History

The Jamestown and Lake Erie Railway was one of the incarnations of the railroad running from Jamestown along the east side of Chautauqua Lake to Mayville. It was chartered on October 22, 1894 following the reorganization of the Chautauqua Lake Railway which built the line in the late 1880s. The company lasted less than five years until January 1, 1899 when it was reorganized again and emerged as the Jamestown and Chautauqua Railroad. The line was eventually extended from Mayville to Westfield and was operated for many years as the Jamestown, Westfield and Northwestern Railroad.

In addition to the 21 mile main line between Jamestown and Mayville, the company had a 2.7 mile long branch from Mayville to Chautauqua and a 3.5 mile long branch from Clifton to Falconer. The company was not a financial success.

1897 Annual Report

The company filed it annual report, covering the period of July 1, 1896 to June 30, 1897. Among the information provided in the report is the following:

Financials

  
Gross Earnings $42,470.50
Operating Expenses ($40,915.02)
Interest on Debt ($325,000 @ 5%) ($16,000)
Taxes ($2,838.69)
Interest Earned 56.84
Deficit for year ending June 30, 1897 $5,965.95
Prior accumulated deficit $10,602.64
   

Equipment

  
Locomotives, 4 drivers 5 (2 purchased during 1896-1897 year)
First class passenger cars 11 (5 purchased during 1896-1897 year)
Second class passenger cars 1
Baggage, mail and express cars 2
Construction cars 1
Flat cars 1
   

Right of Way

  
Iron bridges 1 (50 feet long)
Wooden bridges 1 (107 feet long)
Wooden trestles 18 (1,094 feet combined length)
Highway crossings at grade 15
Railroad crossings at grade 1
   

Operations

  
Passengers carried 46,655
Passengers carried one mile 803,972
Passenger train miles 36,486
   
Freight carried (tons) 41,314
Tons of freight carried one mile 661,024
Freight train miles 25,603

References