Main Line (Pennsylvania Railroad)

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the suburban area west of Philadelphia, see Philadelphia Main Line. For other meanings, see Main Line (disambiguation).
Crossing of the Alleghany, Pennsylvania Railroad, 1853 print

The Main Line of the

rail line in Pennsylvania connecting Philadelphia with Pittsburgh via Harrisburg. The rail line was split into two rail lines, and now all of its right-of-way is a cross-state corridor, composed of Amtrak's Philadelphia to Harrisburg Main Line (including SEPTA's Paoli/Thorndale Line service) and the Norfolk Southern Railway's Pittsburgh Line
.

Early history

Portal of the abandoned tunnel of the Allegheny Portage Railroad near Johnstown, PA, the first railroad tunnel in the United States

The eastern part of the PRR's main line (east of

West Chester Railroad) in 1832 [2] and from Malvern to Lancaster in 1834.[3] A short piece of the Allegheny Portage Railroad in East Taylor Township and Conemaugh Township, including the Portage Viaduct over the Little Conemaugh River, later became part of the PRR main line; it was opened in 1834.[3]

The Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mountjoy and Lancaster Railroad opened from Harrisburg southeast to Middletown and from Lancaster northwest to Rheems in 1836.[4] The next year, the segment from Middletown to Elizabethtown opened,[5] and the line was completed in 1838 with the opening of the Elizabethtown Tunnel.[6]

Pennsylvania Railroad Company

On the Way to Pittsburgh -- Great Bend on the Alleghenies, 1871
1855 map of the PRR, including the planned Lancaster, Lebanon and Pine Grove Railroad
Panoramic view of Horseshoe Curve on the Pennsylvania Railroad – October 12, 1934

Pennsylvania Railroad Company was chartered by the Pennsylvania legislature on April 13, 1846 to build a private railroad line from

Allegheny Ridge.[10] On the other side of the ridge, the main line opened from Conemaugh (on the Portage Railroad east of Johnstown) west to Lockport on August 25, 1851. On December 10, 1851, sections opened from Lockport west to Beatty (west of Latrobe) and from Pittsburgh east to Brinton, with a temporary stagecoach transfer between them via the Southern Turnpike and a short turnpike branch built to Beatty.[11] Part of that gap was filled on July 15, 1852, from Brinton east to Radebaugh, and on November 29 the full line was completed, forming the first all-rail route between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, though still using seven of the original ten planes of the Allegheny Portage Railroad.[12]

Plane Number 1 of the Portage Railroad was bypassed by the PRR on April 1, 1852.

trackage rights agreement made March 18, 1854, allowed the PRR to use that section for free.[14]

On March 21, 1849, the PRR contracted with Eagle Line, primarily a

trackage rights over the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mountjoy and Lancaster Railroad, opened in 1838, on April 21, providing a route from Harrisburg to the Philadelphia and Columbia at Dillerville, just west of Lancaster. On September 1, the first section of the PRR opened, with all arrangements in place for service from Philadelphia to Lewistown.[9]

In 1853, the PRR surveyed the Lancaster, Lebanon and Pine Grove Railroad from Philadelphia west via

New Portage Railroad, just completed the previous year at a cost of $2.14 million, was abandoned, while short sections became local branches.[16] The canals were abandoned, and short sections were filled and covered by rails.[citation needed] On January 1, 1861, the PRR leased the HPMJ&L, giving it full control of its main line.[17]

In 1904, the New Portage Railroad east of the Gallitzin Tunnels (through the "Muleshoe Curve") was reopened as the New Portage Branch, a freight bypass line.[18] Conrail closed this line in 1981.[19]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ "PA Historical & Museum Commission: Canal Overview". Archived from the original on November 6, 2007. Retrieved August 7, 2007.
  2. KiB
    )    , June 2004 Edition
  3. ^
    KiB
    )    , June 2004 Edition
  4. KiB
    )    , June 2004 Edition
  5. KiB
    )    , June 2004 Edition
  6. KiB
    )    , June 2004 Edition
  7. KiB
    )    , April 2005 Edition
  8. KiB
    )    , April 2005 Edition
  9. ^
    KiB
    )    , April 2005 Edition
  10. KiB
    )    , March 2005 Edition
  11. KiB
    )    , March 2005 Edition
  12. ^
    KiB
    )    , March 2005 Edition
  13. KiB
    )    , March 2005 Edition
  14. KiB
    )    , March 2005 Edition
  15. KiB
    )    , March 2005 Edition
  16. KiB
    )    , March 2005 Edition
  17. KiB
    )    , June 2004 Edition
  18. KiB
    )    , March 2005 Edition
  19. ISBN 0-934118-23-X
    .

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Main_Line_(Pennsylvania_Railroad)&oldid=1186424624"