Buffalo is one of the greatest railroad centers in the United States.
Its advantages for bringing in raw material cheaply and quickly are
unequalled. Its railroad arteries go forth in all directions, reaching
the rich mines and fertile fields and levying upon the wealth of all;
and for the distribution of manufactured products it occupies a
commanding position unexcelled by any city in the country. And to all
this must be added its peerless shipping facilities by lake and canal,
coupled with the fact of its unique location at the point of
transhipment between lake, canal and railroad.
The railroad interests of Buffalo are larger than many residents of the
city have any idea of. There are more miles of railroad tracks within
the city limits than in any other city in the world. We have 660 miles
of them. The railroads own over 3,600 acres of land in the city. Over
one-tenth of the general city taxes levied in Buffalo is paid by the
railroads. An army of over 20,000 men are steadily employed by the
railroads in Buffalo. A great number of them own their own homes. With
their families they are numerous enough to make a good-sized city of
themselves.
New industries are constantly being added to swell the bulk of railroad
enterprises here. The locomotive shops of the New York Central & Hudson
River Railroad are among the latest. They will cost half a million
dollars to build, and they will be equipped with the highest class of
machinery, costing several hundred thousand dollars more. It is the
intention within a few years to spend about two million dollars on these
shops, making them the largest and best equipped locomotive shops in the
United States, rivaling the Altoona shops, now the largest in the world.
The building of the Gould Car Coupler Company’s works adds another to
the long list of railroad supply shops located here, among which are the
Wagner Palace Car Works, Buffalo Car Wheel Works, New York Car Wheel
Works, Rood & Brown Car Wheel Works, all employing a large number of
men. These are the kind of industries that anchor a city to prosperity
forever.
All this shows what a railroad center Buffalo is and what splendid
facilities we have for receiving and sending by rail.
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