International Railway (New York–Ontario)

Network

Besides the city streetcars, the IRC network extended throughout Erie and Niagara counties. Most lines radiated out from Buffalo.

Buses and modern rail lines

In 1937 the IRC discontinued all interurban rail service, and replaced much of it with buses. On July 1, 1950, the remaining streetcar lines in both Buffalo and Niagara Falls, NY, ended, also replaced by buses. Within the same year, the Niagara Frontier Transit (NFT) took over all remaining IRC operations. In 1974, NFT and Grand Island Rapid Transit were merged into a public Corporation, named the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA).

The NFTA opened the subsidiary light rail rapid transit line known as Metro Rail along Main Street in Buffalo, from the Lackawanna Terminal to the University of Buffalo's South Campus. Much of this same route followed the previous 8-Main streetcar line only 35 years earlier.

Routes of city of Buffalo streetcars

see Routes of City of Buffalo Streetcars for more information

Buffalo was the city where a majority of the streetcar service by the IRC was offered. They IRC also offered service in a number of other localities in Western New York and Southern Ontario.

After the first decade of the 1900s, the International Railway Company began assigning numbers to their services, in addition to the naming of the route according to the primary street(s) the car travelled on. Many of the route numbers assigned the most historical routes continue to this day. There appears to be no logical numbering scheme for the routes.

Routes with shortened or abbreviated names in parentheses are the original assignment to the route that it served. These services were slowly changed to the numerical format used by the IRC after being taken over from other companies.

Main Street

Although the terminal point for the majority of west side streetcars, the streetcars that used Main Street clearly made the street live up to its name.

In addition to Shelton Square being the origination point for the Grant, Niagara, and Elmwood streetcar lines, there were also a number of routes that passed through Shelton Square to continue either south towards the docks and harbor, or north toward the northeast sections of the city. The Main streetcar shared trackage with the Parkside-Zoo (or Kenmore) streetcar, the Kensington street car, the West Utica and East Utica streetcars. During the busy weekday, the four- to five-minute headways between cars on each line made it common to see streetcar after streetcar lining Main Street after departing Utica Street.

Equipment / Rolling Stock

The International Railway Company utilized many of the vehicles from the companies it had absorbed at the early 1900s, and by 1910 found itself looking for replacement vehicles.

Two major car types became the backbone of the IRC's equipment force.

Nearside car (6000 to 6363)

The Nearside type streetcar was purchased from the J.G. Brill Company between the years of 1911-1913. The cars were manufactured, using the input of Mitten Management, the company that provided the management structure for the International Railway Company.

A notable feature this type of car was known for was the P.A.Y.E. (pay as you enter) entrance, starting the policy shift of Buffalo area streetcars to operate with a one-person crew. Using this type of boarding procedure the operator of the car also handled the responsibilities of the conductor, collecting fares in addition to his normal day-to-day operating of the streetcar.

Peter Witt car (100 to 229)

The Peter Witt streetcars, long known to be in many major cities with streetcars, were purchased between 1917 and 1919 to supplement the service being primarily offered with the earlier purchased Nearside car. These cars were built by Kulman Car Co. of Cleveland, Ohio. The Peter Witts were delivered on their own wheels and under their own power. This was done over a series of interurban railways' trackage that connected Cleveland with Buffalo.

Funeral cars

Two specific cars were available to those needing funeral cars. The Elmlawn and Greenwood were their names. Both burned in 1916, and were replaced with new cars of the same names - these were used until 1922, when they were converted to regular passenger use.

Special service cars

Limousine service had not quite become readily available when dignitaries came to visit the area, and the International Railway Company had cars specifically for that purpose.

The Ondiara car of the International Railway Company, and the Rapids car of the Niagara Gorge Railway were two cars that were used when the Prince of Wales visited the area on September 10, 1927, during the dedication of the Peace Bridge (between Buffalo and Fort Erie).

Color scheme

In 1902, when the International Railway Company began absorbing many of the responsibilities of the Buffalo streetcar system, they dealt with a number of varied color schemes that existed with the past companies.

Previously, one could look at many of the cars and immediately know which company was operating that service.

Toward the end, many of the streetcars left in service were painted an orange color as the primary color, with a darker green accenting the car. This color scheme existed until the end of streetcar service in 1950, although the buses operated by the IRC at the end were painted a bright red color with silver and black accents.