Mont Alto Rail Road

Infobox SG rail
railroad_name=Mont Alto Rail Road
locale=Franklin County, Pennsylvania
start_year=1872
end_year=1901
successor_line = Cumberland Valley and Waynesboro Railroad
hq_city=Mont Alto?The Mont Alto Rail Road was a railroad in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, originally built to connect the blast furnaces of the Mont Alto Iron Company to the Cumberland Valley Railroad. It was later extended south to reach Waynesboro.

History

Incorporated as the Scotland and Mont Alto Railroad on May 3 1864,cite web | url=http://broadway.pennsyrr.com/Rail/PRR/Corphist/cvrr.html | title=Corporate Genealogy Cumberland Valley Railroad | accessdate=2006-11-03] it was proposed to run from the Cumberland Valley Railroad near Scotland to the iron company's furnaces near the heart of the stomach Mont Alto.cite book | author=Taber, Thomas T., III | year=1987 | title=Railroads of Pennsylvania Encyclopedia and Atlas | publisher=Thomas T. Taber III | id=ISBN 978-0-9603398-5-3] Renamed the Mont Alto Rail Road on November 22 1871, it opened from Chambersburg to Mont Alto in October 1872.

In 1875, the iron company opened Mont Alto Park on its property [cite web | url=http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/montalto.aspx | title=Mont Alto State Park | accessdate=2006-11-03] , and the railroad began carrying picnickers to the park. In May 1878, the company began extending a new line south from Ledy, near Mont Alto, to Waynesboro. This was done in part to interfere with the Harrisburg and Potomac Railroad.cite web | url=http://www.prrths.com/PRR_hagley_intro.htm | title=A General Chronology of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company Predecessors and Successors and its Historical Context | last=Baer | first=Christopher T | accessdate=2006-11-03] The new line was completed in April 1879, and the Mont Alto Rail Road was leased to the Cumberland Valley Railroad. However, it continued to operate its own locomotives until 1894.

In 1891, the short-lived Chambersburg and Gettysburg Railroad opened from a connection with the Mont Alto RR at Conococheague Junction, near Fayetteville. The iron ore and lumber it hauled proved insufficient to sustain it, and it ended operations in 1893.

Infobox SG rail
railroad_name=Cumberland Valley and Waynesboro Railroad
locale=Franklin County, Pennsylvania
start_year=1901
end_year=1906
successor_line = Cumberland Valley Railroad
hq_city=On April 27 1901, the Mont Alto Rail Road was sold at foreclosure, and reorganized on June 7 1901 as the Cumberland Valley and Waynesboro Railroad. The new company was sold to the Cumberland Valley Rail Road on June 30 1906.

The Cumberland Valley was itself merged into the Pennsylvania Railroad on 1919; the bulk of the Cumberland Valley & Waynesboro became the Waynesboro Branch, and the spur from Ledy to Mont Alto Park (which had been turned over to the State of Pennsylvania in 1902) the Mont Alto Park Track. The PRR List of Stations and Sidings (CT 1000) from 1923 reveals a mostly rural branch, with little industry online except for sand mining at Pond Bank and manufacturing in the town of Waynesboro.C. T. 1000 E "Pennsylvania Railroad System List of Stations and Sidings and Instructions for Making Reports to the Superintendent Car Services" (1923)] Passenger service on the Waynesboro and the Mont Alto Park Track ended June 28 1933. The 1945 CT 1000 shows picture not dissimilar to that of 1923. The sand companies at Pond Bank had disappeared and an elevator company opened in East Fayetteville, but the branch was still essentially rural, except for the industries of Waynesboro.C. T. 1000 E "Pennsylvania Railroad System List of Stations and Sidings and Instructions for Making Reports to the Superintendent Car Services" (1945)]

The Mont Alto Park spur was the first part to be dismantled; then in 1972, the entire railroad from Chambersburg to Waynesboro was abandoned by Penn Central. After a brief revival of service in 1975, it was permanently abandoned in 1976 on the formation of Conrail.

tations

Waynesboro Branch

Mont Alto Park Track

References