The Bradford Era and Sally Costik of the Bradford Landmark Society are pleased to present a new series of articles on local history called “Happenings in History,” which will examine important events from our community’s past.

For a brief period, from 1877 to 1879, one of the first monorails in the United States was located right here in Bradford. Due to its unusual construction and appearance, locals soon named it the “Peg Leg Railroad.”

Officially called the Bradford and Foster Brook Railroad, it was an elevated railroad that ran on one suspended track or beam supported about four feet above the ground by a series of 12-foot oak pilings driven into the dirt. To keep the beam or track relatively level, pilings were higher or lower depending on the topography of the land. A locomotive and cars straddled the rail, much like a saddle goes over the back of a horse. If the railroad had to cross a road, the track was hinged, so that the entire thing could be swung out of the way to let wagons, horses and passersby through.

Founders of the company believed that such a system would be of great use in the early days of oil excitement and financially successful. Lawrence W. Kilmer, author of the “Bradford & Foster Brook Peg Leg Railroad” book of 1974, wrote, “In 1876, Bradford was a booming oil town with thousands of dollars’ worth of machinery and oil supplies awaiting delivery. Because of very muddy road conditions, deliveries to the oil fields were delayed. As the population of Bradford and adjacent villages grew, so did the demand for better methods of transportation, less reliant on weather conditions.” A monorail, suspended above the mud, seemed to be the answer.

Visitors to the city were somewhat perplexed by the new railroad and one man wrote “Since my arrival, I have heard a great deal about a certain railroad called the “Peg-Leg.” As yet, I have found no one who could enlighten me in regard to the strange name. I have also heard it described as a “railroad running on a fence.” Now, how in the name of common sense, is a “Peg-Leg” railroad supposed to run? I have heard of certain individuals being on the fence (especially during political campaigns) but never before, of railroads. Wonders never cease in this wonderful country.”

Construction began in the fall of 1877 and was finished by March 1878. The Peg-Leg ran about four and half miles from Bradford to Gilmore (now the Derrick City area) at about 30 miles an hour. It was very popular, making three round trips a day and even at a charge of five cents a mile turned a profit in two months, bringing in nearly $100 per day.

An unexplainable accident in August 1878 occurred when the train lurched off the supports and pitched the conductor, fireman, and 20 passengers into the Tuna Creek. With people drenched, but unhurt, Peg Leg officials were more determined than ever to succeed. They ordered a new locomotive with two second-hand boilers at a cost of $4,000 from Gibb, Sterrett & Co. of Titusville. Once it arrived in Bradford, R. L. Sterrett himself personally supervised the balancing of the new engine on the rail. A test run was scheduled for Monday, Jan. 27, 1879.

Fate and circumstance often determine history and as fate would have it, that trial run to demonstrate the speed and capability of the new engine to owners and investors caused the death of six men and the end of the Peg Leg Railroad.

It had been decided to test the new engine by running it out to Derrick City and back. The engine and one flat car left the depot about 5 p.m. on a cold winter’s night with 11 men aboard, including John Addis, the brakeman; Charlie Shepard, business manager; Sterrett; John Vaughn, the machinist who had overseen the construction of the locomotive; Michael Holleran, a fireman; George Groghen of Salamanca, the conductor; Al Garsides, the engineer; Tom Luby, a retired engineer; George Peterson, trackman; M.L. Allen, manager; and Oscar Schutt, the new engineer.

The Peg Leg engine made it to Derrick City with only minor problems, but on the return trip, as it neared Babcock Mills on an upward grade, the steam pressure began dropping. Allen, who was on the flat car along with Addis and Shepard, called out and asked what was the matter. At that moment the boiler on the right side of the locomotive exploded, due, no doubt, to the new fireman opening the injector and suddenly letting cold water into a hot, dry boiler. The resulting explosion was disastrous. The engine and flat car were flipped completely over and 45 feet of track demolished.

Sterrett, on the locomotive, was thrown clear by the explosion and landed in a snowbank, completely unhurt. Allen regained consciousness from under the flat car, and crawled out with only minor injuries. Addis, standing only two feet from Allen on the car, was killed instantly. Vaughn was found 10 feet away with severe head injuries. He died shortly afterward.

Grogan had both legs and an arm broken. Shepard was found unconscious. Peterson suffered a severe cut on the back of his head, but managed to get up and walk about. Garsides and Holleran were scalded badly; Schutt hurt his back and Luby suffered internal injuries.

Within minutes, drawn by the sound of the explosion, dozens of men ran to the scene and began to look for the living and the dead. Another sent a telegram back to the superintendent of the Olean, Bradford & Warren Railroad asking him to quickly send help. A half hour later, it arrived. The dead and wounded were placed on boards, loaded onto the train, and it started back to Bradford, arriving there at 8 p.m. A mob of curiosity seekers were there to greet them.

The bodies of Addis and Vaughn, who had died at the scene of the wreck, and those of Shepard, Luby, Holleran and Grogan were taken into the waiting room of the Peg Leg depot and the crowd pushed and shoved to look through the windows at the victims.

The four men would not live long. Grogan died on the train on the way to Bradford. Holleran had been so severely scalded that Father Coonan of St. Bernard was called and administered the last rites. He died within the hour. Shepard’s skull had been broken in three places; he died three hours later without regaining consciousness. Luby had been taken to his home on High Street, but died from internal injuries later that night.

In total, six of the 11 men on that fateful Peg Leg train had died. It was also the death of the Peg Leg railroad.

A coroner’s inquest, held Feb. 4, 1879, reported, in part, “said men came to their deaths by the explosion of one of the boilers on the locomotive … about halfway between Foster Brook station and Babcock Mills … and we further add from viewing the wreck of said locomotive that the boilers used were not of sufficient strength for the use to which they were put; and that upon the evidence submitted to us in this case we do not see how the blame can be placed upon anyone in particular, and that the explosion was inevitable …”

No blame, but the end of the Peg Leg enterprise nonetheless. A sheriff’s sale to repay creditors was held in February 1879 in Smethport. Buyers hoped to salvage the locomotive and revive the Peg Leg railroad but financial difficulties arose and it never materialized.

In the spring of 1880, it was announced that the Peg Leg would be sold again at a second sheriff’s auction on Main Street in Bradford, in front of the Oil Exchange (at present, Northwest Bank). The Bradford Era reported, Tthe wood work connected with it has been sailing into the stoves of the residents along the road for some time past, in detail, and the sheriff will find little left of it but ashes.”

On April 5, 1880, after ‘spiritless bidding’ Fred Sheldon of Hornellsville bought what remained of the Peg Leg railroad for $3,300. He planned to tear up the rails, and sell them all.

The Peg Leg vanished into memory and today remains only a legend and an important part of Bradford history.

(Sally Ryan Costik is curator of the Bradford Landmark Society.)