User:Risk Engineer/York, Hanover and Frederick Railway
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standard gauge | |
Length | 380 miles (610 km) (including leased lines)[1] |
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The York, Hanover and Frederick Railway was a
Early history
The Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad Company was
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.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Train_in_Lutherville_MD.jpg/220px-Train_in_Lutherville_MD.jpg)
In 1832 the railroad purchased its first
Also in 1832, the railroad built Bolton Station, with an adjacent roundhouse and shops, at Bolton and Howard Streets in Baltimore.[3]: 88
In April 1840, the Wrightsville, York & Gettysburg had been completed between York and
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.[4]: 279
On April 14, 1851, the Susquehanna Railroad was chartered to build north from the York & Cumberland or the
Meanwhile, on May 27, the
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
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
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.[3]: 22
Consolidation and Civil War
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/LincolnTrain.jpeg/250px-LincolnTrain.jpeg)
During the Civil War, the Pennsylvania Railroad-controlled Northern Central served as a major transportation route for supplies, food, clothing, and
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
In 1873 the NCRY opened its Charles Street Station, and the
In 1898, the NCRY built the
Twentieth century
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/NCRY_Cockeysville_FrtSta_2010a.jpg/220px-NCRY_Cockeysville_FrtSta_2010a.jpg)
The Pennsylvania Railroad's Northern Central line was
With the decline in rail passenger and freight service in the 1950s, accelerated by completion of the Baltimore-Harrisburg Expressway (
Penn Central and aftermath
In 1968 the PRR merged with the
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.[10]
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.[11]: 233–234 PRR operated under court supervision until 1976, when its lines were tranferred to a new government corporation, Conrail.[12]: 4–5 (See Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act.)
The
In York County, the
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/PRR_1955_schedule.jpg/600px-PRR_1955_schedule.jpg)
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
- ^ a b Henry Varnum Poor (1900). Poor's Manual of the Railroads of the United States. Vol. 33. New York: H.V. & H.W. Poor. p. 703.
- ISBN 978-0-486-23818-0.
- ^ ISBN 0-89778-155-4.
- ^ 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.
- ^ ISBN 0-9612670-0-3.
- ISBN 0-253-32599-4.
- ISSN 0041-0934.
- ^ Hall, Clayton (1912). Baltimore: Its History and Its People. Vol. 1. Lewis Historical Pub. Co. pp. 487–8.
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ignored (help) - ^ "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.
- ^ Northern Central Railcar Association, New Freedom, PA. "Northern Central History" Accessed 2012-05-26.
- ISBN 978-0-226-77658-3.
- ^ United States Railway Association (USRA), Washington, DC. "The Conveyance Process: A Supplement to the Final Report of the United States Railway Association." December 1986.
- ^ "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.
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(help) - ^ "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
- NCRY Annual reports, 1865-1866 (11th-12th), 1869-1910 (15th-56th)
- PRR Corporate History
- PRR Chronology, Chris Baer
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
Category:Transportation in York County, Pennsylvania