GOWANDA, N.Y. — Plans for a Buffalo to Jamestown passenger railroad line along the South Buffalo Railway and New York & Lake Erie Railroad in Cattaraugus County may be ready to roll soon.
More than $4 million in state grants were awarded last year that could aid the plan, including $2 million for the Erie County-owned South Buffalo Railroad, $732,000 for New York & Lake Erie Railroad in Cattaraugus County, and $1.6 million for bridge structures along the Southern Tier Extension Railroad in Chautauqua County.
Those projects include railroad track rehabilitation between South Dayton in Cattaraugus County, and Cherry Creek in Chautauqua County.
New York & Lake Erie Railroad president Robert O. Dingman Jr., who is one of the project’s biggest supporters, said the project has the support of most of the municipalities the rail line passes through from Hamburg to Jamestown.
Dingman plans to testify this week at a hearing on a new train station in Buffalo, which could help the objective of supporters of the plan for periodically scheduled rail excursions between Buffalo and Jamestown.
There is quite a demand by rail enthusiasts for this kind of rail excursion, according to Dingman, who said besides stopping for events at communities along the rail line, passengers would ride for the nostalgia, the scenic beauty of the countryside and to visit the recently restored Jamestown Gateway Train Station.
Others including Gowanda Mayor Heather McKeever, Eden Supervisor Missy Hartman and Hamburg Mayor Tom Moses are urging consideration of regular commuter service into Buffalo. Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi is another big booster of the project.
“I think that within the next two years you will see excursion train service between Hamburg and Jamestown.” Dingman said. “The line from Buffalo to Jamestown could be open in three years.”
The tourism angle cannot be discounted. “Tourism is economic development we can do,” Dingman said. “We know how to do this.”
After a hiatus, Dingman’s New York & Lake Erie Railroad has begun promoting special trains from the Gowanda Depot on South Water Street, which was recently spruced up. The railroad most recently offered a Christmas train ride to South Dayton and back, which was sold out.
At the hearing in Buffalo on Thursday on where to locate a new passenger train station, Dingman said he plans to propose a new station at Exchange Street near Canalside where there would be parking and other nearby facilities.
“We have a real need,” Dingman said. “It’s important for us to be recognized and consulted. We have a real need.
Erie County Legislature Chairman John Mills of Hamburg is a supporter of the Buffalo to Jamestown passenger rail excursion plan, as is the Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency, which owns the New York & Lake Erie track. Dingman is the IDA rail line operator.
Other municipalities along the route that have indicated their endorsement of the plan include: the villages of Gowanda and South Dayton, towns of Persia and Dayton in Cattaraugus County and Cherry Creek in Chautauqua County, as well as the Erie County villages and towns on the route.
“The public owns these (railroad) properties,” Dingman said. “The public is entitled to a seat at the table.”
Dingman said “getting the (rail) property in shape is coming along.” More rail rehabilitation — mostly replacement of old ties — will be done this year.
One of the biggest roadblocks is the replacement of a switch and some track at Waterboro, near the former Erie-Lackawanna line now owned by the Southern Tier Extension Railway Authority, which acquired it from Norfolk Southern where the railroad effectively ends now.
The roadblock can be overcome, Dingman insisted.
Dingman said he also obtain municipal endorsements of the NY&LE Railroad’s latest application for funding to complete work along its line for the project.
Dingman is among those willing to gamble that the proposal for passenger excursion service between Buffalo and Jamestown will be successful.
