Beech Creek Railroad

The Beech Creek Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated in central Pennsylvania between Jersey Shore and Mahaffey. Originally chartered in 1882, it was leased by the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad (later the New York Central Railroad) 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.

Origins and construction
The company was originally chartered as the Susquehanna and South Western Railroad on August 12, 1882. That company's charter called for a 100 mi line from Williamsport, Pennsylvania to the southern line of Clearfield County. The proposed line was initiated with the backing of the New York Central Railroad, as part of a far-reaching strategy to ensure access to bituminous coal 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 Pennsylvania Railroad, who carried it. The coal operators of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, some of whom already shipped over the New York Central via the Fall Brook Coal Company's railroad system, faced irrepressible labor troubles and the impending exhaustion of their mines. William H. Vanderbilt, president of the New York Central, responded to the challenge by developing a plan to enter the Clearfield Coalfield, hitherto the exclusive preserve of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Vanderbilts would provide capital to a syndicate of Tioga coal operators and businessmen of the Clearfield area, incorporated as the Clearfield Bituminous Coal Company, who could acquire coal lands without arousing suspicion. The Fall Brook's rail network, extended down Pine Creek by a paper railroad called the Jersey Shore, Pine Creek and Buffalo Railway, would bring the New York Central's trains to Jersey Shore, on the West Branch Susquehanna River to the west of Williamsport. From there, the Susquehanna and South Western would head west by way of Beech Creek and Moshannon Creek to the vicinity of Clearfield.

The initial incorporators of the railroad were William A. Wallace, B. L. Wallace, Israel Test, and E. H. Bigler, of Clearfield, S. R. Peale and William H. Brown of Lock Haven, John G. Reading and Joseph M. Gazzam, of Philadelphia. 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 Pennsylvania and Western Railroad, 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.

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 Lock Haven and Clearfield Railroad in 1879, which would have built from their Bald Eagle Valley Railroad at the mouth of Beech Creek to their Tyrone and Clearfield Railroad at Philipsburg, the same route that the Susquehanna and South Western would take, but never initiated construction. The Pennsylvania may have been influenced by a report from one of their civil engineers, Camille d'Invilliers, prepared in December 1883, which suggested that the Moshannon seam was being exhausted in the older collieries in the Philipsburg and Houtzdale 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 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.

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 of that stock was then transferred starting in January 1883.

Construction began at the end of 1882, starting at the town of Beech Creek and proceeding west along the creek to Mountaintop, in the vicinity of Snow Shoe. The company changed its name to the Beech Creek, Clearfield, and South Western Railroad 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 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 ft 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 1277 ft Peale tunnel 8 mi 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 mi further west, the line crossed the creek on an iron viaduct 112 ft high, opened for service on November 11, 1884.

NYC subsidiary
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 Cambria County Railroad into the Beech Creek Railroad on May 11, 1898.

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."

<!-- The following details concerning the abandonment, closing and removal of this rail line can be confirmed by the below sources of information. The Centre Daily Times of July 23, 1965 has a story briefly mentioning that the railroad is seeking to formally abandon their line between Mill Hall, PA and Snow Shoe, PA. On June 29, 1967, the Centre Daily Times printed a large full-page story titled"Historical Rail Unit on Way Out." By then the only remaining rails being removed were in or around Kato, PA, one of the points on the line past Orviston, PA.

History of the Beech Creek Area of Clinton County Pennsylvania, by Harry A. and Vera A Lingle, says that the last through freight on this line occurred on April 23, 1966, "with its whistle blowing continually as it moved through town."

All rail and track had been removed in and through Beech Creek by June 1967, based on a picture of the empty railroad grade in the Centre Daily Times. Rail in the opposite direction, between Beech Creek, PA and Mill Hall, PA as well as between Beech Creek and Orviston was gone by that date as well.

According to the Centre Daily Times, no rail remained in place along the entire Mill Hall to Orviston route. It indicates removal of the track took place during 1966.

Two maps show the abandoned New York Central Railroad as intact past 1970. The first is a township map titled "Map of Clinton County," dated May 1972. It identifies the line simply as "PC RR," all the way to from Avis Borough, where they had a small yard, all the way to and past Monument, PA. It also shows a small intact segment to Salona, PA. The other map is a 1:50,000 US Geological Survey map of Centre County, West Half, dated 1975. On this map the Beech Creek Railroad track is clearly shown in place by track markings. "Conrail" is printed alongside the track on the map. This map indicates that the track was intact all the way from Orviston to Clarence, PA in 1975. The track from Clearfield to Munson and on to Clarence was still operated by the Penn Central Railroad and Conrail until the early 1990s. The Penn Central Railroad, (Railroad Color History) by Peter Lynch (Motor Books International, 2004) says "the Penn Central Railroad continued to use some "New York Central and some PR RR trackage to access Pennsylvania coal mines. There is five hundred miles of PR RR and New York Central coal branches were intertwined, mostly in shabby condition and some out of service. These lines served the areas around Clearfield, Cherry Tree, and Snow Shoe."

Although the Centre Daily Times states that rails were taken up all the way to Clarence, a small section from Snow Shoe to Kato continued to be used by a pulpwood customer until at least January, 1968. Officially though, this little section was considered "abandoned".

Passenger service of the Beech Creek began dropping off as early as the 1920s. To reduce costs The New York Central Railroad began cutting trains back by mid 1923. Upon the Great Depression era service was reduced to one train daily between Clearfield and Williamsport, PA. {West Branch Review, same story, Feldmeier Jeff, April 2006, page 7} By 1932 the New York Central requested application to discontinue passenger service citing losses of $24,000 a year. {West Branch Review, Part II, NYC RR Passenger Service "West Branch Valley Lines", Nov- Dec 2006, Pge 4} Passenger service was further lost on the Beech Creek section a short time later. Between May 1, 1931 through July 31, 1932 costs of operation were $42,841 while revenue was $23,319. The last passenger service over this line from Clearfield, PA to Jersey Shore, PA took place on February 18, 1933 from Clearfield using a NYC gas-electric motorcar "doodlebug", ending 47 years of passenger service. {West Branch Review, Same story, Feldmeier Jeff, Nov-Dec 2006, page 5} After that time the line became freight only daily operations. Personal photographs show the rails to Clarence still intact and in place but officially abandoned in early 1993. {Personal on-sight observation,Spring 1993} Other personal photographs show all rails and roadbed removed to a point near the Viaduct Bridge. But same pictures of these August 1998 photographs show portions of the line from past the Viaduct Bridge to near Munson with places of rail and ties still fully intact but in isolated sections. At the Munson "Y" at that time all rails had been pulled up and removed. But some piles of ties were in this immediate area, with some still in place. However, it was clear it was all in the stages of final removal. A rail overpass of a roadway had also be removed.{Personal on-sight observation, 8-16-1998} A long spur track from the main between past the Viaduct Bridge to ending just short of this "Y", lead to "Browns Coaling Station" and as of that time 1998 all rails, ties, crossings, bridges, etc. were fully intact. {Personal on-sight observation 8-16-1998 & letter from Mike Bezilla, March 15, 2010} All rails, hardware, and ties were later removed and now form a "Rails To Trails" right of way from Clarence to a point past the Viaduct Bridge. There is a proposal to reactivate and reestablish rail service on this line to a past point of this line once called Gorton, where a landfill is being proposed. Personal photographs taken at same time 1998 give evidence of a short spur with much rails and ties still in place and intact. It went to a brickyard operation by J.H. France that was shut down in the 1980s. {personal letter from Mike Bezilla March 15, 2010, & personal on-sight observation 8-16-1998} Some buildings and various "Beehive" Ovens remained but were in decay. Forest growth over the rails and ties had began in earnest. {Personal on-sight observation 8-16-1998}

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