it could have been
>supplied through Carrollton / Salamanca and shipped
>via the Erie and interchanged at Wellsville.
>
>As to oil shipments in or refined product out, I don't
>know if this was handled on the B&O / WAG or
>interchanged with the Erie. I do know that at least a
>portion of the crude supplied came via pipeline from
>producing fields in the southern NY / northwestern PA
>areas. Some may have come by rail, I just don't know
>if it did or not.
>
>At the time the refinery burned, the level of oil
>production in the area was in steep decline from it's
>peak levels through the 1930's. This was likely one
>of the significant reasons why Sinclair declined to
>rebuild the plant.
>
>Any listers who could shed some light on traffic
>patterns / interchange would be most appreciated by
>myself and I'm sure by others!
>
>As to Will's comment on the Standard Oil distribution
>facility on Oak St., I find this most intriguing. As
>a kid, there was a switch stand on the nw side of the
>yard in Wellsville (next to Loder St., either where
>Lombard Pl. or Grover St. ended), and you could see
>where the old track had been to serve the two
>buildings at the end of Oak St.
>
>What impressed me even more, was the grade this short
>piece of trackage must have had. It really must have
>been something to see a loco pushing tank cars full of
>gasoline and other refined oil products down this
>steep of a slope (gee, was safety on the minds of the
>civil engineer who designed this??). If I had worked
>/ or lived near there at the time, I would have gotten
>far away from there while it was being switched out.
>If one of the cars would have gotten away or the
>brakes failed, I could just imagine what would happen
>with one or more of these tank cars heading towards a
>facility which must of had both storage tanks and
>distributions pipes! I'm amazed that nothing ever
>happened!
>
>As to Steve Timko's comment regarding the refinery
>being east of Wellsville, I don't believe that's
>correct. I think he may be referring to a pumping
>facility that was located there, just east of the Air
>Preheater plant off of Rt. 417 (currently Otis Eastern
>Corp occupies this area). I think for a time in the
>60's, raw crude was collected from the pipeline and
>stored in tanks until it was loaded and shipped out in
>tank cars (but I'm not 100% sure of this). At this
>location, they would have surely been handled by the
>Erie / EL.
>
>Anyway, there's my $0.02 and then some.
>
>Regards,
>
>Chris Thurner
>
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