New Challenges for the Stewartstown Railroad

There is no freight service in New Freedom currently.

The Ma&Pa connects with this route south of York.

A toursit operator plans to operate a steam train out of New Freedom starting in 2013.

Here's the Acme Mapper with the topo maps of the Stewartstown:

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=39.74443,-76 ... 5C%2C%20pa

Shippers on the STRT around 2000? None.

Shippers on the STRT in 1990? Perhaps Mann & Parker lumber.. They had service in the 80's. That's all I've heard reference to.

-Micah

I see the confusion now.
"thebigham"'s Bing Link from yesterday is wonky - it is of Hagerstown, Maryland, major interchange point for NS/CSX etc - hence the yard full of active rail cars, the 3 large freight customers nearby and so on. Apparently nothing to do with Stewartstown RR.
Yesterday evening I searched for New Freedom Maryland directly, and that yeiided the results that I saw on the Motorcar video, now it makes sense (I guess I just sort of mentally stitched the two maps together).
In New Freedom, seems like only 2-3 potential clients, the one that had the 2 old hopper cars on it siding that they moved in a different video, another 1 or 2 east of that (including the one the track bisects), and one former customer to the West, on high street.
not much, I agree.

^Sorry about the Hagerstown link!!

Well, I was going to edit my post to add the Bing View of Stewartstown RR New Freedom yard, but apparently there's an editing time limit? (Or if someone posts after your post?) Dunno, but anyway

New Freedom Yard, MD

I just did this:

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qmqbbc ... om%2C%20PA

Here's the latest from the STB on the STR:

http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/ ... 232913.PDF

Hi all,
Have you checked out this facebook page? http://www.facebook.com/friendsoftheste ... wnrailroad

Len.

I see, from an ad in Railswap, that Stewartstown is now offering car and locomotive storage. How can that be? Aren't they isolated, due to a bridge or track problem?

Aren't there some coaches and locomotives landlocked there?

^Nothing is "landlocked."

Crews regularly travel up and down the line on motor cars.

I'm sure the storage they are offering is on their tracks closer to New Freedom. Probably a few industry sidings...

Check out my map links above.

George Hart ran the company into the ground, as he did the operation in Jim Thorpe. He still ran things like it was 1950. They refused to use computers, the internet, or anything modern in their operation. Customers service simply did not exist. I was in Stewartstown frequently and couldn't believe what I saw. I was like "this his how you operate a business"??? It was basically train watchers and railfans pretending they were fortune 500 CEOs but with NO CLUE as to what they were doing. They just wanted to play with their trains.

Why would he request that his estate be paid $350,000? He has no children or heirs and he's dead for god sake. Does he think he can take the money with him? And why the heck would the company borrow such a huge sum knowing they could never pay it back. Idiots.

thebigham wrote:^Nothing is "landlocked."
Crews regularly travel up and down the line on motor cars..

Do you mean up and down the Stewartsville RR, or from York to New Freedom? Who actually owns, maintains(?) and operates(?) York to New Freedom stretch(the old Northern Central/PRR)? Couldn't find anything at all on the web about its current status (except that it doesn't seem to be the G&W subsidiary York Rail. ) Looking quickly at arial photos, I didn't see anything that looked like a customer south of the southern edge of York. JS

^Stewartstown RR.

York to New Freedom does not have an operator right now.

If they need to move cars for storage... Maybe YR would do it or Stewartstown would rent an engine? I don't know..

Thanks, So I'll guess the county owns New Freedom to York, and contracts for maintenance, brush cutting, ... JS

RailVet wrote:Here's the latest from the STB on the STR:

http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/ ... 232913.PDF

Does anyone know how the connection to the law firm in Clarks Summit, PA came about?