User:Risk Engineer/Frederick and Northern Railroad Company

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Frederick & Northern Railroad
Overview
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The Frederick and Northern Railroad was a

Railroad connecting with the Hanover and York Railroad Company at the Pennsylvania-Maryland State line near Kingsdale,PA
commenced revenue service on October 8, 1872 and was merged into the PRR leased Hanover and York Railroad Company in to become the chartered by the Hanover and York Railroad, from Hanover to York, chartered March, 1874, and opened for business June, 1876; The Littlestown Railroad, from Hanover, Pa., to Kingsdale, Md., chartered February 17, 1854, opened to Littlestown in 1859, and to the Maryland line in 1871 ; and the Frederick and Pennsylvania Line Railroad, from Kingsdale to Frederick, Md., opened October 8, 1872.

  • York and Cumberland Railroad Company (1848-1854)
  • York and Maryland Line Rail Road Company (1835-1854)
  • York, Hanover and Frederick Railroad Company (1897-1914)
  • York, Hanover and Frederick Railway Company (1914-1953)

All accessed from ... [1]

  • Dec. 31, 1953 Penndel Company absorbs Delaware River Railroad & Bridge Company; Englewood Connecting Railway; Grand Rapids & Indiana Railway; Indianapolis & Frankfort Railroad; Ohio Connecting Railway; Pittsburgh, Ohio Valley & Cincinnati Railroad; South Chicago & Southern Railroad; Southern Pennsylvania Railway & Mining Company, Wheeling Terminal Railway, York, Hanover & Frederick Railway, and Youngstown & Ravenna Railway under agreement of Dec. 1; ICC rejects application to also merge New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk Railroad and Cumberland Valley & Martinsburg. (MB)PRR CHRONOLOGY 1953/December 2004 Edition.

Completed in 1858, the line came under the control of the

trackage was washed out by Hurricane Agnes
in 1972.

Early history

The Frederick and Northern Railroad was chartered by an act of the legislature of Maryland on ...., with authority to construct a railroad from Frederick Maryland to the Maryland State Line. Report On the Surveys of the Proposed Frederick and Pennsylvania Line Rail Road. Baltimore:: W.K. Boyle, 1867. [3]

[content_types_facet[]=Surveys&f[geographic_subjects_facet][]=Maryland&f[schools_facet][]=UW+Madison&f[subjects_facet][]=Railroads&f[subjects_facet][]=Frederick+and+Pennsylvania+Line+Railroad&per_page=10&sort=score+desc%2C+year_sort+desc%2C+title_sort+asc&uwsystem=off&view=list]


To reach the Susquehanna at any commercially useful point, the new line would have to cross the state line into

Green Spring Valley. The line reached the Reistertown Road at Owings Mills on June 13, 1832. However, despite fierce opposition from Philadelphia interests, the Pennsylvania legislature finally chartered the York and Maryland Line Rail Road on March 14, 1832, authorizing it to connect the Baltimore & Susquehanna, at the state line, with York, Pennsylvania, a commercial center on Codorus Creek
.

The directors of the Baltimore & Susquehanna did not immediately give up their planned route via Westminster, the terms of the new charter being somewhat onerous. The Adams County Railroad was chartered on April 6, 1832, in Pennsylvania, to run from Gettysburg to the Maryland state line, but was never constructed, nor was the line to Westminster (later the Green Spring Branch) extended. A further amendment to the York & Maryland Line's charter in 1837 allowed it the unlimited use of the Wrightsville, York and Gettysburg Railroad, which it had aided financially. The Baltimore & Susquehanna, and York & Maryland Line had completed the line from Baltimore to York by 1838. This line included the Howard Tunnel, the earliest railroad tunnel in the U.S. still in use today.

Northern Central Railway train at Lutherville, Maryland, during World War I (1917–1918)

In 1832 the railroad purchased its first

Confederate Army effort during the American Civil War
.

Also in 1832, the railroad built Bolton Station, with an adjacent roundhouse and shops, at Bolton and Howard Streets in Baltimore.[5]: 88 

In April 1840, the Wrightsville, York & Gettysburg had been completed between York and

Tide Water and Susquehanna Canal. However, the cost of expansion and inconsistent tariff
policies plagued the Baltimore & Susquehanna and limited further growth.

The York and Cumberland Railroad Company was chartered on April 21, 1846 to connect the York & Maryland Line with the Cumberland Valley Railroad somewhere north of Mechanicsburg. It was opened on February 10, 1851, running north from York to the Susquehanna and then following the river to Lemoyne, across the river from Harrisburg. It was briefly operated by the Cumberland Valley, but the Baltimore & Susquehanna took over operations on June 7. Work also began on the Hanover Branch Railroad, a line connecting Hanover with the York & Maryland Line at Hanover Junction.

The Baltimore & Susquehanna opened Calvert Station in Baltimore in 1850.[6]: 279 

On April 14, 1851, the Susquehanna Railroad was chartered to build north from the York & Cumberland or the

Sunbury and Erie Railroad
over right-of-way.

Meanwhile, on May 27, the

Western Maryland Railroad in 1853) was incorporated to build from the end of the line at Owings Mills towards Hagerstown. On July 4, a serious accident occurred on the Baltimore & Susquehanna when a special picnic excursion collided with a York local, killing thirty-one persons. The Hanover Branch Railroad was opened to Hanover on October 22 and operated by the Baltimore & Susquehanna. On May 10, 1853, the Baltimore & Susquehanna's charter was amended to permit it to build two branches to the Patapsco River
(the Canton Extension), but this was stymied by legal problems and difficulties in tunneling.

On the northward extension, the Susquehanna RR let contracts for the line from Lemoyne to Sunbury in November 1852, and construction began on February 22, 1853. A financial crisis beginning in the fall of 1853 proved a severe embarrassment to the Baltimore & Susquehanna and associated railroads, and on March 10, 1854, the Maryland legislature authorized the Baltimore & Susquehanna, York & Maryland Line, York & Cumberland, and Susquehanna Railroads to merge, writing off its investment in the lines in exchange for a

mortgage on the new railroad. Construction halted on the Susquehanna RR. The Pennsylvania legislature authorized the merger on May 3, and articles of consolidation were signed on December 4 (filed December 16, 1854), forming the Northern Central Railway Company.[7]

On April 1, 1855, the Northern Central stopped operating the Hanover Branch RR, which began independent operation. On December 20, 1855, construction resumed on the northward extension, and by December 28, 1856, the line had bridged the Susquehanna at

Sunbury and Erie Railroad
, to Williamsport.

In 1861, the PRR acquired a controlling interest in the Northern Central's stock to compete with the rival B&O. Thereafter, the Northern Central operated as a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad until the latter's demise in the late 20th century.[5]: 22 

Consolidation and Civil War

Lincoln's funeral train carried his remains, as well as 300 mourners and the casket of his son William, on the Northern Central Railway in April, 1865

During the Civil War, the Pennsylvania Railroad-controlled Northern Central served as a major transportation route for supplies, food, clothing, and

Union Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles
, were evacuated via the Northern Central to hospitals in Harrisburg, Baltimore, York, and elsewhere.

The Northern Central was attacked again on July 10, 1864, when a 130-man Confederate cavalry detachment attacked the line near Cockeysville, under orders from

telegraph wires along Harford Road, they encamped at Towson overnight. The next day, the Confederate cavalry skirmished with a smaller force of Union cavalry along York Road as far south as Govens, before heading west to rejoin Gen. Johnson's main force.[8]
: 127–129 

Lincoln's assassination, his body was transported via the same rails on the funeral train's journey from Washington, D.C., to Springfield, Illinois. The nine-car train departed Washington on April 21, 1865, arriving at Baltimore's Camden Station at 10 a.m. on the B&O Railroad.[8]: 152  After public viewing of the President's remains, the train departed Baltimore on the Northern Central at 3 p.m. and arrived at Harrisburg at 8:20 p.m., with a brief stop at York.[9][10]

In 1873 the NCRY opened its Charles Street Station, and the

Union Railroad of Baltimore opened a new line connecting to the station. This 9.62 mile (15.48 km) railroad gave the NCRY access to the Canton area, where it established a shipping terminal on the Inner Harbor. The line also completed a crucial link in central Baltimore between the NCRY, the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad and the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad. In February 1882 the Northern Central acquired the Union Railroad.[11] The Union Railroad link enabled the PRR to operate through trains between Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and the route generated serious competition for the B&O. Today this PRR system is part of the Northeast Corridor
.

In 1898, the NCRY built the

Millersburg Passenger Rail Station.[12]

Twentieth century

Cockeysville freight station, built 1892

The Pennsylvania Railroad's Northern Central line was

Port Road Branch along the Susquehanna River to Enola Yard
in Harrisburg, however, instead of the Northern Central line.

With the decline in rail passenger and freight service in the 1950s, accelerated by completion of the Baltimore-Harrisburg Expressway (

I-83
), the "Parkton locals" were dropped in 1959 and the line was reduced from double-track to single-track. Some long-distance trains, such as the General to Chicago and the Buffalo Day Express, continued to operate until the late 1960s. In 1972, when Hurricane Agnes caused bridge damage and washouts along the line, it ceased operations completely. One of the oldest rail lines in the country, it had run for a total of 134 years.

Penn Central and aftermath

In 1968 the PRR merged with the

Penn Central
(PC).

After sustaining damage along the main line due to Hurricane Agnes, the PC petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission to abandon the railroad south of York. The section of the line between York and New Freedom was acquired by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in June 1973.[13]

A series of events including inflation, poor management, abnormally harsh weather conditions and the withdrawal of a government-guaranteed 200-million-dollar operating loan forced the Penn Central to file for bankruptcy protection in 1970.[14]: 233–234  PRR operated under court supervision until 1976, when its lines were tranferred to a new government corporation, Conrail.[15]: 4–5  (See Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act.)

The

Baltimore Light Rail
system.

In York County, the

New Freedom Railroad Station are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[17]

Pennsylvania Railroad schedule on the Northern Central line, 1955

The NCRY operated as a dinner train in the mid 1990s to the early 2000s. Starting June 1, 2013, the NCRY will resume operations between New Freedom and Hanover Junction, operating a Kloke locomotive works replica of a Civil War-era 4-4-0 American type steam locomotive.

See also

  • List of defunct Maryland railroads
  • List of defunct Pennsylvania railroads

References

  1. ^ a b c "Corporate Genealogy York, Hanover & Frederick". Organizational data has been developed the 1918 Interstate Commerce Commission Valuation Reports. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  2. ^ "Littlestown Railroad July 1st 1858". Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  3. ^ Report On the Surveys of the Proposed Frederick and Pennsylvania Line Rail Road. Baltimore:: W.K. Boyle, 1867.
  4. ISBN 978-0-486-23818-0
    .
  5. ^
    ISBN 0-89778-155-4
    .
  6. ^ Wilson, William Bender (1895). History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company with Plan of Organization, Portraits of Officials and Biographical Sketches. Vol. 1. Philadelphia: Henry T. Coates & Company. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Poors vol 33 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^
    ISBN 0-9612670-0-3
    .
  9. ISBN 0-253-32599-4
    .
  10. ISSN 0041-0934
    .
  11. ^ Hall, Clayton (1912). Baltimore: Its History and Its People. Vol. 1. Lewis Historical Pub. Co. pp. 487–8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |middle= ignored (help)
  12. ^ "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Note: This includes Elizabeth Roman (July 2001). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Millersburg Passenger Rail Station" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-11-12.
  13. ^ Northern Central Railcar Association, New Freedom, PA. "Northern Central History" Accessed 2012-05-26.
  14. ISBN 978-0-226-77658-3
    .
  15. ^ United States Railway Association (USRA), Washington, DC. "The Conveyance Process: A Supplement to the Final Report of the United States Railway Association." December 1986.
  16. ^ "Blazing a Trail". Chesapeake Life Magazine. Alter Communications. 2002-07. Retrieved 2008-01-27. Passenger service along the NCR had been curtailed in 1959, but freight service continued until 1972, when Hurricane Agnes swept through the area, destroying much of the track, as well as bridges and culverts. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  • Gunnarsson, Robert L. (1991). The Story of the Northern Central Railway. Sykesville, MD: Greenberg Publishing Co.
    ISBN 978-0-89778-157-2
    .

External links


Category:Defunct Maryland railroads Category:Defunct Pennsylvania railroads Category:Defunct New York (state) railroads Category:Predecessors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Category:Pennsylvania in the American Civil War Category:History of Maryland Category:History of Pennsylvania Category:Former Class I railroads in the United States Category:Railway companies established in 1854 Category:Railway companies disestablished in 1976

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