State College (Pleasant Gap) Abandoned Rails

In Pleasant Gap, rails separate a pizza shop's property from that of its neighbor's. The tracks cannot have been used for a long time, as there are some relatively large trees growing between them. I used Terraserver to see if I could make out a ROW. The satellite imagery is from 1994 and appears to show the ROW that included the tracks I saw. The tracks would have crossed College Ave./26.

I have included a copy of the Terraserver image below. What is the history of this spur/line? It must have come off of what is now the Nittany and Bald Eagle's connection to the quarries east of State College. Terraserver loses the ROW at what may be a quarry, or a strip mining pit, or some other body of water (I did not explore it the other night, as my stop in State College was short).

Thanks folks.

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Adam:

That is the Ex-Whiterock quarry branch which served a Glenn O. Hawbaker quarry. I am not sure when it was last in use, but I think it was the late 1970's or early 1980's.

In typical fashion, the taxpayers are paying for a completely new spur to be built and connect to the same quarry, but it is taking a new route in from the North, and a tunnel was placed under State Route 26 north of the village of Pleasant Gap. My understanding is that Hawbaker did indeed have the right ot refurbish the tracks you saw and resume service, but the NIMBYism would have been fierce, and there is a fair argument that the new arrangement under PA Route 26 is safer than the old alignment which ran through neighborhoods and had grade crossing galore.

Hawbaker owns a switcher and currently has it stationed at the Graymont facility, which is where the current tracks end just north of Pleasant Gap. They truck stone from the White Rock quarry to the Graymont quarry to be loaded into open hoppers.

BWP

bwparker1 wrote:it is taking a new route in from the North, and a tunnel was placed under State Route 26 north of the village of Pleasant Gap

BWP -- many thanks. The knowledge of the folks on these boards never ceases to amaze me.

With respect to the tunnel, is that the overpass that was constructed out near the Agway building and (I think it's called Sunset something or other) restaurant? I don't get back to the area much anymore, but I do recall the detour on 26 and the new bridge.

Yes, that is the overpass. No track has been laid yet, and unless you park in the Penneco parking lot to have a look, it is almost impossible to see the progress as they have built a pretty large berm up on the quarry side itself.

BWP