Chambersburg, Greencastle and Waynesboro Street Railway

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Chambersburg, Greencastle & Waynesboro Street Railway
Locale Chambersburg, Pennsylvania and Waynesboro, Pennsylvania
Dates of operation 1903–1932
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The Chambersburg, Greencastle & Waynesboro Street Railway, now defunct, was an American railroad of south central Pennsylvania built in the 19th and 20th centuries.

[edit] Origins

Tracks were first laid in Greencastle in 1903, with operations beginning in December along Baltimore Street and Carlisle Street. The line was extended to Shady Grove by 1906 and Chambersburg in 1908. A line from Waynesboro met the Greencastle line at Shady Grove. The Waynesboro line was extended to Pen Mar and Blue Ridge Summit.

The CG&W met the Hagerstown Railway, later the Hagerstown & Frederick Railway at Shady Grove next to the current post office. Since the H&F was standard-gauge (4'-8-1/2"), there could be no exchange of equipment.

“Union Station” was the junction of the Greencastle and Waynesboro trolley lines and the Hagerstown line in Shady Grove. The Hagerstown line approached Shady Grove from the south and ended along the east side of the building which is now the Shady Grove post office where it met the Greencastle and Waynesboro lines. The “Union Station” ticket office and building was a small white building right beside and on the east side of the Hagerstown tracks.

Service ended in 1932, a victim of the Depression and the automobile.

[edit] Gauge

The CG&W used a 5-2-1/2" broad gauge, similar to other Pennsylvania interurban lines.

[edit] References

  • Harwood, Herbert H., Jr. (1970). Blue Ridge Trolley. Golden West Books. ISBN 0-87095-034-7.