The Historic Buffalo River Tour - 2017

The Historic Buffalo River Tour    -  32 Years

This two hour presentation by The Industrial Heritage Committee, Inc. covers the history, architecture, and technology of the grain elevators, flour mills, and other industries on the Buffalo River and City Ship Canal, along with a general history of the Erie Canal, inner harbor area, and more. Photographs, maps and video further enhance this original educational experience. This is the original tour begun 32 years ago by the IHC. When choosing your Grain Elevator tour this year, go with the original Historic Buffalo River Tour. Experience counts! Don't Miss the Boat!

For complete schedule and details go to: www.buffaloindustrialheritage.com   

Looking forward to another great season,
don't miss the boat!

The Industrial Heritage Committee, Inc.

GIVE ME A BRAKE!!

George Westinghouse

       The first series of tests of the new Westinghouse air-brake for freight cars was made on the main line of the Erie near Alden,  November 4, 1887, which was witnessed by over 100 railroad men and other gentlemen of Buffalo.  The test was made with a train of fifty freight cars of the Pennsylvania, standard style, thirty eight feet and 4 inches long, and weighing about 30,000 pounds each.  The entire train was 1,900 feet long with an enormous weight of 2,000,000 pounds.

The Old Style Brakeman had to set 
brakes on each individual car 
by hand

    In 1869, George Westinghouse patented his first air brake. Prior to this development, mechanical brakes were used which had to be individually applied to each car by brakemen.  The problem with the first straight air brake, it applied braking pressure to the front cars sooner than the rear.  By 1873, he developed the triple valve, the key component in the creation of an "automatic" air brake. Instead of using compressed air directly from the locomotive,  his system placed a reservoir of air under each car and charged them from a continuous brake pipe linked to the locomotive.  That way if the air pump failed or the train parted, air stored on each car could apply the brakes automatically-- an especially useful fail-safe feature.      

     Although the plain automatic air brake 
was a great improvement over the straight air brake, in an emergency the system still applied the brakes to the last cars in a train later than to the first cars in a train. To remedy that condition, George Westinghouse invented the quick action triple valve in 1887. It automatically vents air from the brake pipe locally on each car, which applies the brakes more quickly.  During competitive trials in 1887 - 1888, the Westinghouse design proved so superior that it was made the universal standard.  The air brake was perhaps the most important single railroad invention of the period.

            

Fire Department "Shorts"

AMOSKEAG HORSELESS FIRE ENGINE

Amoskeag Horseless Engine

  In 1897 it was suggested in Buffalo to run a horseless fire engine.  Fire Commissioners Davis, Malone and Grattan accompanied by Chief McConnell departed for Boston December 5th to witness a test of the Amoskeag horseless fire engine.  The Commissioners did not regard it as a desirable thing. It weighed 17,000 pounds and ran on wheels with iron teeth which, it was thought, would ruin some of the fine asphalt pavement.
   The membership of the Fire Department in 1889 was 275 men. The equipment included, twenty one engines(including fire boat), 20 hose wagons, four chemicals, and six hook and ladder trucks, with two steamers and one chemical in reserve.
  In October, 1837, in accordance with a prayer of petition long before presented to the common council by Millard Fillmore and others, a bell was bought and placed on the terrace market, to be used for fire alarms and other emergencies.  This is all that was used until the telegraph fire alarm system was put into use in 1865.
  September 10, 1895, Edward Gardner was the first person in Buffalo to be convicted of turning in a false fire alarm. Fined $50 by Justice King. In November of 1816 a special meeting of trustees was held. The meeting directed the trustees to adopt measures for securing a supply of water for fire purposes, "by means of water courses, aqueducts, reservoirs or otherwise." At the same meeting they were directed to "obtain twenty ladders and two fire hooks;"  and every occupant of a house was required to "provide himself with a good leathern fire bucket, and all chimneys were required to be cleaned every two weeks."

Fire Boat in Action on Buffalo Waterfront

   Like a swan the fire boat W.S. Grattan, September 1, 1900 sped on it's initial trip from it's cradle at Nixons Ship yard, Elizabethport  NJ.  The fireboat was christened the W.S. Grattan, in honor of the Fire Commissioner, as little Miss Lucia Grattan stood at the bow and smashed a bottle of wine on the nose of the boat as it slid down the ways amid the cheering of 1,000 people, and the blowing of many whistles in the Harbor. The Fire Commissioners were all present on the stand, as was also Chief McConnel. The boat is 118 feet long and is built entirely of steel.  She is able to make over fourteen knots, and will crush ice twenty inches thick.

Driver John H. Downing of Engine 13 
Answers an Alarm

Be sure to visit my other fire fighting links: FIRE FIGHTING IN THE HORSE DRAWN ERA post, and the the fire fighting in the horse drawn era special Video Page in the EXTRA EXTRA SECTION in the right hand column.

Look Ma, No Horses!

  The first public test of the 

Elieson Motor in the United States was made on the tracks of the 

Buffalo Street Railroad Co. March 10, 1888 

The Commercial Advertiser March 4, 1888

The accompanying picture shows the electrical locomotive which it is proposed to test soon off the tracks of the Buffalo Street Railroad Company. This car is a reproduction of a photograph showing a locomotive which was-and is believed still is-at work on the lines of the North Metropolitan Tramway Co., London.  It was built under the patents of the Elieson Electric Company Limited, of No. 31 Liverpool Street, London. A locomotive like the one in the picture has arrived in New York from London, destined for Buffalo. In use an ordinary street car is hitched to it. It is understood that the motor will reach Buffalo in a few days, when the test will be made, and the public, no doubt, be given a chance to judge of its suitability for Buffalo Streets.

It is not claimed that the new motor is cheaper than steam, but it is noiseless, and can therefore be used in the streets. It is claimed to be cheaper than horses, and both cheaper and more trustworthy than the cable system. The motor was shipped to this country at the expense of the Elieson Electric Co., of London, England, who have had their system in successful operation at home for several months.

Buffalo Morning Express  March 11, 1888

     If anything were needed to convince the Buffalo Street Railroad Company that the city is ripe for rapid transit, conclusive proof was furnished yesterday in the general outpouring of the population to witness the exhibition trip of the new electric motor. A regular circus-day crowd lined the main street sidewalks from Seneca Street to The Genesee, and never was the triumphal chariot at the head of a glittering cavalcade hailed with greater demonstrations of delight than were seen on all sides when the imported precursor of better street car facilities finally made its appearance. We are looking forward with longing to the time when we can sell our horses, put in a big engine and a lot of dynamos, and become an electric railway from end to end, said President Watson. But such radical changes ought not, on Elieson as a matter of business policy, to be made until it is conclusively proven that electricity can be economically used as a substitute for horse-power.

 “Do not expect too much of it. In the first place, the wheels are lighter and the flanges much narrower than our standard car wheels, and for this reason it is apt to jump the tracks unless great care is exercised. This will materially reduce the possible speed. Then, again, Mr. Robison, the expert electrician, who will operate it, is wholly unacquainted with the route over which it will travel, and has had no experience in running it over our tracks. So, from beginning to end it will be a cautious trip, with no attempts to make the possible 12 miles an hour.”  The Press party, President Watson, and some of the street railway employees took their places in the car, the starting-bell was rung, the lever thrown over, and the exhibition trip was begun.

Main Street Buffalo

    A crowd of from 200 to 300 had gathered at the barns, and the teams standing in the street and hitched to the fences suggested a country fair. The small boys ran along on the sidewalk on either side shouting and gesticulating, fresh recruits taking the places of those who fell out, thus keeping up the excitement. At every street corner a large assemblage was gathered, and as the first exponent of coming rapid-transit swept by,  the men cheered and the ladies waved their handkerchiefs. It was more like the march of an army with banners than a simple test of a new propelling device.

   Electrician Robison stood in the front door of the motor cab with his right hand upon the speed regulator, while with the other he grasped the cord of the warning bell.  While rounding curves and crossing switches, as well as at the intersections of the principal streets, the speed was brought down to a snail's pace as a precautionary measure; but while traversing the long blocks where the track is in excellent condition, the Motor was permitted to bowl along at the rate of eight or nine miles per hour for short distances, to show what it was capable of doing in actual service. Up and down the grades it moved at about the same rate of speed, the power being shut off wherever gravity would give the requisite propulsion. The motion of the car was pleasanter and less jerky than where horse power is used, particularly in starting and stopping, while the noise was reduced sufficiently to permit of easy conversation without raising the voice.  

    Finally, just at five o'clock, the excursionists reached the waiting-room at the corner of Niagara and Main Streets once more, and the party dispersed, pleased and happy in the thought that the feasibility of rapid transit, so far as the public is concerned, has been demonstrated at last in the streets of Buffalo. Yes, the people turned out March 10, as they might be expected to a circus parade, as the mayor and aldermen enjoyed the first trip in the United States on the street railroad tracks of Buffalo by motor power.

Rapid Transit Moving Up & Down Main Street Around 1900

    The motor is of the storage battery style, carrying a charge of electricity lasting four hours. It is about 10 ft. long, nearly 11 ft. high, and weighs 6 tons. It takes four hours to charge the battery, which contains 90 secondary cells, each, one inch long, 12 in. wide and 5 or 6 in. thick. Each cell contains from 10 to 13 metal plates. The whole battery weighs about 2 tons. It is placed in the motor between double floors. As soon as the motor has ran its four hours the battery is taken out and another, ready charged, slipped into place. 

  The electricity is transmitted by means of a cog wheel 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter, which runs horizontally. This controls a series of smaller cogs, which in turn drive a crank that imparts the motion. It is not claimed that the new motor is cheaper than steam, but it is noiseless, and can therefore be used in the streets. It is claimed to be cheaper than horses, and both cheaper and more trustworthy than the cable system. The trial trip of 21 miles was made in half an hour, and was a decided success. While rounding curves and crossing switches, as well as at the intersections of the principal streets, the speed was brought down to a snail's pace, but, while traversing the log blocks, the motor was permitted to run at the rate of eight or nine mile per hour for short distances. If the Buffalo company is satisfied with the experiments which it will make daily, the question of putting the electric machinery in its own cars will be considered, for it can be placed in any car.