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Re: (erielack) EL working the Buffalo DL&W Terminal area in 1971
Michael Connor wrote:
> List
> Passenger service on the former DL&W between Buffalo Main Street Terminal and Gibson last operated on 30 June 1962. The last eastbound was #10 (the New York Mail) and the last westbound was #31, the Elmira-Buffalo section of the Erie-Lackawanna Limited (generally operating on the former Phoebe Snow schedule--the Phoebe Snow name was not reinstated until Mr. White came to the EL in 1963). The Buffalo passenger station was shifted to a former yard office on Old Babcock Street in SK Yard, Buffalo. Through freights had been shifted off the DL&W in December 1961 and the Buffalo sections of the "Lake Cities" had been shifted to operate via Hornell earlier in 1962 so that the Gibson-East Buffalo portion of the line saw no third trick traffic.
> Michael J. Connor
Maybe this will further clarify the Buffalo Lackawanna terminal
closing. The first passenger schedule shift occurred (Sunday) 4-29-62
with Trains 35 and 36 (Lake Cities connections) operating over the Erie
between Hornell and Buffalo. There were no station stops between
Hornell and Buffalo. The other Buffalo trains: Owl, New York Mail, and
Phoebe Snow connections (31 and 32) continued to operate from Corning
(using the Lackawanna station in Corning) to Buffalo over the Lackawanna
route through Mt. Morris, Dansville etc.
The second passenger shift was as Mike Conners noted above. With the
new schedule on 7-01-62, all passenger trains were transferred to the
Erie between Hornell and Buffalo. Warsaw was added as a stop in
between. The Lackawanna terminal was still being used by all trains.
The new East Buffalo freight yard (Bison Yard) was under construction
and these passenger trains could somehow navigate through the yard and
reach the terminal. (Maybe someone can explain that routing.) When the
new freight yard would later open, the passenger trains could no longer
use these freight yard tracks. In order to reach the Lackawanna
terminal, a track connection would have to be constructed at William
Street between the Erie and Lackawanna tracks.
The closing of the Buffalo Terminal occurred with the schedule change
(Sunday) 10-28-62. According to Gary White, EL's reasoning in closing
the terminal and moving to Babcock Street was the expense of building
the track connection, the high maintenance cost associated with
continuing to use the terminal (the heating system required extensive
repairs), and the general decline in passenger traffic.
Mike Oravec
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