Central Railroad of Pennsylvania (1893-1918)

Infobox SG rail
railroad_name=Central Railroad of Pennsylvania
locale=Pennsylvania
start_year=1893
end_year=1918
successor_line = abandoned
hq_city=BellefonteThe Central Railroad of Pennsylvania was a short railroad of convert|27.3|mi|km built to connect Bellefonte, Pennsylvania with the Beech Creek Railroad (part of the New York Central) at Mill Hall, Pennsylvania. Sustained by shipments from the Bellefonte iron industry, the abandonment of the iron furnaces there led to its demise in 1918.

Origins

The Central Pennsylvania Railroad was incorporated on May 11, 1889 to connect Unionville with Mill Hall, running by way of Bellefonte and the Nittany Valley. On December 11, 1890, the Central Pennsylvania Railroad Eastern Extension was incorporated, to leave the main line of the first company at Lamar and follow Fishing Creek, Sand Spring Run, and White Deer Creek to White Deer on the Susquehanna. This would provide a connection to the Philadelphia and Reading Railway as well as the NYC.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 | pages=77]

The two companies were merged on September 11, 1891. The Eastern extension was never built, but from 1892 to 1893, the route from Mill Hall to Bellefonte was constructed, and the line opened on December 2, 1893.cite news | title=The New Central Railroad of Pennsylvania | url=http://bellefonte.topcities.com/oddsends/1890s/1893/page4.html | publisher=Democratic Watchman | date=November 17, 1893 | accessdate=2006-12-03 | pages=8] The principal mover behind its construction was John Wesley Gephart, then president of the Valentine Iron Company.cite news | title=The New Railroad for Bellefonte Dead Sure Thing | url=http://bellefonte.topcities.com/oddsends/1890s/1893/page2.html | publisher=Democratic Watchman | date=May 12, 1893 | accessdate=2006-12-03 | pages=8] He had reorganized the unsuccessful Centre Iron Company, and planned the new railroad to break the Pennsylvania Railroad's monopoly on traffic to and from Bellefonte.cite news | title=The Iron Industries of Centre County | url=http://bellefonte.topcities.com/business/iron/page6.html | publisher=Democratic Watchman | year=1936 | accessdate=2007-01-28 | first=J. Thomas | last=Mitchell]

Route

The following stations existed along the line:

After passing through Bald Eagle Mountain in the water gap of Fishing Creek, the railroad ran southwest along the open and relatively level Nittany Valley towards Bellefonte. The main line crossed and connected with the Nittany Valley Railroad about three miles east of Bellefonte. As it approached that town, it swung west-northwesterly and descended along a ravine through Armor Gap to Spring Creek, then turned south to follow the east bank of Spring Creek into the center of Bellefonte. The road's enginehouse was located north of Bellefonte near the creek; an interchange with the PRR, which had a spur to the American Lime and Stone Company's plants in Armor Gap, was also located in the vicinity.Sanborn Fire Insurance maps of Bellefonte]

Operations

An early setback occurred in 1895. The Centre Iron Company had made an exclusive contract with the PRR and its local subsidiaries for shipment of its products. Gephart held that the sheriff's sale of the Centre Iron properties to Valentine Iron had nullified the contract.cite news | title=Supreme Court's Latest Decisions | url=http://bellefonte.topcities.com/oddsends/1890s/1895/page6.html | publisher=Keystone Gazette | date=October 11, 1895 | accessdate=2007-01-28 | pages=1] Initially successful, the PRR won on appeal, and Gephart was forced to step down as president of Valentine Iron.cite news | title=J.W. Gephart Resigned | url=http://bellefonte.topcities.com/oddsends/1890s/1895/page6.html | publisher=Keystone Gazette | date=November 8, 1895 | accessdate=2007-01-28 | pages=4]

Nonetheless, the Central Railroad continued operations and improvement of its right-of-way. Besides the opening of Hecla Park, the railroad eliminated its last wooden trestle, over the present Pennsylvania Route 550 and adjacent ravine, and replaced it with a fill and iron bridge in November 1896.cite news | title=The Last Wooden Trestle Going | url=http://bellefonte.topcities.com/oddsends/1890s/1896/page8.html | publisher=Democratic Watchman | date=November 27, 1896 | accessdate=2007-01-28 | pages=8]

Gephart, undaunted by the Valentine Iron fiasco, returned to the ironmaking scene in May 1899. Backed by "eastern capitalists", the Bellefonte Furnace Company was organized to put the Bellefonte Furnace at Coleville back into operation, supplied by iron mines at Mattern, Red Bank, and the former Carnegie ore pits at Scotia. The furnace lay a short distance to the west of Bellefonte, and was served by the Bellefonte Central Railroad. However, Gephart soon built an extension of the Central RR of PA, which crossed Spring Creek on a trestle to reach the furnace and an interchange with the BFC,cite news | title=The Greatest Industrial Move In Years In Centre County | url=http://bellefonte.topcities.com/oddsends/1890s/1899/page6.html | publisher=Democratic Watchman | date=May 12, 1899 | accessdate=2007-01-28 | pages=8] and began supplying the furnace with limestone from a quarry at Salona.cite journal | last=Rudnicki | first=Jack | coauthors=Mike Bezilla | year=2001 | title=From Iron Ore to Limestone and Lime...to Nothing | journal=National Railway Bulletin | volume=66 | issue=2 | pages=4–33]

Gephart was also involvedcite news | title=The Boom Is Permanent | url=http://bellefonte.topcities.com/oddsends/1890s/1899/page6.html | publisher=Keystone Gazette | date=May 19, 1899 | accessdate=2007-01-28 | pages=1] with the Bellefonte and Clearfield Railroad, incorporated on December 30, 1895 to build from Milesburg to Clearfield. It seems to have been intended to extend the Central RR of PA the short distance along Spring Creek through Bald Eagle Ridge to Milesburg to connect with this new line, which would have provided a PRR-independent route to the coal mines and coke ovenscite news | title=A Great Enterprise | url=http://bellefonte.topcities.com/oddsends/1900s/1903/page4.html | publisher=Keystone Gazette | date=April 17, 1903 | accessdate=2007-01-28 | pages=1] of the Clearfield area. However, no construction was ever begun on the route.

Some additional business was provided by local lumber operations. The McNitt brothers operated a RailGauge|36 gauge logging railroad from a sawmill at Hecla Park south to their timberlands from about 1899 to 1902. That year, they entered a partnership with E. M. Huyett, closed the Hecla Park operation, and moved to Snydertown. A new three foot gauge logging railroad was built northwest to Sand Ridge, where branches ran northeast and southwest along the ridge. This road operated from 1903 to 1909.cite book | author=Kline, Benjamin F. G., Jr. | origyear=1971 | title=Pitch Pine and Prop Timber | publisher=Friends of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania/Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission | year=1999 | chapter=1-5]

In 1903, all the Bellefonte Furnace traffic from or to the PRR was diverted from the BFC to the Central RR of PA. That year, the company's enginehouse burned down, and two engines were badly damaged.cite news | title=A Destructive Conflagration | url=http://bellefonte.topcities.com/oddsends/1900s/1903/page16.html | publisher=Keystone Gazette | date=December 4, 1903 | accessdate=2007-01-28 | pages=1] It was rebuilt in 1904.cite news | title=New Engine House | url=http://bellefonte.topcities.com/oddsends/1900s/1904/index.html | publisher=Keystone Gazette | date=February 12, 1904 | accessdate=2007-01-28 | pages=1]

As the 20th Century opened, iron ore deposits of the Mesabi Range largely superseded local ore deposits, and local furnaces like those in Bellefonte became obsolete and uncompetitive. When Bellefonte Furnace shut down in 1910, followed by Nittany Furnace in 1911, the Central Railroad lost most of its traffic. The last passenger train ran on the line on November 28, 1918, and the tracks were removed in 1919 from Bellefonte to Salona. The line from Mill Hall to Salona was operated by the NYC as a siding until the 1950s to serve the limestone quarry there. The enginehouse and the line from there to the PRR interchange appear to have been re-used by American Lime and Stone.

References