Eastern Railroad Discussion > NY&LE South Dayton Flyer

The New York & Lake Erie Railroad, based in Gowanda, NY, ran "South Dayton Flyers" at 11am and 2pm yesterday (Saturday, September 25, 2022), and a "Wine Tasting Train Ride" at 5pm.  That was the intention anyway.  Things didn't go too smoothly.  FPA4 6764 is currently out of service with a radiator leak, so S-1 308 subbed-in.  Unfortunately 308's batteries were dead, the welder they intended to use to boost 308 couldn't cut it, so they had to use FPA2 6758 to boost 308.

Photo 1- a half-hour past the scheduled 11am departure time, 308 comes alive thanks to 6758's assistance.  The 11am train would depart Gowanda about 45 minutes late.

Photo 2 - late trains only getting later.  The 2pm train departed Gowanda about 20 minutes late and almost got to us at Hill St. before it was realized that they had left someone behind at the station.  After reversing back to pick up the stray individual, the second South Dayton Flyer departed Gowanda at 2:30pm.  The train would soon struggle on the steep grade south of Gowanda, so they must have still been having difficultly with one (or both) of the locomotives.

Photo 3 - after a quick turnaround in South Dayton, the train returns north through the dot on the map called Markhams, NY.  The FPA's are nice, but a S-1 leading isn't bad either.

The clouds had rolled in, so we didn't stick around to see the wine train depart.  There were alot of people arriving for the train, so hopefully the third train of the day ran smoothly.   

Rob Smith
Hamilton, ON



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/25/22 11:17 by DundasMP23.

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Great photos - Interesting back story. Thanks for posting these.
Bob

Nice photos and nice story.  Sometimes many things can go wrong, but you keep on trying.  By the way, in that last photo with the Erie Engine leading, the first passenger car appears to be an ex-B&O Food Bar Coach, either 3001 or 3003 as I'm sure that the NY&LE purchased two of these cars from the B&O Railroad in 1971.  Can someone confirm this?  
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Hi John.  I can confirm the car mentioned has "B&O" cast in the truck side frame.  There's a similar car stored with two others in Gowanda behind NYLE 1013, you can partially see them in behind in the attached photo.  There's a total of four cars stored out of service in Gowanda in rough shape.

ClubCar Wrote:
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> the first passenger car appears to be an
> ex-B&O Food Bar Coach, either 3001 or 3003 as I'm
> sure that the NY&LE purchased two of these cars
> from the B&O Railroad in 1971.  Can someone
> confirm this?  
> John in White Marsh, Maryland

Rob Smith
Hamilton, ON

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My favorite is Pic 3!!