The Sunbury & Erie Railroad

The Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company  was chartered in 1837, to build a rail line connecting towns between Sunbury and Erie, Pennsylvania.  The company did not begin construction until the state passed enabling legislation, which including reducing tax assessments, in 1852. 

1850 Map showing the proposed route
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3711p.rr005710/?r=0.549,0.016,0.354,0.139,0

Vast stands of timber and nearby coal deposits brought three early railroads to the Williamsport area. In December, 1854, the Sunbury & Erie Railroad, a Pennsylvania Railroad predecessor, built northward through Williamsport. The Catawissa, Williamsport & Erie Railroad, a Reading Railroad predecessor, ran its trains to Williamsport over Sunbury & Erie from 1854 until its own line was constructed 1871. https://www.nshr.com/railroads

By December 1854, 28.5 miles (45.9 km) of track were completed between Milton (a junction with the Catawissa Railroad) and Williamsport. 

Watsontown Station

In 1854, 13 years before the borough of Watsontown was incorporated, the Sunbury & Erie Railroad had extended it's line through Milton and Watsontown. The railroad proposed building a depot and watering station "some distance north of the mouth of the Warrior Run". (Near Fort Freeland)

David Watson & E.L Piper, son & son in law of Watsontown's founder John Watson, promptly gifted the railroad land for the depot, including a spring nearby, and they even threw in $600 in cash.
The railroad quickly abandoned their plan to build further north, and instead seized the deal, building in what would soon become the borough of Watsontown.
See more about the Watsontown Train Station here:
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/04/watsontown-train-station.html

1854 Map of the Sunbury & Erie Railroad & its connections

Sunbury Station was mile 0 on the  Sunbury & Erie Railroad

The line reached Sunbury in 1855, a total of 40 miles (64 km).

The tracks reached Lock Haven in 1859

Sunbury & Erie RR Bridge at Erie

. To speed completion of the line, the Sunbury & Erie also started building towards the southeast from Erie. That portion of the line reached Warren, a distance of 66 miles, by 1859.  Little construction occurred in 1860 amid the politics leading to the American Civil War.

In  1861 the name was changed to the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad (P&E).

P&E Railroad eventually became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

See the 1854 map in better detail here: https://tile.loc.gov/image-services/iiif/service:gmd:gmd371:g3711:g3711p:rr005730/full/pct:25/0/default.jpg

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For More Local Stories & History

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html

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Find an index of "Railroad Incidents" in the Susquehanna Valley here:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/12/an-index-of-railroad-incidents-in.html

In the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company vs. Lewis

Cooper, published 1859

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3301662.pdf

 "The Philadelphia and Erie (P&E) Railroad began life as the Sunbury and Erie Railroad in 1837, but it was not until 1854 that its initial tracks were built from Milton passing through Watsontown to Williamsport. In 1861, the name was changed to Philadelphia and Erie, and, in 1862, the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) entered into a 999-year lease with the Philadelphia & Erie. That same year the PRR assumed control of the P&E. The Wilkes-Barre and Western (WB&W) Railroad (nicknamed the “Weak and Weary”) (1902) - originally the Susquehanna, Bloomsburg and Berwick RR (“The Sweet Bye and Bye”) (1887) and, after 1893, the Central Pennsylvania and Western RR - was built from Watsontown to Millville and began service in 1887. Service to Berwick from Watsontown began in 1903 - history of the First Street railroad bridge written by David Smith