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Buffalo Rochester & Pittsburgh Depot
Orchard Park, New York
Thanks to Bob Snyder for compiling this list.
The Orchard Park railroad depot at Highland Avenue and South Lincoln Street is not your average small town railroad station. Built in 1911 by the Buffalo, Rochester Pittsburgh Railway, it was uncommonly substantial thanks to the railways president, Harry Yates, who lived in the village of Orchard Park. The depot is an exact replica a stone H.H. Richardson depot in Auburndale, Massachusetts. The only difference is the Orchard Park depot is made of "Tapestry Brick".
It is uncommon for a village this size to have a depot of this stature with a freight house, 100 feet away. Mr Yates, spared no expense, taking care of his little village. The passenger depot features separate men's and women's waiting rooms, wooden wainscoting, exposed wooden ceiling beams and most of all the original wooden benches.
The Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway was taken over by the Baltimore &
Ohio Railroad in 1932 and later absorbed into the Chessie System in the mid 1970's. Passenger service ended in the mid 1950's, but a freight agent was on duty until 1979. Developer Edmund F. Burke of Burke Realty and Construction Company, donated the depot to the Society in 1990 after he was unsuccessful in getting village permission to convert the building into a restaurant.
Restoration to date is about 90% complete, and is open to the public during the summer every Saturday from 9am - 1pm until Labor Day. Many village civic organizations also use the depot as the center for their functions. Events such as the Orchard Park Garden Club Sale, Christmas in the Park, Business Functions and the annual Ice Cream Social, give the public a chance to enjoy a little railroad heritage and for the Society to show off their work and equipment.
In addition to restoring the passenger depot to its 1911 as built stature, the Freight House will become the site for the Societies Museum Store and Archive Center. This will provide the public access to the extensive historical collection holdings of the Society. Climate control and fire protection will ensure safe, long term storage of rapidly aging railroad related artifacts and documents.
) "Mr Bill" 1915 Model-T |
) 4th of July - 1976 |
) 1975 |
 Depot West End |
 Depot North View |
 Original Light Fixture |
 "Tie Car" |
 Women's Waiting Room |
 Baggage Room |
 Station Agents Desk |
"HOLIDAY IN THE PARK 2008"
Once again, the Society’s Orchard Park Depot was the center for the Village of Orchard Park’s annual Christmas celebration, “Holiday in the Park”. On Wednesday, December 3rd, the Orchard Park Depot crew (Bob Reynders, Jim Slominski, Roger Smith, Gary Ludwig and Bob Snyder) put together the wiring for the activities at the Depot. Our Chief Electrician, Bob Reynders, assisted by Jim Slominski, did the ladder work for the electrical connections, while Bob, Roger and Gary attended to the other Depot preparations, including setting up a G-scale train under the Depot Christmas tree.
Things got under way on Saturday, the 6th, at 4 PM with the decoration of the trees on the Depot grounds, in anticipation of a visit from Santa Claus. Santa rode in on a sleigh around 5 pm and stayed at the Depot listening to the Christmas wishes of all the boys and girls, until 7 PM. Many activities took place in and around the Depot all evening. There were trees to be decorated, a snowman contest, a hill of snow to play on, log fires, a hay ride wagon pulled by a team of horses, food at the DPW building and the annual visit of the Orchard Park Chorus. At times, it was standing room only in the Depot. Another record crowd helped to make the season bright, and we heard from Santa as he rode out of sight, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good Night!"
LATE BREAKING NEWS: The Village of Orchard Park has agreed to donate $1000.00 toward the interior lighting of the Orchard Park Depot.
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The WNYRHS, Inc. P.O. Box 416, Buffalo, NY. 14231-0416 is an independent organization and has no affiliation with any other local or national group. The Society is a fully qualified organization under 501 (C) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code and all donations to the Society are tax deductible. This page last updated on March 1st, 2009 ©Copyright 1999 - 2009 WNYRHS Inc. all rights reserved
