Working mountain Alco locomotives: Nestled in the wide rolling hills on the western edge of New York’s Southern Tier lies the formerly two-railroad town of Olean, N.Y. A quaint, unsuspecting town of 13,000 residents located along the placid Allegheny River was once a railfanning destination, that is — until the formation of Conrail. Dozens of trains daily pounded the downtown diamond at “Olean Tower,” The crossing of the north-south Pennsylvania Railroad Harrisburg-Buffalo “Buffalo Line” and the Erie’s east-west NY-Chicago mainline known as the “Meadville Line,” rapped with the kind of intensity that prudent money might even bet, would never end. But a happy ending was not immediate as Conrail, and then Norfolk Southern, eventually lost its affinity for both of Olean’s mainlines, and years of uncertainty ensued before the formation of today’s modern Western New York & Pennsylvania.
The WNY&P is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Livonia Avon & Lakeville Railroad. It started operations in 2001 after the public-private New York Southern Tier Extension Rail Authority acquired the former Erie/Erie-Lackawanna main line from Hornell, N.Y., to Meadville, Pa., and eventually Oil City, Pa., with public funds through leases and public-private purchases. The railroad quickly expanded in 2007 after NS piecemealed the north end to the Buffalo line to both the Buffalo & Pittsburgh and WNY&P. After the deal was done, B&P then enjoyed a new routing north into Buffalo and the WNY&P to the south toward Driftwood, Pa., with Machias, N.Y., becoming the dividing point, 26 miles north of Olean.
Situated at the crossroads of the new system, it was only natural that Olean became the operating heart of the WNY&P’s universe. Conrail had rebuilt the Erie’s Olean yard late in its operation and used it as a focal point to serve online business and interchange to the west. The grounds were improved further when a three-track engine house with inspection pits was constructed with the capacity to hold and work on up to nine locomotives at a time. The table was set for the Big Show about to go down.
It’s no secret what happened next. A fleet of 6-axle ex-Cartier M630s, similar to the C630s, Conrail/New York, Susquehanna & Western C430s and several other acquisitions from Canadian Pacific, Morristown & Erie, Tioga Central, and the Belt Railway of Chicago flooded the railroad with a prized fleet of Alco/Montreal Locomotive Works locomotives like none other, once again making Olean a destination for railfans.
It wasn’t until fall 2014 before I made it over for the first time to Olean, and it quickly became an annual tradition of our group to visit, until a group of eight orphaned ex-CSX Transportation AC6000Ws took over for the aging 6-axle MLW’s late in 2019.
Please enjoy a few of the more memorable images taken over five years of my visits to the railroad. In 2022, WNY&P is still a busy, heavy-duty railroad and demands safety and respect.
When asked formally, the railroad has been a gracious host during the period of photographs presented, and always welcoming of fans who respected their rules. A trip into the hills of western New York and Pennsylvania is always time well spent, especially along the revived rails of the WNY&P.
My first trip there in early 2016 was great, as the railroad rolled out the welcome mat for me. Spent one evening after hours talking with Carl Belke (we both had New Jersey roots). The office staff were most gracious. The GM gave me her cell number in case I had any questions regarding my planned chase for the next day. No problem getting releases or operating information (a map was provided to this out of state visitor). It was a nice throwback to the 1970’s of railfanning!
A subsequent change in management resulted in releases no longer being available. A 2019 visit still yielded great results to fans who abided by the rules (stay behind the guardrail by the road at the engine house), waiting patiently and carefully listening to radio transmissions.