Not sure what this is about but it looks like an ITM-type situation.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php? ... 8091831649
Salamanca Rail Museum
47m
Most people are aware we have closed and are leaving 170 N. Main Street. We are focused on getting our equipment and artifacts off the property.
This is a call for help. We have a lot of work to get done over the next few days. We are moving the equipment and getting the final move out of the museum buildings. We are going to be building track to move the equipment to the active rails 400 feet away. If you are able, we will be starting to work tomorrow (7/17/2025) at 11 AM and will be working everyday until Tuesday (7/22/2025) or we are done, whichever comes first.
For the outside equipment, if you have steel toe boots, we suggest you wear them. We will have jobs from moving small pieces of material, to helping move heavy ties and rails.
On Sunday we will be doing our final move out of the buildings, there are a number of smaller items that need to be moved, and some are even on wheels.
Many hands make light work. Please come help preserve the collection. We are making plans to re-open in a different location. We will discuss that when plans come together.

What rail equipment do they have in the collection? A google search takes you to an error message for the museum web page. A google search of images is limited to a few 3/4 side views of a string of caboose.

-Wesley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jot51Lxiag From this video and others it looks like around ten pieces of freight equipment, including an old heavy steel flatcar with archbar trucks, a P&WV caboose, plus a Pullman troop sleeper.

Salamanca is unique in that the entire city is on an indian reservation (Seneca) which means that literally nobody (including the railroad) actually owns title to their property, it's all on a long-term lease. Everyone has learned to deal with it, but it reinforces who you are dealing with. Even the Erie railroad had a lease across the reservation dating back to the 1850's.

The tribe has earned a reputation for doing what they want; they physically removed the interchange track from the old Erie yard to the BR&P East Salamanca yard years ago with little notice, which would have been ideal for a short demonstration shuttle. They also removed a lot of track in the ex-Erie yard.

The very best part of the museum has always been the building itself, it was a beautiful restoration on a unique stub-ended terminal off the BR&P that rapidly proved to be rather inefficient and passengers were moved to the bigger East Salamanca depot about two miles away.

I have no inside information on this, there's obviously a back story here on what is happening but it's not being shared.

There was discussion years ago about a partnership with the tribe for some kind of excursion; it never moved forward. The 'tribe' status has some unique rights that is seen with a huge casino, cannibis shops everywhere, no-tax gas, cigarettes, usual stuff.

Update: At least one UNCONFIRMED posting that the lease to the property was not renewed by the tribe. This is an issue rather unique to Salamanca, I won't speculate on tribe politics but the Senecas are very much in the sovereign nation camp in this region. This is not the first case of eviction due to lease expiration or precedent setting.

I passed through in early June and folks seemed to be packing.

My notes show 3 cabooses, 2 boxcars, 1 flat car, 2 troop cars, 1 burro crane, 1 wooden caboose shell.

It is a beautiful station.

Bart