Lykens Valley Branch

Good Day:

Does anyone have any information on the PRR branch that ran between Millersburg and Elizabethville, Penna? I believe the line extended further than Elizabethvile at one time. I helped out during the lines last few years of operation after PennDot reopened the line.

Any recollections or references would be appreciated.

I have a map in the back of the book ON the Main Line,It shows a line from Millersburg,through Fremont,Pots and ending in Tamaqua.This may have been a Reading line ore An Independent Railroad the map does not saY.Hope this helps. Dan

This railroad, which was the 4th railroad to transport anthracite coal in the united states, runs right in front of my house. It was completed in 1834, but did not use t-rail. It used a flat-strap iron rail, which caused frequent derailments. It went from Millersburg to Lykens, and possibly Wiconisco(I'm not sure when they extended it there.) Ten or more small cars were coupled together and pulled by horses to Elizabethville where they were unhooked from the horses and the cars went by gravity to Millersburg.

At Millersburg the coal cars were floated on flat boats across the river to Mt. Patrick. They later built the wiconisco canal which took the coal from Millersburg to Clark's Ferry.

In 1856 the Pennsylvania Railroad Company took control of the line and replaced the rail with t-rail. In 1856 the Susquehanna Division of the Northern Central Railway completed a line from Dauphin to Millersburg which ment that coal would be shipped by rail instead of boat.

The Summit Branch Railroad was built in 1866 from a point near Lykens to the Williamstown Colliery. The Lykens Valley Railroad extended to Williamstown and was leased to the Summit Branch Railroad. It was operated until 1880 when it was placed in the hands of the Northern Central Railway. The railroad branched in to freight and passenger service. In 1928 the steam train to Harrisburg was replaced by a gasoline-electric train. Passenger service was discontinued in 1937.

In the 70's the tracks were torn up from Lykens to just before Elizabethville. Then the tracks were eventually torn up from E'ville down to Millersburg.

Thanks for the great information, it is very much appreciated. My experience with the LKVY was from 1980 to 1982. I was the Conductor on the last train from E-ville to Millersburg. At the end as you may remember the only traffic was inbound material for the feed dealer in E-ville, lumber products. The timing wasn't quite right though as the bagged coal in box car traffic and small lot coal loads from a rebuilt ramp didn't materialize in time to save the line. The last few trains were quite long as they consisted of many stored boxcars that were being helpd awaiting rebuilding. They carried LKVY reporting marks and were part of an incentive per diem fleet.

Thanks again.

Your welcome. Well I wasn't even born yet until '88. Do you have any photos of the railroad while you were working on it? In case you were wondering, I got the information out of the 1967 E-ville Susquicentennial book. Thanks in advance...

Hi, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Yes I have some photos of the last years inoperation. Let me see if I can get them scanned in the days ahead.

THanks again,
Joe

Hey, sorry I haven't been able to get online for a while. I'll keep checking this, just post if you get those pics scanned. Thanks.

SnoozerZ49 wrote:Good Day:

Does anyone have any information on the PRR branch that ran between Millersburg and Elizabethville, Penna? I believe the line extended further than Elizabethvile at one time. I helped out during the lines last few years of operation after PennDot reopened the line.

Any recollections or references would be appreciated.

I was raised in a house next to the railroad, approximately 1/4 mile east of BICKEL'S crossing which is approximately
1 mile west of Elizabethville, Pa. If there are any photos taken of the train, I would appreciate if someone would advise me. "The person with the email name of "SnoozerZ49" stated in his post that he was the conductor of the last train
from Elizabethville to Millersburg. I would like to know the approximate date or year of that event.

Marvin Laudenslager
144 Tinker Mtn Drive
Daleville, Va. 24083
[email protected]