Lehigh and Mahanoy Railroad

Infobox SG rail
railroad_name=Lehigh and Mahanoy Railroad
locale=northeast Pennsylvania
start_year=1858
end_year=
hq_city=

The Lehigh and Mahanoy Railroad, originally the Quakake Railroad (pronounced quake-ache), was part of the Mahanoy Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad in northeastern Pennsylvania.

History

The Quakake Railroad was chartered on April 25, 1857 to build a connection between the Beaver Meadow Railroad (the Lehigh Valley Railroad's Hazleton Branch) and the Catawissa, Williamsport and Erie Railroad. The original plan took it to the Catawissa near the Lofty Tunnel, and an inclined plane was graded near the hairpin curve on the Catawissa, south of the tunnel. However, that plan and the inclined plane were abandoned prior to completion, and instead the junction was moved to the south to Quakake Junction, near Tamanend. The full line opened on August 25, 1858 from Black Creek Junction on the Beaver Meadow Railroad west to Quakake Junction on the Catawissa, and was at first operated by the Catawissa.

A charter supplement issued on March 21, 1860 allowed an extension to Delano, the headwaters of Mahanoy Creek, and down the creek into Mount Carmel, where it would connect to the Northern Central Railway's Shamokin Valley and Pottsville Railroad. The extension was built later that year. The company went into foreclosure on September 30, 1862, and was reorganized as the Lehigh and Mahanoy Railroad on October 11. In 1865 a branch was built from Park Place to Mahanoy City. On June 30, 1866 the company was merged into the Lehigh Valley Railroad.

Under the Lehigh Valley, the line between Raven Run and Centralia was abandoned before 1884, replaced by a line probably constructed by the New York and Middle Coal Field Railroad and Coal Company. This lay higher up the valley and avoided flooding from Mine Run. A branch was built in 1877 from Kohinoor Junction via Girardville to Ashland.

The decline of coal mining brought about the piecemeal abandonment of these lines. The Ashland Branch was cut back to Girardville in 1951, and in 1953, from Girardville to Weston Colliery. One mile of the Manahoy City Branch was abandoned in 1957, and the line from Delano to about Gerhards in 1963. The line to Mt. Carmel was cut back to Aristes Junction in 1965, and from there to Raven Run in 1971. The remaining trackage was all abandoned by 1976.

External links

* [http://userweb.ccomm.com/sfpayer/Pictures/The%20Arch/Archindex.htm Abandoned arch on Quakake Railroad at Switchback]

References

* [http://www.earlpleasants.com/search_1.asp Railroad History Database]
* [http://users.erols.com/sfpayer/CoalR/KleinHistory.htm History of Schuylkill County, PA] (1881)
*cite book | author=Taber, Thomas T., III | year=1987 | title=Railroads of Pennsylvania Encyclopedia and Atlas | publisher=Thomas T. Taber III | id=ISBN 0-9603398-5-X