Historical Information :

[Schuylkill Valley]

Heres a real neat thing we all can post too . Lets talk about the historical information behind the PRR . how it became and why it went out of service so soon.

Len.

[LCJ]

Heres a real neat thing we all can post too . Lets talk about the historical information behind the PRR . how it became and why it went out of service so soon.

Len.

Len -- I'm not sure what you mean by it's having gone out of service so soon. The company was originally organized in 1847, and went out of existance (in name only) when they merged with New York Central in 1968 to become Penn Central.

There are many excellent books out there that cover the history of this company in great depth.

[Schuylkill Valley]

What I ment , how come the US Gov. pushed them out of bissness to forum Conrail ? Couldn`t the company continue on its own ?

and also I thought the PRR was charted in around the 1830`s ?

Len.

[walt]

Conrail was a reaction to, among other factors, the bankruptcy of the PRR successor Penn Central. PRR went out of business, AS the PRR with its merger with the NYC and NH-- a marriage which only lasted 18 months. Conrail was the freight counterpart to Amtrak, though only in the Northeast.

At least one of the PRR predecessor roads WAS chartered, circa, 1830, however PRR itself dates from the later date mentioned above.

[Schuylkill Valley]

Cool Information . Thanks .

Len.

[Schuylkill Valley]

Dose anyone out here have any family members to work for the PRR ?
Thats all part of the history .

Len.

[Schuylkill Valley]

Getting back to history of the PRR, dose any one in here live near a branch ? and would like to share about the history of it ?

if you have pics feel free in sharing them.

my self I live near the Schuylkill Divion . that ran along the Schuylkill River valley ,Pa. from 52nd street Philda. on the main line to Pottsville ,Pa.

Len.

[rdganthracite]

When I was very young we lived very close to 30th Street Station in Philly. We used to go and watch the activity in the yards and high line. Later we lived near the "Port Road" and that is where I got to know the P5s and the "Screamers" E2Bs. Then we moved back to the Philly area but on the Reading's Bethlehem branch.

Now I work in WV but live in Ohio. I am near the Marietta Ohio line of the Pennsy. It terminated at Marietta with a seldom used interchange with the B&O and wound its way up into northern Ohio. The line was declined by Conrail and no short line was formed to run it. A number of businesses folded as a result of the lack of service. In its glory days it had numerous coal mines, brick yards, furniture factories, a few chemical plants, and a thriving vegetable shipment business.

My house is within a half mile an "Almost" branch of the Pennsy. There was plans, active as late at the middle 1960s, to build from Marietta Ohio north along the Ohio River and join with the existing line at Hannibal Ohio. There is a nice stone culvert along Ohio Rt. 7, quite a bit of grading at various places, piers and footings for the bridge across the Little Muskingum River, and a tunnel under Interstate 77. All of it never used.

[Schuylkill Valley]

Thanks RDG for that interesting piece . Any one eles?

Len.

[walt]

If you count the NEC, I live about ten miles away. I grew up within one mile of the suburban Media- West Chester Line's Lansdowne Station ( now SEPTA's R-3-- at least as far as Elwyn). The MP-54 MU cars used in suburban service were the first trains I ever saw and the trains which I rode most often. I also didn't live that far from what is now the NEC section between Phila and Chester ( the Darby suburban service station was closest).

[Schuylkill Valley]

Yes Walt all branches of the former PRR are welcome .

Thats what made the history of the PRR.
The small railroads that the PRR took over , like the Phoenixville & West Chester railroad of 1882 .

Len.

[1st Barnegat]

This PRR branch line ran northeast from Camden, NJ to Seaside, north to Bayhead Jct. and from there north to Long Branch, NJ on the New York and Long Branch Railroad. It was built east from Camden and reached Bay Head Jct. by 1882 or so. Towns traversed included Mount Holly, Pemberton (connection with a PRR branch to Hightstown, later sold and operated as the Union Transportation Co.), Whitings (connection with the Central Railroad of NJ and the Tuckerton RR), Toms River (actually Beachwood, and intersection with CNJ's Barnegat Branch), a PRR spur across the Toms River to Island Heights, across Barnegat Bay to Seaside, north to Bay Head Jct. (connection with NY&LB), and Sea Girt (connection with the PRR Monmouth Jct. to Sea Girt Branch).

Motive power in the 1930’s included high-stepping PRR E6s (4-4-2s) and sometimes PRR 4-4-0s. Passenger cars were typically P70’s. References state there were some four passenger trains each way then.

There are pictures of PRR 1223 (a 4-4-0) in Toms River with a train of P70 coaches. Today, of course, PRR 1223 is in the Railroad Museum of Pensylvania. So are some P70 coaches, and here is the web site: http://www.rrmuseumpa.org/ That same engine pulled tourist trains on the Strasburg RR in the 1980’s. http://www.strasburgrailroad.com/

Service was cut back to Camden – Toms River by 1946, with the burning of its wooden trestle over Barnegat Bay. Passenger service in the 1952 schedule was one doodlebug each way a day. You can find a doodlebug today in the Black River and Western RR in Flemington. http://www.brwrr.com/ Here’s a map of the Philadelphia and Long Branch circa 1969: http://broadway.pennsyrr.com/Rail/Prr/M ... ingham.gif

The line east of Pemberton was gone by 1967, and rails were removed east of Mount Holly in 1984. Freight is still drilled on the line from Camden to Mount Holly. Marne Ave. makes a good place to railfan.

I once saw a picture of a doodlebug near Toms River on this line with a US Navy Blimp overhead, from the nearby Lakehurst Naval Air Station. Does anyone know where that picture can be found?

[Lehigh Valley Railroad]

I live about 5 miles from the North East Corridor. Metuchen NJ.

Never seen any PRR on there, wish I had.

[Ken W2KB]

I attended High School 1962-66 at Marist in Bayonne, NJ. Immediately to the north of the school property was/is the PRR/LV lines coming off the upper Newark Bay draw. I recall seeing both railroad's diesel power and the PRR electrics. A mile or so to the east was the end of the electric at the throat of Greenville (jersey City) Yard which had an operating hump and the carfloat operation. There were a couple of steam wrecker cranes there and once or twice I saw them moving along the track chuffing a bit like a steam locomotive.

[Schuylkill Valley]

Cool Stuff guys, and W2kb cool website .

Len.