Cambria and Indiana Railroad
The Cambria and Indiana Railroad (C&I) was a railroad company in Pennsylvania ( United States ). The company's history is closely tied to coal mining in this Pennsylvania region. The company founded in 1911 existed until 1994.
history
In the 1890s, the Vinton Lumber Company, a logging company from Rexis , began building a forest railroad along Blacklick Creek to near Stiles . When it became known that coal could be found in this area, the railway was converted into a public railway. It was hoped to benefit from transportation. In addition to the timber removal, people were now also transported to Burns. On weekdays a pair of trains ran from Rexis to Burns and two more only went to White Mill.
On June 15, 1904, the Black Lick and Yellow Creek Railroad Company (B&YC) was founded. At the same time, investors John Heisley Weaver and B. Dawson Coleman began to acquire coal mining rights in the area and set up coal mines. In 1910, the logging began to subside. This gave Vinton Lumber the opportunity to sell the railway company to the mine owners for $ 100,000. The extension of the line north to Manver began immediately . There was a coal mine owned by the owners and there was also a connection to the Cherry Tree and Dixonville Railroad . An east branch was also built to a mine called Colver Heights . On April 20, 1911, the B&YC was reorganized into the Cambria and Indiana Railroad Company . In October 1911 the line to Colver was completed. The vehicle workshop was also set up in Colver. In order to prevent the Pennsylvania Railroad from becoming suspicious of the construction of a new railway company in "their" territory, it was always announced that it was about connections to coal mines.
Two switchbacks had to be built between the Colver mine and the Colver Heights miners' settlement in order to negotiate the incline. Passenger traffic began on June 16, 1912. Three trips were made daily in each direction. A pair of trains now also ran between Colver and Manver on weekdays.
In 1912 the Cambria and Indiana Railroad began building a route to Nanty Glo . In order to secure the building rights, these were first built regardless of inclines. After an improved survey of the terrain in 1913, the line was finally established in 1916. This route was extended eastward to the Revloc mine in 1917 and opened in 1918. From 1914 passenger trains also ran from Rexis to Nanty Glo.
The company's vehicle fleet had meanwhile increased to eight steam locomotives and two accumulator railcars for passenger transport. These railcars were purchased by JG Brill and Company in 1914 and 1916 . They also had a pantograph. This was necessary to overcome the 5% slope from Colver Mine to Colver Heights to the charging station at the end of the day. For this purpose, an overhead line was built on this section of the route. In 1922 the accumulator railcars were replaced by two gasoline railcars. A mixed train ran daily between Colver and Rexis. In addition, 1500 50-ton steel wagons were available for transporting coal.
In 1919 a total of 23 coal mines were served along the routes. At the same time there were plans to extend the network to Johnstown and to a point south of Ebensburg. The latter project was well advanced in 1926 but was finally realized by an underground railway from Revloc.
In 1922 Coleman and Weaver ended their partnership. Coleman sold his 40% stake in the railway company to the "Bituminous Coal Company" a subsidiary of the New York Central Railroad . The transport volume continued to increase, so that more locomotives and wagons were procured. Only the economic crisis of the Great Depression led to cuts. Since some mines closed, the transports slowed down. In order to keep the company economical, older locomotives were sold and on December 1, 1931 passenger traffic was finally stopped. However, the US Navy’s demand for the good coal from Nanty Glo continued to ensure good business. Between 1931 and 1935, the highest dividends in the company's history were paid at times. During the Second World War , the transport volume increased again. The company was forced to acquire six used locomotives between 1939 and 1944.
In May 1950, the steel company Bethlehem Steel received approval from the ICC to acquire the company from Weaver, who had died in 1934. Since Bethlehem Steel had switched to diesel locomotives at an early stage in their existing railway companies, the change in traction was not long in coming for Cambria and Indiana. The first two locomotives were delivered in 1951, followed by six more in 1952. At the same time the existing steam locomotives were scrapped.
In 1962, only four mines were in operation along the route (Colver, Nanty Glo, Revloc and Cardiff). In 1963 Bethlehem Steel started a new mine south of Ebensburg . The raw coal from the other mines should also be processed in the facilities of this mine. For this reason, the route from Revloc was extended to the mine designated as No. 33. The Pennsylvania Railroad was used over a length of 3.5 kilometers . At the same time, more diesel locomotives were acquired to cope with the transport volume. In 1965 there were 14 locomotives in stock. In the same year, the Barnes and Tucker Coal Company opened a mine in Stiles. By 1968 the fleet had increased to 18. Above all, journeys were made with firmly coupled trains between the mines and nearby processing plants or power plants. The transport from Revloc to Mine 33 was abandoned after a connection was established underground.
At the end of the 1960s, the fleet of vehicles consisted of the locomotives, 950 coal cars , six Cabooses , a diesel-electric locomotive crane and other cars for track maintenance .
In the course of the sale of the railway business of the insolvent Penn Central , Bethlehem Steel acquired the remaining 40% of the company in 1975. The decline in the steel industry in the 1970s also led to a decline in demand for coal. In 1977 the stretch between Rexis and Elkdale Junction was also destroyed by a landslide. This section was then abandoned. In the mid-1980s, only mine 33 was still in operation. The remaining north-south route between Glory and Adele Junction was sold to a power plant company. In the early 1990s the workshops and offices were relocated to Revloc. This saved the trip to Colver on the largely unused and no longer maintained route.
Mine 33 was also closed in 1994. As a result, the Cambria and Indiana Railroad was shut down on November 11, 1994. As a result, the tracks were dismantled and the land was transferred to Cambria County. Bicycle and hiking trails are to be created on the former railway embankment. Only the branch from the PRR (later Conrail) line to Mine 33 remained intact. The remaining locomotives and wagons were transferred to other Bethlehem Steel railway companies.
In 2003, Lehigh Valley Rail Management acquired several railway companies, including Cambria and Indiana Railroad, from Bethlehem Steel's successor, the International Steel Group .
vehicles
| No. | Manufacturer | Wheel alignment | Construction year | annotation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1, 2 | Vinton Lumber Co. locomotives have been released by the C&I. | |||
| 3 | Baldwin | 1'D | 1907 | Acquired in 1911, sold in 1916 |
| 4th | Baldwin | 1'D1 ' | 1911 | Sold in 1917 |
| 5, 6 | Baldwin | 1'D1 ' | 1911, 1913 | Sold in 1930 |
| 7-9 | Lima | 1'D1 ' | 1917 | Sold in 1930 |
| 10, 11 | Baldwin | 1'D1 ' | 1918 | Sold in 1941 |
| 14, 15 | Baldwin | 1'D | 1920 | Shut down in 1944 |
| 16-19 | ALCo Schenectady | 1'D | 1923 | Scrapped in 1952 |
| 20, 21 | ALCo Schenectady | 1'D1 ' | 1920 | Acquired in 1939, scrapped in 1951/1952 |
| 22nd | PRR Juniata Shops | 1'D1 ' | 1915 | Acquired in 1941, scrapped in 1948 |
| 23 | Baldwin | 1'D1 ' | 1916 | Acquired in 1941, scrapped in 1950 |
| 24, 25 | ALCo Brooks | 1916 | 1'D1 ' | Acquired in 1944, scrapped in 1952 |
| No. | Manufacturer | design type | Construction year | annotation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ? | Jackson & Sharp | Accumulator railcar | Acquired in 1912 | |
| 140, 150 | JG Brill and Company | Accumulator railcar | 1914, 1916 | ex 14, 15 renumbered in 1920, sold to Canadian National Railway in 1923 |
| 98, 99 | JG Brill and Company | Benzene railcar | 1922, 1923 | No. 99 sold in 1942 |
| No. | Type | Construction year | annotation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15, 16 | EMD SW1500 | 1968 | |
| 17, 18 | EMD SW1500 | 1969 | |
| 19, 20 | EMD MP15DC | 1975 | |
| 30-37 | EMD SW9 | 1951-1952 | No. 36 was given a bi-centennial paint job |
| 38-44 | EMD SW1200 | 1956-1957 | Purchased 1964-1967 |
| 45 | EMD SW7 | 1950 | Bought in 1969 |
literature
- Benson W. Rohrbeck (1997): Pennsylvania's Street Railways West Chester PA: Traction Publications. Page 223.
- David H. Hamley: This is a shortline? In: Trains . Kalmbach Publishing Co., March 1971, ISSN 0041-0934 , p. 38-45 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ according to ROHRBECK p. 223