Knox & Kane along US Rt 6

I was traveling along Route 6 last night, and I was pleasantly suprised to see that the old Knox and Kane tracks were still in place. Is this scheduled for scrapping this summer?

Whenever they pull up the tracks, I'll miss them. The old P&W looked like one long industrial spur ever since I can remember seeing it, not part of a Class 1 railroad at one time! To look at the track, I almost can't imaging the B&O hauling loads of coal along it, but I've seen the pictures to prove it.

3rd person info from Kovalchicks:
Clarion Jct. to Marienville-definately getting pulled, and is currently in progress at about Zacherl Coal tipple near Lucinda.
Marienville to Kane-maybe getting pulled
Kane to Mt. Jewett-waiting to see what pans out with the tourist increase with the new viewing platform at the bridge. "Possibly" running a train either from Kane or Mt. Jewett to the bridge.

That would great if they kept it in place, and I hope some tourist trade could pan out. I'd love to be able to ride between Kane and Mt. Jewett again.

I know the fate of the RS36 and Geep, and I guess the Baldwin siwtchers got scrapped previously, but does anyone know what became of the K&K Porter?

oibu wrote:I know the fate of the RS36 and Geep, and I guess the Baldwin siwtchers got scrapped previously, but does anyone know what became of the K&K Porter?

The latest that I could track down was that it went to the former Colorado Railcar. I had sent emails to the current owner based in OH (I think US Railcar), and got a reply from the address that I sent to with something along the lines of they were unable to confirm any data, but would try to forward my request to the correct person. Haven't heard anything since, and this was a few years ago. I would like to know myself for our Yahoo group's roster.

I agree with you on the "fate" of the Alco and the Baldwins, but why is the Geep going to George's Creek Railway to be brought back to life in WM Circus paint by Gerald and his team "fate"? There are videos on YouTube of her taking her first breathes of life with GCK, although she still looks rough in the videos.

I thought that -had- been the plan for the geep, but before it moved out it was vanadalized again or something happened to it and the whole project got shelved. Perhaps that did not in fact derail the project as had been reported elsewhere.

Assume the Porter has been moved out to some other locale?

Georges Creek won the Geep at the 10/2008 liquidation auction after it was burnt in the Kane engine house arson fire along with the Mikado, the Baldwin 2-8-0, and the D&H "President's Car". I'm not aware of any vandalism after it made it to Maryland. The Mike went to the Valley RR in CT, and the Baldwin went to the Everette RR in Hollidaysburg. I believe that VALE is almost complete with restoration of the Mike, but I haven't heard much on the 2-8-0 other than it was at the Western Maryland Scenic for restoration. Haven't seen or heard of any progress reports on it. The wood D&H car is history. I have a cell pic that Gerald pixed me of #39 going past the State Line marker on CSX, and I documented the Buffalo and Pittsburgh RR picking it up in Kane a week or so before.

Here is the "GCK 39" taking her first revived breathes of diesel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rluzsj2NoIk

And is my YouTube channel with a few of the videos from the BPRR picking her up in Kane, and the rest of them at rail-video.net:
http://www.youtube.com/user/EMTRailfan#g/u
http://www.rail-videos.net/showvideos.php?userid=14065

Update on the Knox and Kane. It appears like Kovalchick Corp. pulled up camp a few months ago in the area of the Crown Siding.

Since my last post, I "mashed" all of the videos of #39 being picked up by the Buffalo and Pittsburgh RR into one video and cut the extra dead space out (20 minutes long):
http://youtu.be/amQf64diRQE

Also, here are some goodies from better times of the Knox and Kane. While these videos are not my property, their owners, Bob Hartle and Greg Hoover gave me permission to edit in the location subtitles and upload to my YouTube channel to share. Each of Bob's videos are approx. 1 hour long, and Greg's is approx. 1/2 hour long. Enjoy the videos!!!

These first 2 videos are from the 1993 excursion to Knox. Bob and Greg played leap-frog throughout the chase, so they each have a lot of different locations to compliment the others video.


http://youtu.be/iEo5wdBnV2E
#1 is Bob's video which feature the locations of:
*Marienville
*RT66 crossing-Roses
*Kahle Dr.-Vowinckel
*Haggerty Dr.-Crown
*RT66 crossing-Leeper
*Wolbert Dr.-Snydersburg
*Griebel Dr.-Snydersburg
*Lucinda Station
*Schupp Dr.-Schills
*Zacherl Fruit Market-Arthurs
*RT66 crossing-Paint MIlls
*Fulton Rd.-Elk City
*RT338 crossing-Knox
*Destination-Knox


http://youtu.be/dJBO9z9H4Lk
Greg's video locations:
East Bound
*Blood Road
*Marshall Drive checking for a dragging tree limb.
*Leeper Siding
*Wolbert Dr.
*Snydersburg-east of Whitney Lane
*Licking Drive-Lucinda
*Pacing from near Zacherl Coal at Arthurs to RT66 crossing at Paint Mills
*Paint Creek Bridge (moves for photo run by)
*Elk City near Fulton Lumber
*Coming into Knox with Sloan Cornell in the orange hat and his grandson, John
Hafer who jumps off the train at the crossing
Westbound
*Pulling the narrows up out of Bryner.
*RT 322 crossing at Clarion Jct.


http://youtu.be/JWM60NFzWog
The final compilation of videos are from Bob from 1991 and 1993 which include:
7/8/1991- Backhoe pulling a weed spraying MOW from Clarion Jct., PA to Elk City, PA
8/18/1991- Watering #58 at the Russell City water tank with departure and horn action
11/13/1991- Porter 50 tonner #1 pulling a lone box car west full of items that were removed from the Knox, PA train station and engine house
6/23/1993- Work train powered by Alco S6 #44 running west to Marienville after
removing the Conrail Interchange in Shippenville.

This was an interesting little shortline, and not a lot of info seems to have been reported in the early years.
I followed the entire line back in 1988, and saw no evidence of activity except for the train to the big bridge.
This brings me to these questions.
1. Did the K&K ever have any substantial freight business?
2. If so, what industries did they serve and where were they located?
3. If so, when did the quit shipping, and why?
When I drove along this line, the ONLY industry I saw was some type of lumber operation, and the rails there were rusty. No other trackside business was to be seen anywhere.
Thanks,
Jeff

mowingman wrote:This was an interesting little shortline, and not a lot of info seems to have been reported in the early years.
I followed the entire line back in 1988, and saw no evidence of activity except for the train to the big bridge.
This brings me to these questions.
1. Did the K&K ever have any substantial freight business?
2. If so, what industries did they serve and where were they located?
3. If so, when did the quit shipping, and why?
When I drove along this line, the ONLY industry I saw was some type of lumber operation, and the rails there were rusty. No other trackside business was to be seen anywhere.
Thanks,
Jeff

1. I wouldn't say it was substantial, but it was business that kept them running until the end of 2005.
2/3. There were quite a few industries throughout the life of the RR, but not all at one time.

Clarion Jct. to Knox (Removed 2001) last freight on this section was 1990 from Fulton Lumber
*US Corrugated (box mfg)-received paper rolls
*Knox Glass-sand in, finished product out
*Fulton Lumber-finished product out
*Conrail Interchange-KKRR built interchange to save travel to Kane/Mt. Jewett Interchanges. A loco based at Knox

Clarion Jct. to Mt. Jewett (Removal started at Clarion Jct. 2010 to currently at Crown Siding)
*Clarion Boards-wood chips in, finished product out (customer at time of embargo)
*Och's Lumber-Lucinda Team Track-Lumber in to be cut to length at mill (customer at time of embargo)
*Highland Forest Products-Marienville-finished product out (customer at time of embargo)
*Marienville Glass-in KKRR times, finished product from Knox to be warehoused
*ALY/JKWI Interchange
*Kane Handle Company-wood billets in, tool handles out
*Affiliated Industries-press board
*CSXT/BPRR Interchange Mt. Jewett

The line was self-embargoed at the end of 2005 due to poor line condition. RR personnel told me that they were hoping to restore passenger trips from Kane to the bridge in 2008, starting the season being powered by GP9 #39, and then bringing Baldwin #38 in mid season since a boiler inspection was almost complete. The March 2008 Kane engine shed arson fire was most likely the nail in the coffin sealing any hopes of operations returning, since it burnt all 3 remain locos (39, 2-8-0 #38, and 2-8-2 Chinese #58 as well as the 1880's D&H "President's Car").

EMT,
Thanks for the info. It seems like it had marginal traffic at startup, then things went downhill over the years. Existing industry drying up, and no new companies locating there to replace the lost business. That is a shame, as was the destruction of the big bridge and the arson fire. The last few years were not kind to the little old K&K.
Jeff

Any chance the Gas drilling boom could put the railroad back into business like it has in Wyoming county and Wellsboro area?

-Gary