Wawa and Concordville Railroad

The Wawa and Concordville Railroad was a steam tourist and recreational railroad in the US state of Pennsylvania during the late 1960s. Although it has been defunct for nearly forty years, it continues to have a lasting effect on the steam tourist industry.

Continued popularity is due to its heavy promotion during its existence, and being only about 20 miles west of Philadelphia, it was located near a busy urban setting. Almost all steam tourist railroads are in the country, and hard to get to. The Wawa and Concordville never lacked patronage during its short life and had a large base to draw from.

Early history

The Wawa and Concordville was one of the earlier steam tourist railroads. It was conceived by local businessmen with the support of the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce in 1966. It ran from Concordville, alongside US Highway 322, eastward to the village of Wawa. The railroad did not own the right of way in which they ran, but leased the trackage rights from the Pennsylvania Railroad, which would eventually lead to the demise of the company.

The actual track that the Wawa and Concordville ran was the eastern most section of the Octoraro branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. This branch was famous as the main means of shipping large quantities of mushrooms from farms in Chester County to market in Philadelphia. By the mid 1960s most of the mushrooms were shipped by truck, but a few freight trains still ran the line each week. The organizers of the Wawa and Concordville worked out a lease with the P.R.R. that allowed them to begin operations in 1967.

The railroad had two vintage steam locomotives. The first was former U.S. Navy 0-6-0 #3, which was popular with small children, because it was painted in non traditional blue. The other was former Pacific Coast Lumber 2-8-2 #37, which was painted black. Most of the passenger cars were old wooden boxcars that had been converted into open observation passenger cars prior to their use on the W&C.

During the 1968 season, several homeowners along Pole Cat Road, near Concordville, complained of the noise and smell of steam locomotives literally coming across their yards. They pressured the current landlord, the Penn Central Transportation Company, (formed when the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central merged), to not renew the Wawa and Conconcordville’s lease when it expired in 1968. Not wanting to give up, the owners of the W&C continued to renegotiate a lease even after they were forced to halt operations.

Just before a possible rebirth of the tourist line in the early 1970s, 2 major storms in 1971 and Hurricane Agnes in 1972 severely damaged the tracks and bridges. The Penn Central decided to simply abandon the line, leaving the Wawa and Concordville to the pages of history.

The W&C Today

Many traces of this popular tourist destination still remain. While the station was destroyed by fire, the locomotives and cars remained at the site for another 10 years. Both locomotives eventually were moved to Marshalltown, Delaware where they ran on the Wilmington and Western. Some of the converted boxcars were scrapped, but two still remain near the site to this day, albeit in deplorable condition. A third one is in Marshalltown Delaware, where it is now used as a flatcar. U.S. Navy, #3 was later moved to Lewes, Delaware to run on the Queens Anne Railroad. Today, bearing no resemblance to its days on the W&C, it is a part of a railroad themed restaurant in Ocean View, Delaware. Number 37 sits on a siding in Marshalltown, Delaware, but it will soon be moved to Strasburg, Pennsylvania for major repairs, leading to its eventual return to the state of California, where it originally ran. The tracks are all generally in place, but most are buried beneath soil or are simply rotting away.

There is even a Wawa and Concordville Historical Society. It was formed in 2003. A good deal of the existing right of way and equipment have been documented by this group. Mr. Paul L. Calpin serves as Chairman, while Mr. A. Marc DeCaro is serving as President, and Ms. Jenny Simpson is serving as Vice President. There is a G Scale representation layout of it in Middletown, Delaware.

In Print

The definitive piece on the history of the Wawa and Concordville Railroad was written by Kurt R. Bell, who also serves as the archivist of the Railroad Museum Of Pennsylvania, in Strasburg, PA.He wrote a highly researched piece for the Philadelphia Chapter of the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society's, HIGH LINE magazine. The article appears, along with a great deal of color and black and white photos in magazine volumne 20-2, and can be found listed at this website of the PRRT&HS Philadelphia Chapter's webpage. http://www.prrths.com/Phila_Paoli_Local.htm