1,000 Shares of Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway Co. - 1902 dated Railway Stock Certificate

1,000 shares Stock printed by Franklin Bank Note Co., New York. Exceptional graphics throughout including a strong vignette of a steam locomotive at left, also mining scene at right.

The Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway, identified by the reporting mark BR&P, was one of the many railroad companies established in North America, which numbered over ten thousand in total. It operated for a significantly longer period than many of its peers, linking communities from the shores of Lake Ontario to the core of western Pennsylvania. By the mid-19th century, American industry had developed efficient methods for utilizing and economically transporting the bituminous coal found in western Pennsylvania from the mines to various consumers. Initially, this dependence on steam power extended to both railroad locomotives and industrial operations. As a result, there emerged a critical need for a railroad line to convey coal from the Pennsylvania hills to the urban centers of Rochester and Buffalo, as well as to smaller towns and villages. This demand led to both individual and municipal investments in the rapidly expanding rail companies.

The Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway was created to address the void left by the Rochester and State Line Railroad and the Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad in the coal transportation market between the coalfields of western Pennsylvania and the cities of Buffalo and Rochester. The mines produced steam coal, which was in high demand by the factories and railroads of the Northeast. However, the situation was far more intricate. The significant demand for coal transportation incited intense competition, and the prevailing laissez-faire environment of the era encouraged practices such as the establishment of paper railroads, the buying and selling of companies as if they were mere commodities, and financial manipulations orchestrated by groups of investors.