NYC & Central PA train buffs - Beech Creek Railroad

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

I was reading a post on another non-train related forum and came across a picture of a RR Bridge in Peale, PA. So I did some searches and found this site:

http://go.owu.edu/~jbkrygie/krygier_html/peale/peale_bc.html

If anyone in Central PA is familiar with this area, please let me know if you can still access the bridge and tunnel. My Mother’s cousin’s wife’s family is from Snow Shoe, PA which is not far from this area. From the areal maps I’ve seen it appears the Beech Creek Railroad right-of-way is still visible from the air and could be traversable by 4wd?

The NYC connection is that the Beech Creek Railroad was leased by the NYC for a portion of its life. This is really interesting stuff. A town, built by the coal company, lasted for a mere 29 years. I’m really thinking this would make for an awesome weekend trip!

2

Brent,

Is it it an operating railroad? If not they may have put up a fence and took up the tracks to keep people out for insurance purposes. It may be in the hands of CSX railroad as most, not all, of Conrail was sold off to either CSX or Norfolk Southern. Sounds like it is too far west for it to be in the Reading & Northern regional railroad, R & N is what is left of the Reading Railroad and still operating!

Lee F.

3

Lee,
No it is a LONG lost RR. From the pictures I have seen, and the satellite images on Google Maps, the tracks are gone, but the Viaduct Trestle is still there.

Here is the site that got me started:
http://george1.smugmug.com/gallery/2862660_CquRt#153629940_q4Zpj

This is an image from http://maps.google.com search peale, pa

4

I believe this is what your looking for. http://www.ssrt.org/ I have rode my atv across that railroad bridge and through the tunnels many times.

5

T-1 thanks for the link! Pretty cool that they have preserved the bridge and tunnel. How far is the ride?

6

I would say it a good 7 miles from the major parking area. If you get off the Snow shoe exit of 80 the main trail parking area is very close to the Moshannon blinker light. If you know someone who lives in the area they will know were I mean. The bridge can be seen from Interstate 80

7

Brent,

Thanks for the info, also Pennsylvania has lots of long lost railroads. Seems like every major area of PA tried to start a railroad. Before the Reading Railroad lost the Philadelphia part of their name(Philadelphia & Reading) they absorbed a lot of small railroads(over a dozen) into their system.

Lee F.