(erielack) Northwestern Pennsylvania's railroads showcased in photo book

[Todd Hollritt <thollritt_@_yahoo.com>]

  Ken Springirth's latest book in the Image of Rail Series for Arcadia Publishing, "Northwestern Pennsylvania Railroads," is a photographic essay that includes the New York Central, Pennsylvania, Nickel Plate, Erie, Bessemer & Lake Erie and other railroads. Springirth will signed books at the Erie Book Store, 137 E. 13th St.And today Saturday, Aug. 21, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Lake Shore Railway Museum at Robinson and Wall Streets in North East. The museum will be open during the same hours, and admission is free. The museum will also conduct speeder car rides over its tracks today!
 

By KEN SPRINGIRTH
Contributing writer

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the completion of the railroad from Erie to Warren and the 130th anniversary of the formation of the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad. 

  In 1860, the Sunbury and Erie Railroad completed the final track work from Erie to Warren. This became the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad. 
   When it was completed, a story in the Erie Dispatch newspaper of Oct. 6, 1864 declared, "All hail to the iron band that now joins Erie with Philadelphia and the seaboard." 
  That railroad, which later became the Pennsylvania Railroad, contributed to the growth of population and industry in the northwestern Pennsylvania communities it served. 
  Erie, Union City, Corry, Youngsville, Warren, Sheffield, Kane, Johnsonburg, Ridgway and Emporium flourished as the railroad delivered local products from communities of this region to distant markets. 
  Within a few years, other intersecting railroads were completed to Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Rochester, giving the region a comprehensive rail network. By 1916, more than 50 daily passenger trains served Erie. 
   CSX Transportation uses the former New York Central Railroad mainline through Erie, which once had a roundhouse for servicing locomotives in Lawrence Park, just east of Four Mile Creek. 
  In October 1880, the Buffalo, Cleveland and Chicago Railway was incorporated to build a railroad. That later became the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, commonly known as the Nickel Plate Road, which completed a more than 500-mile railroad from Buffalo via Erie to Chicago in about 500 days. 
  Over the years, Nickel Plate built a reputation for dependability and the ability to handle almost any volume of business. During World War II, Nickel Plate, despite limited shop facilities and with many of its skilled employees drafted into the armed forces, was still able to handle double the amount of freight. 
  As late as 1959, Nickel Plate's heaviest passenger business was between Erie and Cleveland as shoppers from Erie, Conneaut and Ashtabula could take the morning train to Cleveland and return in the evening. 
  In 1964, Nickel Plate merged into Norfolk and Western Railroad, and its passenger service through Erie ended in 1965. Today, the railroad is part of the Norfolk Southern Railway. 
   In southeastern Erie County, the Erie Railroad provided the city of Corry with excellent passenger service east to New York City and west to Cleveland and Chicago. It merged with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in 1960, becoming the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad, and it ended passenger service through Corry in 1976. 
  That line was later almost abandoned, but with a lot of hard work, it was saved, and today is operated by the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad. 
  The former Pennsylvania Railroad line through Corry is now operated by the Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad. 
  There are now six railroad museums in northwestern Pennsylvania, where volunteers have done an excellent job in preserving our rail heritage: Lake Shore Railway Museum at the former Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway station in North East; Kane Historic Preservation Society at the former Pennsylvania Railroad station in Kane; Sheffield Depot Preservation Society at the former Pennsylvania Railroad station in Sheffield; French Creek Valley Railroad Historical Society at a former Erie Lackawanna caboose in Meadville; Greenville Railroad Park and Museum in Greenville; and the Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad, which operates excursion service from Titusville through the Oil Creek State Park to Rynd Farm. 
 

KEN SPRINGIRTH is the author of 16 books on railroad and trolley car systems. The former Harborcreek Township supervisor and longtime consumer activist graduated from Drexel University with a degree in mechanical engineering. 
 
"Sorry for the short notice EL listers"
Todd ~




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