Railroads of the First
and Second Anthracite Coal Fields of Pennsylvania
By EARL J. HEYDINGER
The following was scanned from the
pages of the Bulletin
of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, Volumes 105 through 110,
published in the early 1960Ős. These articles are the most thorough record of
the early anthracite roads known to this collector (J. McVey, Nov. 2005)
There are few, if any, parts
of the country which have been the scene of more railroads, or have witnessed
their growth from the earliest days, than the First and Second Pennsylvania
anthracite coal fields centering chiefly in Schuylkill, Carbon and
Northumberland Counties In the following articles, the author has assembled the
records of the founding and development of these early roads, most of which
ultimately became components of larger railroad systems that exist today,
although many of these components have long since been abandoned because of the
depletion of the coal fields in the areas they primarily served.
The author has arranged the lines into nine groups, those in each group bearing some association with each other, and will treat them in the following sequence.
1. The Railroads of the First Coal Field centering at
Pine Grove, viz., the Union, Swatara, Lorberry Creek, Dauphin &
Susquehanna, Schuylkill & Susquehanna, Allentown Railroad, and the
railroads of Dauphin County.
2.
Influence of the Schuylkill Navigation Canal; the arrival of the
Philadelphia & Reading Company; the Mt. Carbon & Port Carbon.
3.
Schuylkill County activity, 1827-28; the Mill Creek and Schuylkill Valley
Railroads.
4. Mine Hill & Schuylkill Haven R. R. in the
First and Second Fields.
6. Little Schuylkill Navigation Railroad & Coal
Company; East Mahanoy; Little Schuylkill & Susquehanna-Catawissa,
Williamsport & Erie-Catawissa; Tamaqua, Hazleton & Northern; and the
Delaware, Susquehanna & Schuylkill Railroads.
7. Mahony & Shamokin Railroad.
8. Railroads in the Lehigh Valley & Pennsylvania R.
R. groups, viz. Beaver Meadow; Hazleton; Sugar Loaf; Buck Mountain; Lehigh
Luzerne; Quakake-Lehigh & Mahanoy; Sunbury, Hazleton & Wilkes Barre;
and Nescopec Railroad.
9.
Railroads of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, viz., Mauch Chunk;
Nesquehoning; Lehigh & Susquehanna; Tresekow; Lehigh & New England.
This article will appear in
several installments. The first covers the railroads of Group 1, inclusive.
Others will appear in subsequent issues of the Bulletin.
Bibliography,
Elevations
(Editor)