"The Lewisburg and Tyrone Railroad was originally chartered as the Lewisburg, Centre and Spruce Creek Railroad on April 12, 1853, and among its incorporators was William Cameron.
In 1869 the terminus was changed from Spruce Creek to Tyrone, but it never reached Tyrone.
The road was opened to Lewisburg July 23, 1869, extended to Mifflinburg in 1871, and completed as far as Spring Mills, July, 1877. In 1885 it was finished to Lemont, where it connects with another road from Bellefonte. The eastern terminus of this road was Montandon, the road crossing the West Branch of the Susquehanna over a bridge." - Susquehanna Tales, 1955
Map
A Time Line Of the L&T Railroad 1856-1984
By 1871, the line extended from Montandon to Mifflinburg.
Construction continued to wards Laurelton, but was slowed by the 1873 financial panic.
The line reached Rising Springs [today Spring Mills] by 1877, bringing the total line to 43.18 miles.
Two tunnels were constructed to make this line possible - one through Tunnel Mountain, and the other through Paddy Mountain.
The LC&SC, continuing to struggle financially, defaulted on its bonds on December 13, 1879
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Lewisburg & Tyrone 1880-1916
On December 31 the LC&SC reorganized as the Lewisburg & Tyrone Railroad. Under this new name, the line continued operating under lease to the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Construction continued in a new direction tracing the valley between Bald Eagle and Tussey mountains, turned southeast at Marengo, and followed Halfmoon Creek through Gatesburg Ridge. From there, the line continued along Spruce Creek below Pennsylvania Furnace and followed the Beaver Branch, terminating at a station near Fairbrook by 1881. The completed segment measured 20 miles in length
In 1884 the L&T was extended west from Rising Springs [Spring Mills] - but the eastern and western divisions did not ever connect.
The L&T continued to operate under lease of the PRR until June 1913, when it went into foreclosure. It was again reorganized, this time as the Lewisburg and Tyrone Railway in December 1915, and at was merged with the PRR a few months later.
The West Shore Railroad, in 1988, acquired a portion of the Reading line across the Susquehanna at Milton. As a result, the stretch of track from Lewisburg to Montandon was abandoned. Rail service on the line ended in 1997, and Hurricane Floyd in 1999 caused severe damage, leaving the line impassable. Its formal acquisition for use as a rail trail in 2008 marked the end of railroad operations on the former Lewisburg & Tyrone.
Two sections of the former line were turned into rail trails.
Between Coburn and Weikert, a section of the LC&SC/PRR Bellefonte Branch was converted into the Penns Creek Rail Trail prior to 1974.
The section between Lewisburg and Mifflinburg became the Buffalo Valley Rail Trail, beginning in 2011.
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Lewisburg, Centre, and Spruce Creek RR
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The Lewisburg, Centre & Spruce Creek Railroad was incorporated on April 1 1853. A rail line was to be constructed from Montandon, west through Centre County to Spruce Creek. In March of 1854, the charger was amended to extended the line to Tyrone. This proposed route, nearly 100 miles in length, was delayed by lack of funding.
"The L.C.A.S.C. (Lewisburg, Centre, and Spruce Creek ) Railroad, now completed to within six miles, will pass near the town, and will give the place a much needed outlet— east to the Philadelphia A Erie Railroad at Lewisburg, and west to the Pennsylvania Central at Tyrone." - Maynard, 1877
In 1869, The Pennsylvania Railroad formally leased the LC&SC, providing the necessary funding to begin construction. By 1871, the line extended from Montandon to Mifflinburg.
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Lewisburg & Tyrone
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1895 Map Of the Lewisburg & Tyrone Flag Stops and Stations
Lewisburg & Tyrone 1880-1916
On December 31 the LC&SC reorganized as the Lewisburg & Tyrone Railroad. Under this new name, the line continued operating under lease to the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Construction continued in a new direction tracing the valley between Bald Eagle and Tussey mountains, turned southeast at Marengo, and followed Halfmoon Creek through Gatesburg Ridge. From there, the line continued along Spruce Creek below Pennsylvania Furnace and followed the Beaver Branch, terminating at a station near Fairbrook by 1881. The completed segment measured 20 miles in length
In 1884 the L&T was extended west from Rising Springs [Spring Mills] - but the eastern and western divisions did not ever connect.
The L&T continued to operate under lease of the PRR until June 1913, when it went into foreclosure. It was again reorganized, this time as the Lewisburg and Tyrone Railway in December 1915, and at was merged with the PRR a few months later.
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BY STATION/STOP
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At Montandon
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By 1871, the line extended from Montandon to Mifflinburg.
Engineer and conductor at Montandon Junction of Pennsylvania Railroad - Lewisburg & Tyrone RR
From the Pennsy Modeler:
The 1884 Form 76 lists Montandon as 8.7 miles from Sunbury (Loc 627) with the connection to the Lewisburg & Tyrone Railroad.
The 1900 CT1000 lists Montandon as 8.7 miles from Sunbury (MN) with the connection to the Lewisburg & Tyrone Railroad (MP 8.)
The 1923 CT1000 lists Lee Coal Storage (MP 7.3 645A), Station (MP 8.6), and Jct. Bellefonte Branch (MP 8.)
The 1945 CT1000 lists Station and Public Delivery (MP 8.6), and Jct. Bellefonte Branch (MP 8.)
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At Lewisburg
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The covered bridge at Lewisburg was a combination wagon, trolley and railroad bridge.
Lewisburg Passenger Station
Aerial view of the area near the farmers market - showing the tracks (today the rail trail) at a slight diagonal across the middle of the photo.
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At Biehl
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At Vicksburg
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At Mifflinburg
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Bellefonte Branch - Retire 24.88 miles of track
Mifflinburg to Coburn
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At Millmont
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At Glen Iron
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At Paddy Mountain
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At Pardee
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At Weikert
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At Coburn
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The Coburn Tunnel
This subject will need it's own post, I'll get to that eventually.
(Note to self - Somewhere I have at least one photo of the men digging the tunnel)
Coburn PA - 1916 - Railroad Station - the last Elk removed from High Valley
The last native elk was shot around 1896. In 1913, an effort was made to re-introduce elk to the area.
Lewisburg & Tyrone (L&T) Train Derailed Near Coburn
July 14, 1928 cars running from Sunbury to Bellefonte, was derailed between Ingleby and the Beaver Dam tunnel. The tender of the locomotive and the baggage car were thrown from the rails but the passenger coaches remained on the track. No one aboard the train was injured.
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At Zerby
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At Rising Spring
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The line reached Rising Springs [today Spring Mills] by 1877, bringing the total line to 43.18 miles.
Train cars and milk cans at Milk Plant at Spring Mills, Pa
Mrs. Marie Breon recalled riding the train from Coburn to Centre Hall for piano lessons. The train would stop along the way, and milk cans would be emptied into a tanker car. She also recalled that the unhitching of the tanker was a very noisy operation.
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At Penn's Cave
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At Centre Hall
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It took13 years to raise enough money to install tracks from 3 miles east of Centre Hall to the village of Oak Hill. On September 15th 1871, ground was broken for the railroad bed. On November 3 1884, he first train passed through Centre Hall. It was an excursion train, and hundreds of people turned out for the celebration.
The Lewisburg and Tyrone Railroad provided passenger and freight service until 1915 when it merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad.
" Factories were built along the tracks and fed freight onto the cars. A schnitz factory and a barrel factory were at the corner of the fairgrounds. Local farmers brought their apples to be sliced and dried on trays. Apples were then packed into the barrels and shipped to Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York. Tons of grain were shipped from the grain house on Allison Street. They could load seven or eight railroad cars at a time. Behind the train station were was a creamery where butter was made. Refrigerator cars shipped milk into New York City.
Pigs, sheep and goats were loaded onto two-level cattle cars and shipped to slaughterhouses. Farmers brought their sheep wool to be bagged, weighed and loaded. Each year’s yield was approximately 40,000 pounds of wool.
A sawmill, poultry farm and flour mill produced products to be shipped to other parts of the country. Kerlin’s Poultry Farm had as many as a million chicks, packaged in cardboard boxes, would be shipped out of the train station in a six-month period.
Chicks were taken by rail to the west coast where they went by boat to China. Quality limestone was gravity moved on cable cars down a steep slope and dumped into the freight cars. It was used in the Western Pennsylvania mills. Ten to fifteen car loads of fertilizer would come to the station each year. The bags weighed 167 pounds each. Coal was also delivered by train.
Passengers went by train to Bellefonte for shopping. Circus trains would pass thru Centre Hall. As early as 1928 there was a decrease in using trains for moving freight. " (Source??)
In the 1960s, the drought was so severe that hay was brought into the area on this line.
The train station closed in 1972 after damage from Hurricane Agnes.
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At Gregg
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At Linden Hall
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At Oak Hall
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Lemont
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Crested Dale's Summit, on the downgrade approaching Lemont
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Dale Summit
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Peru
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At Pleasant Gap
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At Axeman
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More about the 1908 Wreck at Axeman
Bellefonte PA - 1948
June 22 1948 -- Two freight trains collided on the Lewisburg & Tyrone branch of the P.R.R. between leasant Gap and Axemann. One was a special freight loaded with cans for the Hanover Canning Company at Oak Hall and the other was hauling limestone to Bellefonte from the Whiterock Quarries. Two men were killed and five other trainmen were injured. The two men killed were riding in the caboose of the quarry train which was crushed between the special locomotive and the steel boxcar loaded with crushed stone. Norman W. Braucht, 45 of Coburn, was pilot engineer of the special train and he was admitted to the Centre County Hospital suffering from bruises and shock. Killed were James Bathurst, 58, E. Lamb Streetm Bellefonte and R. J. Miller, 23, Blanchard PA.
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At Bellefonte
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1890 Wreck
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READ MORE
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READ MORE
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https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Cz2vSakLS/ (Missy's recent photos of remnants of the line)
Centre County PA – 1877 - Historical Sketches of Principal Villages compiled by D. S. Maynard Lewisburg to Tyrone (L&T) RR
Buffalo Valley Scenic Ramble, June 1955
From "My Ride On The Lewisburg & Tyrone Railroad" by Judy S. Wagner
What was unusual was my own trip on the Lewisburg and Tyrone Railroad and I have never forgotten it. The exact year had escaped me until I recently found some photos I had. On the back of one, I had written: “Buffalo Valley Scenic Railway – Summer, 1955”. (he date for this event was June 19, 1955.) It was my understanding at the time that this was one of the last passenger trains to traverse the Lewisburg and Tyrone. Since it was, unbelievably, over 50 years ago, I only remember a little bit about the trip.
Early one Sunday morning (June 19, 1955), my parents, a friend and I, drove to Milton in my dad’s 1948 Buick Special where we boarded the train.
The train was pulled by a diesel locomotive. I had always believed it was a steam engine until I discovered the photos because I remember the dress I wore was speckled with cinders by the end of the trip. The only reason I can think to account for that was that the windows were open and cinders from the railroad bed must have been stirred up by the train.
From Milton, we went south to the Northumberland Yards where the train stopped for us to tour the roundhouse. We then backtracked through Montandon, crossing the railroad bridge over the Susquehanna to Lewisburg. We did not stop anywhere to take on additional passengers as everyone had boarded at Milton.
As we passed through Mifflinburg, people were out looking and waving. Out next stop was at the Paddy Mountain Tunnel where everyone got off to walk through the tunnel and take pictures. When we came to Centre Hall, we stopped to eat lunch. I can’t remember going to a restaurant, so I am thinking we took our own bag lunch and drinks with us. The trip resumed with the train going around Nittany Mountain passing by Linden Hall, Oak Hall, Lemont, and Rockview State Prison to Pleasant Gap, where we stopped to tour the State Fish Hatchery. From there, the railroad paralleled Route 144 and a winding stream known as Logan Branch, passing through Bellefonte to Milesburg. Here, the Lewisburg and Tyrone Railroad joined the Pennsylvania Railroad to Lock haven, Williamsport, Watsontown and returned to Milton.
If you can picture a big oval, that was our route. I don’t recall stopping anywhere else or stopping to eat dinner, although we may have. If not, we probably made good time after we left Milesburg as it seems it was early evening when we reached Milton. I would love to know if any readers may have taken the trip I did, and their memories of it.
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- Bezilla, Michael. “The PRR’s Lewisburg & Tyrone Railroad: When Two Halves Didn’t Make a Whole.” The Keystone, vol. 39, no. 1, 2006.
- Taber, Thomas T., III. Railroads of Pennsylvania Encyclopedia and Atlas, 1987, p. 402.
- Bezilla, Mike. “The PRR’s Lewisburg and Tyrone Railroad.” The Keystone, vol. 39, no. 4, Spring 2006, pp. 19–40.
- Bezilla, Mike, and Jack Rudnicki. Rails to Penn State: The Story of the Bellefonte Central. Stackpole Books, 2007.
- Valuation Reports, vol. 22, Interstate Commerce Commission, Jan. 1929.
- Telatovich, Anna. “Lewisburg Agency Will Convert Rails to Trail.” Williamsport Sun-Gazette, 12 July 2008.
- Vernon, Kena. “New Trail for Outdoor Enthusiasts.” WNEP-TV, 4 Apr. 2011.
- “Buffalo Valley Rail Trail.” Lewisburg Area Recreation Authority.
- “Buffalo Valley Rail Trail Lewisburg Detail Map with Interim On-Road Connector.” Buffalo Valley Recreation Authority.
- “Penn’s Creek Path (Mid State Trail).” TrailLink.
- Miller, Robert. “Mid-State Trails Are Hikers’ Open Roads.” Patriot-News, 7 Apr. 1974, p. 12.
- Potter, Elliott. “Penns Creek Trail Taking Several Years.” Centre Daily Times, 20 Sept. 1974, p. 19
BY STATION/STOP
1896 Listing (Missing one)
Montandon
Lewisburg
Biehl
Vicksburg
Mifflinburg
Millmont
Glen Iron
Paddy Mountain
Coburn
Zerby
Rising Spring
Penn Cave
Centre Hall
Gregg
Linden Hall
Oak Hall
Dales Summit
Lemont
Pleasant Gap
Peru
Axeman
Bellefonte
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The line from Tyrone to Fairbrook passed into the hands of the short line Bellefonte Central Railroad in 1927, but the PRR's manipulations ensured its abandonment in 1941.
Began As Lewisburg, Centre, and Spruce Creek RR
Became Lewisburg & Tyrone RR
Became Bellefonte Branch of The Pennsylvania RR
Became Penn Central when PRR & NY Central Merged
Became Conrail
Became West Shore R.R.
Became Lewisburg & Tyrone RR
Became Bellefonte Branch of The Pennsylvania RR
Became Penn Central when PRR & NY Central Merged
Became Conrail
Became West Shore R.R.
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Lewisburg and Tyrone RR in western Union County PA.
The Lewisburg and Tyrone Railroad began life as the Lewisburg, Centre, and Spruce Creek Railroad. The Pennsylvania bought into the company – which it reorganized as the L&T – primarily to block other railroads from using the route through the valleys of Union and Centre counties as part of a possible east-west trunk line that might compete with the Pennsylvania Railroad’s own Harrisburg-Pittsburgh line. Construction proceeded slowly; as rails neared Lemont, the Pennsylvania Railroad decided to make Bellefonte the western terminus instead of Tyrone, opening the line for through traffic in 1885. The Pennsylvania Railroad aimed to blunt a westward thrust into the county by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, which was already buying property in Bellefonte.
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