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The Railroad Industry |
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Written by Greg Designed by Thomas Click
Pictures To Enlarge |
Construction began in 1876 on a narrow gauge rail. This rail was called the Emlenton Shippenville and Clarion railroad. The reason that the train came along is because of the transportation of oil. This area has an abundance of oil. During this time there were many people in the area due to the wealth of oil.
In early January of 1877 the ES&C ( Emlenton Shippenville and
Clarion) reached to the town of Knox and later that later on reached
onto Clarion.
Because of our areas topography the construction of
When the EF&C was being completed there was
construction of another rail. The under construction rail was known as the
Foxburg St Petersburg and Turkey City railroad. This rail connected to the
EF&C to form much greater expanse of area for transportation. While
the rail from Foxburg to Turkey City was still under construction
surveyors from the rival EF&C came to survey the new rails route they
threatened to occupy it. The Foxburg line did not have a charter. Soon
there after a document was hastily prepared and the rail was adverted to a
new route.
On March 14 1881 the two rails were consolidated and
they soon formed the Foxburg St Petersburg and Clarion. The branch of rail
in Emlenton was abandoned and the tracks were removed.
In the summer of 1881 the newly formed company began
construction of a new rail that would connect with Kane. This newly
constructed line moved the main line West of the river making the line
into Clarion only a branch.
The PB&B merged with Pittsburgh and Western rail
on October 1 1883. By merging
with the other Rail Company it now had access to Karns City, and the
Parker line. Also a line was built to connect Butler. Also by merging
there was now access to the Bradford Bordell, and Kinzue.
Later on the Pittsburgh and Western passed a
receivership and it became part of the Baltimore & Ohio line.
Since B&O was a rail of standard gauge all of the narrow gauge
rails in the area were abandoned.
There was a trestle near Clarion that stretched over
a deep narrow ravine, which brought the B&O railroad into Clarion. The
bridge was surveyed by B&O surveyors and was rolled unsafe. The owners
of the railroad wanted a fee to have the bridge repaired from the people
of Clarion. The people of Clarion refused to pay to have it repaired and
so the connection of the rail was lost.
In the year of 1903 and 1904 a new railroad was to
serve Clarion with the absence of the B&O Railroad Company. The
Clarion and Summerville Rail Company constructed this rail.
With the new rail there came a new group of owners.
The rails main cargo was passengers, mail, and
fright. The train could travel from Summerville to Clarion in forty-five
minutes.
Soon the rail's name was changed to LEF&C.
The main fright of the time was that of
the Owens Glass Company. The plant received several shipments of raw goods
daily and also shipped out products daily. This was the railroad biggest
contributor.
The construction of the tracks provided the area
with jobs. The timber for the rails was cut locally by people of the area.
In 1910
the railroad was leased to the Pennsylvania Southern Railroad Company.
Soon there after there was a line half a mile long built. It connected
Heidrick to Sutton. This connected the rail to form a rail to connect the
Lake Shore and southern Michigan. Another line was also constructed from
Srattonville north to go along the Clarion River to the mouth of Mill
creek. Later when the rails were bought in 1912 there were lines built to
connect Pittsburgh Clarion and Summerville. In 1913 it was proposed to build a line to Erie by way of Franklin however this was never constructed.
The main line
has always been the section between Clarion and Summerville. Later a rail
was built to connect with the New York Central line which ran all over the
east shore including the state of New Jersey.
On December 31 1924 the use of the passenger train
was discontinued over the New York and Central line.
Soon after the rail running along Mill Creek was
abandoned.
The passenger train was used between June 12 1911
when it first came in use. At the beginning of its use the railroad was
highly used for transportation but as the years went on the use plummeted
to where it was costing more to operate than what it was bringing in. The
passenger train of the area connected Clarion to Summerville.
The trains ran three round trips daily. While the passenger train
lasted in the area it provided it with business. There were hotels built
to accompany those who were traveling.
While the railroad was still
active in the area it provided jobs. There had to be people to run the
trains and also to run the train stations. There had to be people to
provided the work needed to load the fright trains up with their goods.
But most importantly there were tracks that had to be built. The
railroad industry was a very hard job, which provided many people of the
area with jobs. The reason that we have only branches of the
Another one of these area cargos was the
transportation of goods for the businesses of the area.
In 1949 the steam engines were switched
to three diesels which were paid for in cash. Bibliography Clarion Pictorial History Publication of the Clarion News 1996 Edition Knox Pennsylvania: Past Present and Future By Dorthy Elizabeth Fox The
Clarion News: 125th
anniversary of Clarion County; 150th
anniversary of Clarion County |
