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construction. The new line was built to high standards in anticipation of heavy coal traffic. It eschewed severe grades, at the cost of extensive curvature and bridges as it followed Beech Creek, and the 347 feet (106 m) Hogback tunnel, which cut across a loop of the creek, about halfway up the climb out of the watershed at
Hurxthal's Summit. Tracklaying began in September 1883. In the meantime, construction began on the 1,277 feet (389.2 m) Peale tunnel 8 miles (10 km) west of the summit, on the descent approaching Moshannon Creek. Undertaken by the well-known railroad contractors P & T Collins, tunneling began on June 24, 1883, and the bore was holed through on October 30. It was ready for rail traffic by the middle of the next year. 2 miles (3 km) further west, the line crossed the creek on an iron viaduct 112 feet (34.1 m) high, opened for service on November 11, 1884.
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remaining in the
Philipsburg area. The only known surviving copy of his report is in the archives of the Fall Brook Coal Company; this company was an ally of the New York Central in penetrating the coalfield, suggesting that the Pennsylvania and New York Central came to an understanding to allow the Beech Creek's construction.
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The
Susquehanna and South Western financed its construction with the issue of $ 4,000,000 in stock. Nearly all of the initial issue was purchased by William Wallace, Peale, and Reading, but these purchases were financed by the Vanderbilts and George Magee of the Fall Brook Coal Company, to whom most
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area. Coal from the
Moshannon seam enjoyed a high reputation, and d'Invilliers suggested that the Pennsylvania should concentrate on new fields exploiting the Moshannon seam, in the upper Moshannon Valley and elsewhere, and allow the New York Central to compete for the lower seams of Kittanning coal
141:. Gazzam was William Wallace's law partner; Reading, a wealthy banker, was Gazzam's father-in-law. William Wallace was appointed president. The railroad selected Samuel Brugger as its locating engineer: an experienced civil engineer, he had recently surveyed part of the same route on behalf of the
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on March 20, 1883. Around this time, it increased the stock issue to $ 5,000,000 and issued an additional $ 5,000,000 in fifty-year bonds. The
Clearfield Bituminous Coal Company signed a contract to ship exclusively over the new railroad, and George Magee was appointed general contractor for
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The company failed and was sold to the newly organized Beech Creek
Railroad on June 29, 1886. The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad officially leased the company on December 15, 1890, backdated to October 1. The New York Central merged the
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The
Pennsylvania Railroad did relatively little to block the construction of the Susquehanna and South Western. The failed Pennsylvania and Western had induced the Pennsylvania to charter the
145:, an independent vehicle of New York speculators which did not succeed in laying track. This allowed him to quickly complete his survey, which was approved by the board in September 1882.
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reserves. The New York
Central did not itself extend into the bituminous coalfields, making it vulnerable to action both by the coal operators who mined the coal and rivals like the
42:) in 1890 and was directly operated by that company afterwards. Much of the line was abandoned in the second half of the 20th century, though sections at both ends are still active.
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An April 29, 1951 a New York
Central Timetable listed the line as the "Pennsylvania Division" while an October 30, 1960 Timetable listed it as the "Syracuse Division."
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on August 12, 1882. That company's charter called for a 100-mile (160 km) line from
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and proceeding west along the creek to Mountaintop, in the vicinity of
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is a defunct railroad which operated in central Pennsylvania between
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Bond of the Beech Creek Railroad Company, issued 17. November 1915
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of that stock was then transferred starting in January 1883.
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Companies affiliated with the New York Central Railroad
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280:"Interpreting the Geographies of Peale, Pennsylvania"
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Beech Creek, Clearfield, and South Western Railroad
497:. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press.
514:Railroads of Pennsylvania Encyclopedia and Atlas
210:into the Beech Creek Railroad on May 11, 1898.
125:The initial incorporators of the railroad were
102:, would bring the New York Central's trains to
546:Former Class I railroads in the United States
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100:Jersey Shore, Pine Creek and Buffalo Railway
50:The company was originally chartered as the
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164:at the mouth of Beech Creek to their
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556:Defunct New York (state) railroads
158:Lock Haven and Clearfield Railroad
92:Clearfield Bituminous Coal Company
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143:Pennsylvania and Western Railroad
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16:Defunct railroad in Pennsylvania
459:Moody's Analyses of Investments
98:by a paper railroad called the
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512:Taber, Thomas T. III (1987).
108:West Branch Susquehanna River
551:Penn Central Transportation
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162:Bald Eagle Valley Railroad
76:Tioga County, Pennsylvania
56:Williamsport, Pennsylvania
468:Moody's Investors Service
352:: 923. 30 September 1882.
64:New York Central Railroad
40:New York Central Railroad
58:to the southern line of
46:Origins and construction
516:. Thomas T. Taber III.
208:Cambria County Railroad
80:Fall Brook Coal Company
493:Bezilla, Mike (2017).
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133:, John G. Reading and
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84:William H. Vanderbilt
72:Pennsylvania Railroad
286:on September 1, 2006
251:KML is from Wikidata
88:Clearfield Coalfield
28:Beech Creek Railroad
495:Branch Line Empires
443:, pp. 122–123.
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118:to the vicinity of
342:"Railway Projects"
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127:William A. Wallace
504:978-0-253-02958-4
346:The Railway World
60:Clearfield County
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487:Works cited
454:Moody, John
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112:Beech Creek
535:Categories
220:References
131:Lock Haven
120:Clearfield
96:Pine Creek
190:Snow Shoe
174:Houtzdale
106:, on the
464:New York
456:(1920).
229:KML file
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