Union County Industrial Railroad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article appears to contradict itself. Please see the discussion on the talk page.

Union County Industrial Railroad

Reporting marks	UCIR
Locale	Pennsylvania
Dates of operation	1994 – present
Track gauge	4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge)
Headquarters	Northumberland, PA

Note: The UCIR has taken over the operations of the short line West Shore Railroad. See West Shore Railroad for the New York Central line along the Hudson River.

The Union County Industrial Railroad (AAR reporting mark UCIR) is a short line that operates approximately 23 miles of track in Union County in the U.S. State of Pennsylvania. The main line is about 14 miles long and runs between the unincorporated village of Winfield in southern Union County and the village of Allenwood in Gregg Township in northern Union County.

Other communities served include Lewisburg, Mifflinburg (on a spur west from Lewisburg about 9 miles long), the village of West Milton (in Kelly Township), Milton (east across the West Branch Susquehanna River in Northumberland County), and the village of New Columbia (in White Deer Township).

The main rail line runs north along the right bank of the West Branch Susquehanna River, roughly following U.S. Route 15.

The corporate offices are located in Northumberland, Pennsylvania. There is a connection to the Norfolk Southern Railway line at Milton (as well as an indirect connection to Canadian Pacific Railway service).

1 North Shore Railroad System
2 History
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] North Shore Railroad System

The Union County Industrial Railroad is part of the North Shore Railroad System, which includes the following short lines:

Juniata Valley Railroad (JVRR)*
Lycoming Valley Railroad (LVRR)*
Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad (NBER)*
North Shore Railroad (NSHR)*
Shamokin Valley Railroad (SVRR)*
Union County Industrial Railroad (UCIR)
Wellsboro and Corning Railroad (WCOR)

Robey Railroads, a private company, operates the Union County Industrial Railroad. The Union County Industrial Railroad has no employees, instead they are provided by the North Shore Railroad. This lead the Railroad Retirement Board to find that "the Union County Industrial Railroad is not an employer subject to the Railroad Retirement and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Acts."

The first five railroads (those marked with an asterisk, *) are owned by SEDA-COG JRA (Susquehanna Economic Development Association - Council of Governments Joint Rail Authority) and are also operated under contract by Robey Railroads (which also operates the WCOR). As of 2006, there are plans by Robey to consolidate these seven lines as the Susquehanna Railroad Corporation, a non-operating holding company.

As of 2004, the track used by the Union County Industrial Railroad is owned by five different entities. From Mifflinburg east to Lewisburg the track is owned by the West Shore Railroad Corporation, also owned by Robey Railroads.

On the main north-south line, the "Lewisburg and Buffalo Creek Railroad" (LBCX) owns the track from Winfield to a few miles north of Lewisburg (the "Lewisburg and Buffalo Creek Railroad" used to run tourist passenger trains until the mid-1990s and is now non-operational). Moving further north, the Union County Industrial Development Corporation owns two sections of track: from the point north of Lewisburg north to a point across the river from New Columbia, and from a point across the river from Watsontown north to Allenwood. The "White Deer and Reading Railroad" Company (WDRR) owns the section of track between the points opposite New Columbia and Watsontown (the SEDA-COG JRA also owns the "White Deer and Reading Railroad"). Finally, the spur across the West Branch Susquehanna River to Milton is owned by the Westmoreland Industrial Development Corporation.

The system has trackage rights via the Norfolk Southern line. These allow the Union County Industrial Railroad to connect to the north and west with the Lycoming Valley Railroad (at Muncy and Linden), the Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad (at Lock Haven) and, to the south, with the North Shore Railroad (at Northumberland) and the Shamokin Valley Railroad (at Sunbury).

[edit] History

The line operated by the Union County Industrial Railroad was formerly part of the Reading Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad and was absorbed into Conrail. When Conrail abandoned it, some of it became the (much shorter) UCIR and other parts became the West Shore Railroad (another Robey Railraods operation). However, West Shore Railway Services, Inc. was merged with the Union County Industrial Railroad Company in 1997. The West Shore Railroad used to operate tourist excursions from Lewisburg as well as freight, but these excursions have ceased and the West Shore Railroad appears to have also ceased operation as a railroad (although it still does own the UCIR track). CORRECTION: The UCIR is a corporation for the operations of some of the railroad property in Union County. In fact, there are four separate physical railroads in Union County as of 2006. These railroads include the West Shore Railroad Corporation, the White Deer NRHS Chapter, the Joint Rail Authority, and the Lewisburg & Buffalo Creek Railroad. Of the physical rail in Union County, UCIR only has contracts to operate the north/south line, which is the old Reading. The line from Lewisburg to Mifflinburg, is not in operation. Also note that West Shore Railroad never operated its own excursions. Excursions were actually operated by a third party who rented the line from Lewisburg to Mifflinburg from the West Shore. Finally, West Shore Railroad has never been part of "Robey Railroads", nor does "Robey Railroads" currently own any physical rail in Union County.