Overgrown tracks between Ashland and Mahanoy City

A couple of weeks ago I drove between Ashland and Mahanoy City, and I noticed a rail line that looked like it was abandoned-in-place. The (new-looking) crossbucks were still intact and the grade crossings themselves seemed fully usable. But on the tracks themselves, the overgrowth was so thick and tall that it appeared you would need a controlled brushfire to bring the rails back into service.

Anyone know if this line is, in fact, abandoned? Or is it just "mothballed", waiting for a mine to reopen or something. I heard something about a railroad that was recently restored between Schuylkill County and Sunbury; is this it?

It could be the R&N line from Delano Jct. to Skytop (a KOZ on I81). That should be reopening sometime soon. Also, the RDG and LV paralleled each other out there, and not too much was pulled, just left to sit.

The only line from Schuylkill County to Sunbury I believe is the R&N line to NORA (past Locust Summit). There were a few culm trains run from Tamaqua to some power plant over the (Lycoming Valley, North Shore, it's one of that family) a year or two ago. The tracks were never pulled, just no traffic ran that way.

Mike