Dayton, New York

Dayton, New York is a village on the original main line of the Erie Railroad, approximately half way between Salamanca and Dunkirk. It was from Dayton on May 15, 1851 that passengers on the first train to traverse the entire length of the Erie caught their first glimpse of Lake Erie in the distance. It was at Dayton on that historic day that a local citizen, Ebenezer A. Henry (also reported as Ebenezer G. Atwater), fired a War of 1812-vintage cannon which fired prematurely, blowing off both his arms and blinding him in one eye.

It is at Dayton that the Buffalo & Southwestern Railroad on its way from Buffalo to Jamestown crossed under the tracks of the Erie. For some unknown reason, the B&SW chose to tunnel through the fill supporting the Erie tracks rather than build a bridge for the Erie rails.

Dayton is served today by the New York and Lake Erie Railroad, a small freight and excursion line headquartered in Gowanda, New York. The NY&LE runs excursion trains through the tunnel at Dayton on its way between Gowanda and South Dayton.

This undated photo shows the Dayton depot.  See the Dayton Stations page for more photos of the freight house and passenger stations at Dayton. The 1909 photo postcard below shows a camelback engine coming through the Buffalo and Southwestern tunnel below the Erie Railroad tracks.

A 1914 postcard showing an Erie train approaching Dayton.

The photo above was taken in 1901 on a glass plate negative by the Hon. Winfield Scott Thrasher of Dayton, a former County Judge of Cattaraugus County.  It shows Erie Railroad engine 406 emerging from the Dayton tunnel. It is from the Dayton Historical Society collection and was provided by Phil Palen.  The photo below, also from Phil Palen, shows the tunnel as it currently looks.

Timetables

References