Erie County
One row filed here, and one filed elsewhere that belongs here
The Bison rail yard is recorded under Norfolk Southern, 2.05 miles from the Census centroid and inside the place. It is the only rail row attached to Cheektowaga in the node list.
It is not, however, the only rail row that physically sits here. The East Buffalo yard is attached to Buffalo at 3.37 miles, under CSX Transportation, and its coordinate falls inside Cheektowaga. Because Bison is already filed against this place, the list plainly can use it — which makes East Buffalo a misattachment with an available correction rather than a gap.
What either yard handles could not be determined from the sources we read.
Where the line falls
So the working area does not stop where the node list does
That is the practical point for anybody here with a truck to sell. Cheektowaga and Buffalo are one working area that a list has to cut somewhere, and the cut does not follow the iron — the East Buffalo row is the proof of it, filed 3.37 miles away under the neighbouring city while standing on this ground.
We do not treat them as two errands. A truck parked 2.05 miles from the Cheektowaga centroid and one parked in Buffalo get the same answer and, as often as not, the same visit.
New York weight law
The axle figures run above the federal ones
Those short interchange runs sit under a state ceiling worth knowing.
Vehicle and Traffic Law § 385 caps gross weight at 80,000 lb, and at 82,000 lb where the engine runs primarily on natural gas — an allowance that turns on what the engine burns rather than on the cargo. Beneath the ceiling, 22,400 lb is allowed on a single axle and 36,000 lb on two consecutive axles less than eight feet apart, against federal figures of 20,000 lb and 34,000 lb. New Jersey uses the same 22,400 lb single-axle figure, which makes it a regional number rather than a New York one.
Federal limits govern the interstate system, so the higher state figures are non-interstate ones. A truck that ran to the state number on state roads carried more than its mileage suggests.
N.Y. Veh. & Traf. Law § 385. Information, not legal advice.
New York paperwork
We need a title — unless it never had one
Beyond the weight rules, the paperwork comes down to that one sentence.
Everything after it is a fix rather than a category. A lost title has a counter replacement; where none exists there is a bonded route. New York reaches its salvage brand by four separate routes, and its seventy-five per cent repair-cost test applies only to a vehicle eight model years old or newer, so on an older truck it does not arise. Once applied the brand is permanent, and the DMV must examine a rebuilt vehicle for stolen parts before it can be registered or titled.
New York DMV, salvage and rebuilt-salvage titling. Information, not legal advice, and only as current as the date the rule file was last verified.
What we buy in Cheektowaga
Those rules cover all of it, and all of it is iron we buy. Day cabs and road tractors off the Bison end and the East Buffalo end alike. Box trucks, straight trucks, dump trucks, flatbeds, service bodies, and the work trucks and pickups that go out with a crew.
Whatever you drive, the offer doesn’t change. We buy all of them, anywhere in Erie County and over the line as readily.
We buy complete trucks. If the engine, transmission, doors, rear ends, drive shafts, wheels or anything under the hood have been removed, we can’t buy it. Small things — a missing bumper — are fine.
Straight answers
The questions we get asked in Cheektowaga
- Does it have to run?No. It does have to be complete — if the engine, transmission, doors, rear ends, drive shafts, wheels or anything under the hood have been removed, we can’t buy it. Rust is not a disqualifier.
- The engine is out of it. Is that different?Yes, and that is the line. A tired engine is fine; an engine that has been pulled out and sold means we can’t buy the truck.
- What about the title?We need one unless the truck is old enough that it never had one. A lost title has a counter replacement; where none exists there’s a bonded route.
- My address says Cheektowaga but the yard paperwork says Buffalo.Extremely common here, and the data does the same thing — the East Buffalo row is filed against Buffalo at 3.37 miles with its coordinate inside Cheektowaga. Tell us where the truck stands.
- It has done short interchange runs for years.Then it has more hours on it than the odometer shows, and that is expected rather than a problem. The Bison yard is 2.05 miles from the centre, which tells you how short some of those legs are.
Why people call
Beyond a truck that has reached the end of its turns, the reasons are the ordinary ones. A yard that downsized. A driver who stopped driving. A tractor that came with a contract and outlasted it.
Most of those aren’t happy reasons, and we don’t treat them like they are. Somebody wants a straight answer and the truck gone by the end of the week. That’s what we’re here for, in Erie County and over the line in Buffalo alike — the yard 2.05 miles from the centre is not where it gets settled.
New York weight and title rules current as of August 2026 — verify with the New York DMV and NYSDOT before acting on them. Sources: the New York Consolidated Laws, the New York DMV, NYSDOT, plus the central node list.