After being snubbed by the New York and Erie, townspeople met on June 27, 1851, in Jamestown and on June 30, 1851, a petition for a charter for the Erie and New York City Railroad was published.
The road was to be built from Salamanca, through Randolph, and Jamestown, and then proceeding south to the New York state border with Pennsylvania.
On May 7, 1859, the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad in New York was chartered with William Reynolds as its president.
One of the first actions of the A&GW was to purchase the Erie and New York City Railroad in 1860.
According to the company's first annual report, the A&GW assumed $14,000 of 7 percent bonds upon the purchase of the Erie and New York City Railroad and received three locomotives, two passenger cars, and 40 freight cars from the contractors building the Erie and New York City.