• Minersville trackage, station, and use

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in Pennsylvania
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in Pennsylvania

Moderator: bwparker1

  by carajul
 
I see that the R&N is again servicing the coal mine just north of Minersville. Good thing they didn't abandon the line as they wanted a few years ago.
Anyone know when that decrepit track on the other side of the station was abandoned? It left the RDG line, passed the station, went over a 2 track bridge over the creek (still there, and 2 tracks wow!), then went down the middle of Front St to the mine. There is appox 1000' of the track left. Anyone know why they left it in? It just stub ends where Front St starts now. I looked at the 1971 arial and it looks abandoned then.
  by Schuylkill Valley
 
That piece of track was a privet railroad and wasn't owned by the Reading nor Conrail. It is own by the Wolf Berra Mines .
  by carajul
 
So when was the private track abandoned? And why did they leave in the 1000' or so past the xing?
I can't find anything on Wolf Bera mine or railroad online at all.
  by pumpers
 
It might be a modern version of the "Wolf Creek" mine, one of the early ones in the area, NW of Minersville, which that track which went through town on North St. reached. See the old topo maps at http://www.historicaerials.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; JS
  by carajul
 
I was able to follow the line on the topos. It just turned NW diagonal from Front St and want about a half mile to a mine.

The 1969 arial image shows coal hoppers parked on the track up until Front St. However, the row is obviously gone on the other side of Front St so the RDG must have just been using the still existing stub on the left side of the station as a storage track. Also in present day where the row came out of Front St and went diagonally toward the mine that's all been built over by houses.

If anyone would care to chime in on when the line was abandoned and why that stub by the station was left in place I'd love to know!

Also if you continue along the current R&N line to the right of the station the 1969 arial shows the trackage ending where it still ends today in that yard area. There was a much larger coal processing facility there back in the day.