NYLE was established in 1978 as a a freight service on the old Erie Lackawanna track which bridged Gowanda and Salamanca together an easy 15 mile service handled rather quickly using the rails as a way of transporting goods in just a short time. Of course some of the other cars on the tracks may be much older then the engines itself.  In 1982 the line was expanded and it ran all the way through towns like Jamestown, Cherry Creek, Buffalo and a few other smaller towns so basically a 15 mile service now would be able to travel 35-50 miles and cover a much broader range in the WNY region. In 1990 the line going to Buffalo and the other line heading to Salamanca were abandoned and no longer are used. 

Today the Gowanda and NYLE is used as an attraction. Visitors can enjoy purchasing gifts at the shops and touring the trains in the yard. Also for the really big train fans visitors can enjoy a excursion during the afternoon which takes them to Cherry Creek NY and back. Cherry Creek is also known as Amish Country. Once passengers get off the train they can purchase crafts, baked goods, antiques and tours some of the shops in Cherry Creek only to re-board the train and come home from a day full of fun events. The visitors can enjoy horse drawn rides, visit a restaurant get a taste of what New England has to offer. Also the train will go through a stone tunnel dating back from 1865. Even the passengers can sit in an outdoor car open to the fresh air. 

Not to sound like we are advertising for a tourist attraction but it is important to the value and purpose of this great part of history. I have tried to find where the stone tunnel is to investigate but still no luck. However when we talk about trains we also talk about many accidental deaths over the years. Deaths are almost inevitable often people hop trains and get sucked under some even commit suicide. We do not have that history however Gowanda has had a few train accidents in history perhaps not involving this line but on these tracks they have occurred and people did perish in them tragedies.

In my opinion I feel this is one of the most haunted train yards I ever visited. Feelings of being watched, ice cold train cars, hearing noises, even an apparition that was seen are all things our group experienced. But the beauty of it all is being able to climb up on the engines, go inside a few cabooses, walk threw many passenger cars and then come out and say how many people get to do that? So we were very privileged to be able to be able to get you a story on this place and get to enjoy the train yards historical locomotives and cars. This ghost train holds many mysteries.

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Rick-AngelOfThyNight