Flour by Rail Legacy Project

“The Flour by Rail Legacy Project” is an effort by a group that is trying to help people to understand and relate to the significant history of Buffalo as a train town, or “bread-maker for the nation.” A stand-alone engine, with attached train cars, at an unexpected site along the waterfront would look sensational, and would help to tell the story of Buffalo and its railways. So we decided to proceed with the project.

The idea is recovering a real gold mine of WNY railroading and industrial history that was on the verge of being lost forever. As the initiative grew, the Flour-by-Rail Legacy Project was born.

As we began the project to restore the Buffalo Creek Railroad boxcar # 3424 that was located in Rochester, we found another distressed boxcar on the East Side of Buffalo – New York Central boxcar # 43819 – that is “ticking away” and presented a greater sense of urgency. So we are engaged in the project to stabilize and restore these cars.

These are the cars that moved milled flour from Buffalo to the entire eastern seaboard. This was when flour was king in Buffalo. At one point, there were thousands. Now, there are only a handful left. So our intent is to preserve and restore the cars for display at the Buffalo station.

Once we get this first car moved, we have a grant to move the second one (read: no fundraising).

To fully understand the project and perhaps donate some funds to the it, Click Here