Sunbury and Lewistown Railroad

Sunbury and Lewistown Railway

Sunbury Selinsgrove Junction NCRR to Harrisburg Selinsgrove Bridge over Susquehanna River Shamokin Dam US Route 15 Penns Creek   Selinsgrove Middle Creek (Penns Creek)   Pawling Meiser Middle Creek (Penns Creek)   Kreamer Middleburg Paxtonville Beavertown Beaver Springs(Adamsburgh) Raub's Mill McClure ("Stuckton") Wagner Shindle Paintersville Maitland Kishacoquillas Creek   PRR to Williamsport Juniata River   Lewistown Junction

Share of the Sunbury and Lewistown Railway Company, issued 19. October 1896

The Sunbury and Lewistown Railroad was a Class I Railroad connecting Lewistown, Pennsylvania with Sunbury, Pennsylvania.. Completed in 1874, the line was placed under an immediate lease by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), upon its completion. Although retaining its own board of directors and track maintenance, all locomotive traffic was owned by the PRR. For nearly a century, the line operated between Sunbury and Lewistown, serving as a relief line for both the Pennsylvania Main Line and Bald Eagle Valley Railroad through Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The line was noteworthy as a proving ground for new railroad technology in the United States, such as the "X"-shaped railroad crossing signs in 1917 (now nearly ubiquitous in the United States) and Pulse Code Cab Signaling technology in 1925.

It is now a fallen flag railway, the name "Sunbury and Lewistown" having been phased out in 1901 when the line became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Sunbury Division. Traffic peaked on the line between 1900 an 1910, possibly in preparation for a planned (but canceled) PRR yard at Selinsgrove on the Isle of Que. This proposed trunk yard was instead constructed at Northumberland, Pennsylvania in 1912, resulting in a loss of significance to the older route through Snyder County. Declining passenger numbers after the First World War led to a cancellation of all passenger traffic after 1934, followed by a cessation of through traffic and the removal of all tracks between Lewistown and Kreamer, Pennsylvania in 1957. The remaining portion, running south from Sunbury, then across the Susquehanna River to Kreamer via Selinsgrove, was operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad until 1968, then came under the control of Penn Central (merger of the PRR and the New York Central), Conrail, and is operated today under the ownership of the Norfolk Southern Railway. Today, parts of the railroad grade between Kreamer and Shindle are still visible, though sixty years of development in the area have erased some segments.

History

In the mid-1860s, residents of Snyder County wanted to capitalize on the transportation and commerce possibilities of the recently constructed Northern Central Railway, which was located across the Susquehanna River in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. The Northern Central, completed in the 1850s, connected Sunbury to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, York, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland, thus giving Snyder County a better connection to the surrounding region and beyond. To this end, the Middle Creek Railroad was formed in Selinsgrove in 1868, with the intention of planning, grading, and constructing a route. Without any ties to a major railroad, the Middle Creek Railroad only got as far as choosing the route and the completion of some grading before the company ran out of money and folded. The assets of the company were bought up and reorganized as the "Sunbury and Lewistown Railroad" in 1871.

With minimal financial backing (initially) from the Pennsylvania Railroad and Northern Central Railway, construction of the nearly 50-mile line continued at a slow pace for the next three years, with work progressing inward from both the eastern and western termini. The western group covered more territory, as the completion of the line's eastern end was contingent on the construction of the mile-long Selinsgrove Bridge spanning the Susquehanna River. The entire line was completed in late 1874. Almost immediately, it became clear that the demand for such a line was not as high as its proprietors had anticipated, and after less than a year of operation the railroad closed.

The Pennsylvania Railroad stepped in and leased the route, reopening the Sunbury and Lewistown (under the same name) a few weeks later. Thus, "Sunbury and Lewistown" functioned only in name for the most part - the rolling stock and motive power came from the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1901, after just twenty years of operation, the S&L was fully merged into the PRR as the "Sunbury Division."

Route

Leaving south from the station at Sunbury, S&L traffic shared track with the Northern Central, which had been constructed a decade earlier. At Selinsgrove Junction station, on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, the line split, with the NCRR continuing south towards Harrisburg and the S&L crossing the River on the Selinsgrove Bridge. The original bridge over the river was wooden, but has been replaced several times since the opening of the line. The oldest segments of the current bridge date from 1888.

The line enters the borough of Selinsgrove on the Isle of Que, then crosses Penn's Creek on a smaller bridge into Selinsgrove proper, where the station still stands today, although it has not seen passenger traffic since the 1930s. Passing through what was once the industrial center of Selinsgrove, the line turns south, skirting around the edge of the campus Susquehanna University, where it turns west. West of Selinsgrove, several stations once existed that were closed in the late 1800s as they were not used enough to be financially viable. Winding its way through the Middle Creek (Penns Creek) valley, the route passed through the towns of Kreamer, Middleburg, Pennsylvania, Beaver Springs, Pennsylvania, Beaver Town, and McClure, before arcing to the southwest to follow Jacks Creek into Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. In Mifflin County, the railroad passed through Shindle and Maitland before entering Lewistown from the east. The S&L track was laid directly onto Chestnut Street, connecting with the Pennsylvania Railroad for the final leg to Lewistown. One average the route took a little over an hour to complete, but a special train run shortly after the line's opening in 1874 made it from Sunbury to Lewistown in under forty five minutes.