The Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad is a

Class II railroad In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$5 ...

operating in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The BPRR is owned by

Genesee & Wyoming Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) is an American short line railroad holding company, that owns or maintains an interest in 122 railroads in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom and formerly Australia. It operates ...

. Its main line runs between

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

and

Eidenau, Pennsylvania Eidenau is an unincorporated community in Jackson Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. Geography Eidenau is located in the area where Breakneck Creek flows into the Connoquenessing Creek. Pennsylvania Route 68 is the main roa ...

, north of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. Here, connections are made to the city center via the

Allegheny Valley Railroad The Allegheny Valley Railroad is a class III railroad that operates in Western Pennsylvania, and is owned by Carload Express, Inc. AVR acts as a feeder line connecting its many and varied customers to Class I railroads such as CSX Transportati ...

. The system runs largely on former Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) lines. The entire BPRR system is . Major commodities carried include paper, petroleum products, chemicals, coal, steel, and sand.

Main line

The Buffalo-Eidenau main line passes through Salamanca, NY,

Bradford, PA Bradford is a city in McKean County, Pennsylvania. It is located close to the border with New York state and approximately south of Buffalo, New York. Bradford is the principal city in the Bradford, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. The popu ...

, Johnsonburg, PA, DuBois, PA, Punxsutawney, PA, and

Butler, PA Butler is a city and the county seat of Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located north of Pittsburgh and is part of the Greater Pittsburgh region. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population was 13,502. ...

. Principal rail yards are located at Butler, Punxsutawney (Riker), and Buffalo, with support yards for local industry at other locations. B&P initially used the direct former B&O/BR&P main between Buffalo and Salamanca, but during the 1990s a failing bridge at Springville, New York forced the railroad to detour its trains north of Ashford Junction via the former Rochester & Southern track to Machias Junction, New York, thence north on

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do bus ...

's/

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...

's ex-

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

Buffalo Line The Buffalo Line is a railroad line owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway in the U.S. states of New York and Pennsylvania. The line runs from Buffalo, New York southeast to Rockville, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania along a former Penn ...

to Buffalo. Buffalo & Pittsburgh now is the sole user of the ex-PRR south of CP-GRAVITY in Buffalo.

Other lines

BPRR operates two key secondary lines. One runs between

Erie Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

and Johnsonburg along the former

Allegheny & Eastern Railroad The Allegheny and Eastern Railroad was a shortline railroad operating in Pennsylvania, owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. It is now operated by the Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad. Originally named the Allegheny Railroad, Genesee & Wyoming Inc. ...

. Another is made up of former

Pittsburg & Shawmut Railroad The Pittsburg and Shawmut Railroad , also known as the Shawmut Line, was a short line railroad company operating passenger and freight service on standard gauge track in central and southwestern Pennsylvania. Since 2004, it has been operated as ...

tracks, running from the

Armstrong Power Plant Armstrong Power Station was a 356 megawatt ( MW), coal power plant in Washington Township, Armstrong County along the Allegheny River across from Mahoning Creek and Templeton, Pennsylvania, about north of Kittanning, Pennsylvania. The plant o ...

in Reesedale to

Freeport, Pennsylvania Freeport is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Armstrong County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania; it is situated along the Allegheny River in the southwest corner of the county. The population was 1,813 at the 201 ...

. The B&P also operates on the Low Grade between DuBois and

Driftwood __NOTOC__ Driftwood is wood that has been washed onto a shore or beach of a sea, lake, or river by the action of winds, tides or waves. In some waterfront areas, driftwood is a major nuisance. However, the driftwood provides shelter and fo ...

that was formerly used by the

, then

. A portion of the former B&O Northern Subdivision is used to provide access to Petrolia, PA.

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

also leases the

P&W Subdivision The P&W Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation, the Allegheny Valley Railroad (AVR), and the Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad (BPRR) in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The line runs from Rankin north through Pitts ...

to the B&P between Allison Park and the New Castle Yard in West Pittsburg, just outside

New Castle, PA New Castle is a city in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lawrence County. It is northwest of Pittsburgh, and near the Pennsylvania–Ohio border, just southeast of Youngstown, Ohio. As of the 2020 U.S. Census ...

. Though the B&P ends in Allison Park, the railroad rarely traverses the line down to the borough. Instead, it transfers its goods to the AVR either in Evans City or Bakerstown depending on the amount of freight it has. Other owned and operated branch lines travel to

Homer City Homer City is a borough in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,746 at the 2020 census. Homer City is located in the Indiana metro area. The community was named for the famous Greek poet Homer by founder William Wil ...

, St Marys, and

Brookville, Pennsylvania Brookville is a borough in Jefferson County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, northeast of Pittsburgh. As of the 2010 census, the population was 3,933. Founded in 1830, it is the county seat of Jefferson County History The area was initially ...

, as well as to the Buffalo suburb of

Orchard Park, New York Orchard Park is a town in Erie County, New York. It is an outer ring suburb southeast of Buffalo. As of the 2010 census, the population was 29,054, representing an increase of 5.13% from the 2000 census figure. The town contains a village als ...

History

200px, Indiana subdivision Operations began in 1988 over mostly former Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (formerly

Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway The Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh Railway was one of the more than ten thousand railroad companies founded in North America. It lasted much longer than most, serving communities from the shore of Lake Ontario to the center of western Penns ...

) lines. In the early 2000s, the BPRR merged other GWI railroads into it. These lines include the

(ALY),

(PSR), and the Bradford Industrial Railroad (BR). Around 2005 the Indiana Subdivision, which had been out of use, was rehabilitated to serve the Homer City Generating Station. Shortly after this, the Ridge Subdivision, which had seen a

coal train run-through to

Shelocta Selocta Chinnabby (also Shelocta, ''Se-loc-ta'', Chinnabee, or Apuckshunubee) (c. 1765—October 15, 1834 or February 10, 1835) was a Muskogee Creek and Natchez chief from present-day Talladega County, Alabama. He allied himself with the Andr ...

was sold off to NS. In 2006, the railroad was honored as the Regional Railroad of the Year by ''

Railway Age ''Railway Age'' is an American trade magazine for the rail transport industry. It was founded in 1856 in Chicago (the United States' major railroad hub) and is published monthly by Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation. History The magazine's ...

'' magazine.

Fleet

The BPRR fleet, as of November 2020, consists of the following. Almost all locomotives were manufactured by EMD between the late 1950s and early 1970s.

References

External links

Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buffalo Pittsburgh Railroad Transportation in Buffalo, New York New York (state) railroads Pennsylvania railroads Regional railroads in the United States Genesee & Wyoming Spin-offs of CSX Transportation