The Salamanca Rail Museum in western New York has had to leave its longtime home at a former Buffalo, Rochester, & Pittsburgh Railway depot built in 1912. It is now searching for a new site to showcase a small fleet of rolling stock and other exhibits related to the region’s railroad history. 

When the Salamanca Rail Museum Association was established in the early 1980s, it was located inside the station and freight house donated by Chessie System to the City of Salamanca. While the city owned the building, it did not own the land it sits on, which is part of the Seneca Nation of Indians’ Allegany Territory. The museum noted that although a lease should have been negotiated at that time, it never was. The building and grounds were managed by the City of Salamanca’s Industrial Development Agency, which paid for insurance, grounds maintenance, and any repairs needed. In 2023, the City of Salamanca told the museum it could no longer cover those costs. A new agreement was then made in which the museum agreed to help pay for insurance. The museum also financed a new air conditioner, roof repairs, and regrouting of the west wall. Once again, no lease was ever negotiated with the tribe. 

ABOVE: The Salamanca Rail Museum’s collection of historic trains has been moved off of property controlled by the Seneca Nation onto an unused siding owned by Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad. The museum is currently searching for a new location to relocate the collection. —Courtesy photo

Unfortunately, the oversight decades ago of not negotiating a lease for the property has come back to haunt the museum and city officials. Earlier this year, the Seneca Nation informed both parties that they needed to vacate the property. The museum was initially told it had to leave by the end of April but was later given an extension to the end of July. Since then, volunteers have been tirelessly working to move equipment, and last week, they managed to move the entire fleet to a new location alongside the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad tracks. While the museum has lost its historic home in Salamanca, officials are hopeful they will eventually be able to reopen at a new site. 

“We are working to secure a new property,” the museum announced on social media. “A few locations have been evaluated, and conceptual drawings are being made to approach those who control the properties we are considering. Please understand we cannot publicly disclose any of these potential locations, but we do not plan to move far. We also do not know what the future plans are for the buildings and grounds.” —Justin Franz