I am in the planning stages of a 1950’s PRR layout and would like to know what would be a good railroad that crossed and connected to the PRR that I could interchange some rolling stock with. I am looking at coal for powerplants and maybe a steel plant. It will be point-to-point with stagging at each end, but would like to interchange somewhere along the way. I know there is probably many choices but would like the one that would be more prototypical somewhere in the heart of their system.
The Pennsy crossed almost every Midwestern railroad west of Pittsburgh.
However, in the “heart” of the system (i.e., the 4-track main across Pennsylvania), the Pennsy was king. Its mainline crossed almost no major railroads. The electrified Philadelphia Division crossed the Reading in a few spots east of Harrisburg, and interchanged with the Reading at Harrisburg.
Between Harrisburg and Altoona, it connected only with the narrow gauge East Broad Top and standard gauge Huntingdon and Broad Top (and the tiny Kishacoquillas Valley Railroad at Lewistown until 1940). Past Altoona the 4-track main interacted with the Conemaugh & Black Lick. South of Altoona there was an interchange with the B&O, but on a secondary track. There was also an interchange on the Bald Eagle Secondary at Lock Haven with the New York Central, which exercised traffic rights as far as the Clearfield mining district.
Pittsburgh and west (the Panhandle Division) offers much more opportunities for interchange. The whole state of Ohio was laced with PRR, NYC, NKP, and B&O interchanges.
Also, the PRR interchanged with all of the major anthracite roads in northeastern PA (LV, LNE, CNJ, Erie, DL&W, RDG), but the PRR was never a major player in the area. It interchanged with N&W and WM in Hagerstown, MD and N&W Winchester, VA. At York, PA, it connected with the WM and the M&PA. At Washington DC it connected with B&O and RF&P. At New York City it connected with NYNH&H.
…just to name a few. It may help to locate a PRR map to see what RRs actually crossed the PRR and where. Here’s a few links that may come in handy for you:
Why not the MONON?? The two interchanged at Frankfort, Limedale (south side of Greencastle) and Wanatah, Indiana. That would make it unique! The southern-PRR interchange in New Albany was the southern crossing the pennsy on the approach to the K&IT bridge on the north side of the ohio river.
There was an interchange with the B&O at Johnstown, PA, adjacent to the old Cambria Iron Works, Crossing the river on this cool skewed bridge…
If coal and steel are your bag, this might be the junction for you. The Johnstown Branch of the B&O runs through the heart of Pennsylvania’s coal country, and Johnstown itself was a steel making center before Pittsburgh was.
Almost everyone that operated east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio Rivers interchanged with the PRR; as the ole carney barker used to say, “Pick a card! Any card!”
Well, I don’t know about “somewhere in the heart of their system”, but the PRR crossed the Rock Island tracks at Englewood here in Chicago. We even boasted a steel mill nearby. So, I vote for the PRR-NYC-CRI&P interlock at Englewood.
