Click on each image for a closer look!
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Only an hour and a half’s drive from Toronto lies Buffalo, New York. Apparently, Buffalo was the USA’s second largest rail center for nearly a century. Based in Buffalo, the Western New York Railway Historical Society has railway equipment and other assets stored in scattered locations in Hamburg, Orchard Park, North Collins, Lackawanna and Buffalo’s East Side. The collection includes the 2-10-0 Decapod steam locomotive (shown above) which is the last surviving instance of its class.
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The big news is that the Society has just announced that they plan to consolidate their equipment and railroad memorabilia into six buildings that they have bought or are in the process of acquiring at a brownfield site in South Buffalo. The society signed a memorandum of understanding recently to acquire 35 acres of the old Buffalo Color Corporation site for $490,000. The land and buildings were purchased at auction in 2008 for $300,000 by South Buffalo Development. They have also bought nearby buildings and acreage for $750,000. They expect that it will take a couple of years to complete the required site remediation before being able to use the property.
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It has also been reported that the Society also plans to operate two excursion passenger trains beginning in 2011, after building track and platforms nearby.
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This news and the pictures above originated in the Buffalo News in a recent article with much more information which can be accessed by clicking here. There are more pictures in a gallery which can be accessed by clicking here. The Western New York Railway Society’s website can be found by clicking here where their extensive array of locomotives and rolling stock and structures can be found.
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Posting by Russ Milland; Pictures from the Western New York Railway Society’s website
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