The restoration company has a large photo gallery. More photos and a 13:22 video are available here.
RailfanGuides has some maps including this one of the downtown area.
(Bonus: So where was the DL&W Lackawanna Terminal.)
Neil Alan posted two photos with the comment: "Buffalo Central Terminal, Buffalo, NY. Opening day in 1929 and in the 40s."
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| Bill Blake posted 1940 Buffalo Central Terminal - Buffalo Evening News Archives Rick Giles Interesting that in 1940 there are no trains to be seen. I'm wondering about how correct the date is. This looks like some kind of official photo taken just before the terminal opened. Everything looks clean and new.Joseph Anthony Rick Giles 1929John R. Motz One of the major points where the New York central would be going in and out of Canada.John P Mergler They called it the strawberry field because of all the red dwarf signals.Bruce R McCullough Or strawberry patch.William Emerson Looking west, tower 48 in the foreground. |
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| Paul L. Karichner commented on Bill's post |
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| Paul L. Karichner commented on Bill's post |
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| Dwayne Douglas posted Buffalo Central Terminal ~ Buffalo, New York 1929 Architects: Fellheimer & Wagner ⚡️ Jorden TG: I wish there wasn’t a watermark. Historical photos should be free to use. This isn’t intellectual property. Sherry Tuschong: What does it look like today? ChrisMarie Nielsen-Hess: Sherry Tuschong years ago it was sold to a corporation and they sold all the art deco features, light fixtures etc. They are currently restoring it as close to original as possible. https://buffalocentralterminal.org/ Rande Fredette: It is a neat building but why restore it now? It’s Way too far gone and …that neighborhood 😳😵💫 Robert Preskop: Rande Fredettethe location of this elaborate railroad station on the east side was Buffalo’s first major planning and development blunder. It should have been built much closer to downtown actually on the rail lines on the eastern fringe of downtown would have been perfect for this railroad terminal. But hindsight is greater than foresight. |
I presume the Central Terminal replaced this Exchange Street Terminal.
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| Daniel Miller posted The New York Central Exchange St. Terminal in Buffalo NY., opened in 1854, it was less designed than evolved, with extentions being added on as the need for space required. Below is a view of the terminal and train sheds 🚂 |
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| Buffalo Central Terminal posted Here's a little flashback to the #BuffaloCentralTerminal on May 8, 1928, roughly 1 year before this special landmark opened its doors for the first time! Pretty quick work, huh? |
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| BuffaloHistory.com posted Central Terminal Construction - To meet the increasing demands of rail travel and ease congestion in Buffalo, plans for a train station outside of downtown Buffalo were offered as early as 1889, but it wasn’t until the late-1920s that the magnificent Central Terminal was completed. Construction of the massive, art deco-style building took four years, and included a power station, offices, and amenities for as many as 200 trains and 10,000 travelers per day https://www.buffalohistory.com/central-terminal-construction.html |
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| James Cavanaugh Photography posted From my Archive. A 1990 view of the Buffalo Central Terminal. Jim Cavanaugh shared From my Archive. A 1990 view of the Buffalo Central Terminal. |
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| Francis Otterbein posted "There are fifteen railroad lines entering Buffalo, the third largest railroad center in the United States. Three hundred passenger and five hundred freight trains arrive and depart from Buffalo daily." November 18, 1923 edition of Buffalo Courier. (W. H. Porterfield) Francis Otterbein Note that this statement was made in 1923. In the 40's and 50's, Buffalo was a railfans dream. You could consider it the Chicago of the east coast. The big player in town was the New York Central, which came up from New York City via Albany, and then headed west towards Chicago. Other railroads included the Erie, the Nickel Plate, the B&O, Lehigh Valley, Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, Buffalo Creek, and the Pennsylvania RR. The NYC, LV, and Erie headed north to Niagara Falls. On the south side of town, you had the Erie, NYC, NKP, and the LV all coming coming into town. On the east side, the NYC came up from New York City, and just south of their trackage, the Erie, DL&W, and LV all had parallel tracks. Today, the railroads are CSX, Norfolk Southern, Canadian Pacific, the Buffalo Southern (a 32 mile shortline heading south), Genesee & Wyoming's Buffalo & Pittsburgh, and the South Buffalo. http://www.railfanguides.us/ny/buffalo/ [This railfanguides link includes a nice map o fthe area.] |
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| Eric Moeller commented on the above posting And that was from before ny central built this amazing terminal in 1929 .... |
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| Lenny Anderson commented on a post Here's the same view in 2017 |
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| Eric Moeller commented on the above posting All lit up for dingus day 2017. |
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| Eric Moeller commented on the above posting Here's a construction photo |
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| Bill Blake posted June 11, 1929 - New York Central Terminal - Buffalo, NY Dennis LaRock How do you make all those bricks stick to the ceiling with out falling down? Harrison Balduf Probably laid in such a way to act as an arch, with each tile slightly in compression of the next so that they can't "fall out" without all the other tiles getting out of the way. Also good mortar does wonders. Seeing as non have fallen out despite water damages though, maybe the former. Timothy Warner Are Those Bricks Still There ? |
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| Mike Wojtaszek commented on Timothy's comment on Bill's post The guastavino tiles are still there yes. Lots of staining and dirt over the years. |
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| Broadway Fillmore Alive posted Buffalo Central Terminal 1940s. Carl Skompinski The smokestack on the right side was the power plant for the Terminal. Heat. |
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| Carl Skompinski commented on BFA's post |
Jerry Lepsch posted five photos with the comment:
Todays Before & After has us shuffling off to Buffalo to visit the former New York Central Terminal better known today as the Buffalo Central Terminal ( BCT ) . This Gem of the Buffalo East side construction began in 1926 and was opened to the public in 1929 and remained an active station until 1979. Designed by New York City Architect firm Fellheimer & Wagner which featured Art Deco Style Architecture boasted a 271ft tall 15 floor office tower which stood alone among the Buffalo East Side Landscape. Its Grand Concourse built over Curtis St which stood about 5 floors itself greeted and sent off millions of passengers in its lifetime. Its 450 foot long Train Concourse with 14 low level platforms has seen over 100 trains move through its tracks daily. Its Baggage Building stood adjacent to the Main Concourse stood 5 stories tall itself. Sadly after its closing in 1979 it was sold off to owners who had Grand Ideas which never panned out and stood vacant for years as vandals pillaged and plundered all its treasures which mant artifacts have been sold off world wide. Now under control of the Centeral Terminal Restoration Corporation and listed in the National Register of Historical Places back in September 7, 1984 The CTRC has portions of the building cleaned up and made available for private and public events. In September The Buffalo Central Terminal hosts a Toy Train Show on site for the price of admission you can visit a portion of the the terminal located at 495 Paderewski Dr in Buffalo NY.Jerry Lepsch shared
Photo's are a mixture from different sites Wikipedia, Buffalo Rising, American Rails and Western New York Heritage.
Please feel free to add photo's and comments .
I hope you enjoy
Peter Dudley Buffalo Central Terminal (BCT) opened in 1929, and closed (as a rail passenger facility) in 1979. It's been vacant longer than Detroit's Michigan Central Station (MCS).
The non-profit organization that owns the landmark has sponsored events at BCT, similar to those hosted at Ford Motor Company's recently-acquired Detroit monument.
The DETROITER, the fastest middle-distance passenger train in North America as of 1926, regularly shuttled between these bookends along the double-track Canada Southern Railway (CASO) "speedway".
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| Antonio Medina posted New York Central Terminal. Exterior view of Buffalo Central Terminal looking west from tracks, November 12, 1977. Photo by Garrett R. Cousins. |
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| Screenshot Passing the old Buffalo train station. Hard to believe that in it's heyday over 200 trains stopped here. Now abandoned the clock tower has been restored. Reminds me of the Michigan Central Depot in Detroit. |
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| The Rail Way posted Buffalo Central Terminal, New York Central Railroad, constructed 1929, last used for trains 1979. Photo: February 23, 2008. J.B. Rail Photog shared William Cope shared Where once there were this many platforms for this many passenger trains. (My photo.) Robert Willison: The station served 4 railroads, the NYC, PRR, CN and the T, B & H. It once handled 200 trains, but that number quickly diminished. The war boosted traffic again. The post war years were not kind to either the station or NYC. Today amtrak utilizes NYC built exchange street station and Amtrak Depew station. Amtrak choose to use the Niagra Falls NY station as it terminal for its empire service. |
March 20, 2023:
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| Bob O'Brien posted Crews are responding to what appears to be a major fire near Buffalo Central Terminal. https://trib.al/m6fDWHx [It took place about 1000 yards behind the terminal in a construction site. The fire has been ruled as arson by the investigators.] |
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| Adam Vester posted Late last night a fire devastated the abandoned passenger platforms of the Buffalo Central Terminal. J Matt Kianka: And not really “devastated”. The damage was contained to two small ends of over one dozen platforms on an enormous station property. Today [Mar 23, 2023] it was ruled arson: https://www.wgrz.com/.../71-b854c65e-0f9b-4559-a504... Ron Smolen shared |
20 photos of the dilapidated platforms
Bartel Miller posted two images with the comment: "Starting later this year the Buffalo Central Terminal will be undergoing a $300 million restoration! The massive mixed use project is going to take ten years to complete. Bravo Buffalo, Bravo!"
[Some comments indicate that the cost is so high because they intend to improve the neighborhood as well as the station.]
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Sadly, another outstanding railroad passenger station monument built after the peak of railroads in North America. Of course, nobody ever knows they're at the peak of anything until long after it passes.
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