BEAVER MEADOW RAILROAD AND COAL COMPANY
Source based on: Thomas
TaberŐs Antebellum Railroad Compendium
Parryville to Beaver Meadow, 26
miles and Audenreid, 4 miles Gauge: 4Ő 8 1/2"
Chartered: On 4-7-30 to run
from the Beaver Meadow coal fields to Lehigh River or to the Little Schuylkill
River to the canal. This was the longest of the coalfield railroads.
Built: Parryville (6 miles down river from Mauch
Chunk) to Mauch Chunk, 6 miles; to Penn Haven Jct. to
Beaver Meadows, 26 miles, 1836.
It acquired several tram
roads of coalmines and built Beaver Meadows to later Audenreid,
(Yorktown) 4 miles, 1860. At Parryville
dumped the coal into canal boats. The coal company tram roads purchased
included Hazleton Coal Co., Weatherly to Hazel Creek Bridge, 2 miles, bought
1853; New York and Lehigh Coal Co, Lewiston to Yorktown and Main Line to
Frenchtown, 4 miles on 11-19-60; Audenreid, Tower
& Co, Yorktown to Honeybrook mines, 2 miles on
2-20-1861. Had two inclined planes. Including equipment it cost $13,546 per
mile. The railroad carries coal from lateral branch railroads and takes it to
the canal boats at Penn Haven and pays a toll of 1-1/4 ˘ per mile per ton
whereas B. M. RR coal goes down to Parryville and
avoids that toll.
Abandoned: Parryville to Mauch Chunk after a
bad washout in 1841, 6 miles. The coal was then transferred to canal boats at Mauch Chunk. Lehigh Valley R.R. built on B.M.R.R. a roadbed
from Parryville to Mauch
Chunk and made the B.M.R.R. line from Mauch Chunk to
Penn Haven (7 miles) part of their main line. It was merged into the L.V.R.R.
on 7-8-1864.
Item from the American
R. R. Journal of 8-26-37: The 10 ton, eight wheel
locomotive took a train of 52 cars of coal, 140 tons. On the return trip with
30 empty cars the total weight was about 60 tons up a grade as steep as 1.9%.
This proves that a railroad can haul heavy tonnage, which canal people had
previously said they could not do.
Item from the American
R. R. Journal of 8-15-39: Strap iron rail 2-1/4 x 5/8" on stringers
5"x7" and 5"x8" with ties 3 to 4' apart. The sharpest curve
was 300' radius. All locomotives on the railroad and the Hazelton RR burn
anthracite coal.
Item from the American
R. R. Journal of 12-15-49: Strap rail will be replaced by 60# T-rail.
Various Sources: In 1839 had 6 locomotives, five built by
Garret and Eastwick of Philadelphia. Locomotives burn
anthracite coal.
1 Samuel D. Ingham 4-2-0 Garrett
& Eastwick 1835
60Ó
drs.
2 Ellias Eley " " "
3 Quakake "
" 1836
4 Beaver 0-4-0
" 1837
5 Hercules 4-4-0
" " 10
tons
6 Nonpareil 0-6-0
Beaver
Meadow shop 1838
7 Susquehanna 4-4-0
Phila. & Rdg. RR 1848
Later
L V. #6c
8 Defiance 0-8-0
Niles
1855
ex
CoaL Run Improvement Co, acq.
1857. Later LV #19
9 Champion " " " Later
L. V. RR #20. As built it had two outside and
two inside cylinders with power driven to the smooth
center rail. The railroad had a
plant with rack operation.
10 North Star 4-2-0
Eastwick & Harrison 1838/9
6 tons
11 Mountaineer "
" *
12 Amazon 0-8-0
Baldwin
1855
42"
drs. 22 tons Disposition unknown
13 James Porter " " " 20
tons
14 Orinoco "
" "
15 La Plata " " 1856 22
tons
16 Colorado " " " "
17 Paraquay
" " "
18 Alps " " 1857
25 tons LV 01?
19 Atlas " " " LV
#16
20 Messenger 4-6-0
"
1862 28
Tons LV #34
21 Mercury " " " LV
#35
22 Meteor " " 1863
LV
#36
23 Vulcan " " 1864
LV
#41
24 Neptune " " " LV
#42
25 Tuscarora** " " 1865
LV
#45
26 Algonquin** " " "'
LV
#46
*Questionable. #10 and 11 believed to have been
Danville & Potsviile RR's "Mountaineer"
and "North Star which went to Phila. & Columbia RR in 1842 and to B.M.R.R. in 1854.
**25
& 26 arrived after the railroad had been acquired by the LV. They retained their
names, but may never have been painted as B.M.R.R. nor numbered 25 and 26. Two
4-2-0 were listed for sale in American R. R. Journal of May 1849 (#1,2,,3,10,11)
All
Baldwin 0-8-0s were flexible beam truck.
The "Hercules"
was one or the very earliest 4-4-0 engines built
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to the Formation of the Beaver Meadow R. R. Page
About
the Hopkin Thomas Project
November 2012