Bedford Branch

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The Bedford Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.

The line ran from the Morrisons Cove Branch at Brookes Mills south via Bedford to the Maryland state line. The PRR had trackage rights south to Cumberland over the Western Maryland Railway's State Line Branch.[1] Only the line from Brookes Mills south to Sproul is still in use, as a line of the Everett Railroad.

History[edit]

The Bedford and Bridgeport Railroad opened from the state line north via Bedford to Mount Dallas (at the Huntingdon and Broad Top Mountain Railroad and Coal Company) in 1871;[2] the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad built a connecting branch in Maryland.[3] The Dunnings Creek Branch, later part of the main line, opened from Dunnings Creek Junction (near Bedford) north, through Cessna, to ore mines at Holderbaum in 1873.[4] The Pennsylvania Railroad in Maryland was chartered in 1876 to build an independent connection from the state line to Cumberland. The road opened in 1879 and in 1888 was merged into the Georges Creek and Cumberland Railroad[5] and later became part of the Western Maryland Railway.[6]

In 1891, the Bedford and Hollidaysburg Railroad opened an extension from Cessna north to near Imler,[7] and completed the line to Brookes Mills in 1910. This connected it to the rest of the PRR system via the Morrisons Cove Branch; it had formerly only been connected via the Huntingdon and Broad Top Mountain Railroad and Coal Company.[8]

Infrastructure[edit]

Two editions of the Pennsylvania Railroad's CT 1000, Lists of Stations and Sidings and Instructions for Making Reports to the Superintendent Car Service, (1923,[9] 1945[10]) serve as the basic guide for the line.

Brookes Mills, Pa to Dunning's Creek Junction, Pa[edit]

Station CT-1000

Edition

Note Lineside

Facilities

Dist. from

Brookes Mills

5115 Brookes Mills, Pa 1923/1945 Jct. Morison's Cove Branch Telephone Office 0.0
1923 Passing Siding 0.2
BROOK Block-Limit Station[11] 0.0
4070 Brookes Mills, Pa 1923 Station No siding
1923/1945 Passing Siding No carload delivery 0.2
1923 Interchange Siding Siding - No carload delivery 0.4
1945 Standard Oil Co. No. 3 Siding for individual use 1.1
4071 East Freedom, Pa 1945 Station Telephone Office 1.5
1923 E. R. Baldridge & Co. No. 1 Siding for individual use 5.4
4072 Claysburg, Pa 1923/1945 General Refractories Co. No. 6 Siding for individual use
1923/1945 Station Telephone Office

Water tower[12]

6.1
1945 L. H. Diehl Siding for individual use 6.2
1923/1945 Passing Siding No carload delivery 6.3
4074 Sproul, Pa 1923/1945 General Refractories Co. No. 3 ('23), No. 7 ('45) Siding for individual use 7.4
1923 Station Telephone Office 7.6
4075 Queen, Pa Prior to 1923 Passing Siding[12]
1923 Station Telephone Office 9.2
1945 Telephone Office
4076 Summit, Pa 1923 Passing Siding No carload delovery 10.2
4078 Imler, Pa 1923/1945 Passing Siding No carload delivery 13.0
1923 Station Telephone Office 13.3
4080 Osterberg, Pa 1923 Passing Siding No carload delivery 15.6
1923 Station Telephone Office 15.7
1945 Telephone Office
4081 Reynoldsdale, Pa 1923 Passing Siding No carload delivery 18.0
1923 Station Telephone Office 18.1
1945 Telephone Office
4082 Fishertown, Pa 1923/1945 Station Telephone Office 20.3
4084 Cessna, Pa 1923/1945 Passing Siding No carload delivery 22.0
4085 1923 Station Telephone Office 22.6
1945 Telephone Office
1923 Blackburn Milling Co. Siding for individual use
Smith's Crossing, Pa 1923 Station No siding 24.1
Hughes, Pa 1923 Station No siding 25.9
4090 Younts, Pa 1923 Station 27.3
1945
4091 1923 Passing siding No carload delivery 27.5
Chalybeate, Pa 1923 Station No siding 29.9
CREEK Block-Limit Station[11] 30.4
4092 Dunning's Creek Jct 1945 No siding 30.5

Mt. Dallas Branch, Pa[edit]

Station CT-1000

Edition

Note Lineside

Facilities

Distance From

Mt. Dallas

Distance From

Brookes Mills

CREEK Block-Limit Station[11] 7.0 30.4
4092 Dunning's Creek Jct 1923/1945 Jct Mt. Dallas Branch No siding 6.9 30.5
4150 Cliffs, Pa 1923 Station No siding 6.4 31.0
Tate Ganister Rock Co. For individual use 6.2 31.2
4148 Hartley, Pa 1923 Station No siding 4.2 33.2
Passing No carload delivery 4.3 33.1
4147 Lutzville, Pa 1923 Station 3.3 34.1
1945
4146 Ashcom, Pa 1923 J. E. Thropp No. 4 For individual use 1.7 35.7
1945 New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co. No. 2 For individual use
1923 Station
4145 Earlston, Pa 1923 Barclay Gannister Rock Co. For individual use 0.3 37.1
J. E. Thropp No. 1 For individual use/Switch connection with H&BTMRR 0.3
MD Mt. Dallas, Pa 1923/1945 Jct H&BTMRR Telephone Office 37.4
Passing Siding No carload delivery
DALLAS Block-Limit Station[11] 37.4

Dunning's Creek Junction, Pa to Cumberland, Md[edit]

Station CT-1000

Edition

Note Lineside

Facilities

Distance From

Mt. Dallas

Distance From

Brookes Mills

1923 Allen C. Blackburn For individual use 7.3 30.9
4152 Bedford, Pa 1945 Kund Cabinet Co. For individual use
1923/1945 Davidson Bros. For individual use 7.8 31.4
1923 Bedford Electric Light, Heat, & Power Co For individual use
1923/1945 Public Delivery For individual use 7.9 31.5
1923 Blackburn-Russell Co, and Public Delivery For individual use
1923 Public Delivery and H. C. Metzger Supply Co. For individual use
1945 Blackburn-Russell Co. and Freight House For individual use
1945 FORD - Block-Limit Station[11]
1945 W. R. Lysinger and May & Bigley For individual use 8.0 31.6
1923/1945 Station Telephone Office
Water tower[12]
Turntable and Engineshed[12]
1923/1945 Carlton Heckerman For individual use 8.3 31.9
1945 Sinclair Refining Co. No. 5 For individual use
1945 Public delivery For individual use
1923/1945 Supplee-Wills-Jones Co. No. 2 For individual use 8.4 32.0
1945 The Texas Co. For individual use
1945 Petroleum Economy Products Co. For individual use 8.5 32.1
4155 Wolfsburg, Pa 1923 Station Telephone Office 10.8 34.5
1945
4155A Atlantic Refining Co. No. 9 1923/1945 For individual use 11.5 35.2
4156 E. R. Baldridge & Co. No. 2 1923/1945 For individual use 11.7 35.4
4157 Napier, Pa 1923 Station 12.9 36.5
4160 Manns Choice, Pa 1923 Passing Siding No carload delivery 15.6 39.2
1923/1945 Station Telephone Office 15.9 39.5
1923 John M. Egolf & H. F. W. Miller For individual use 16.3 39.9
Elk Tanning Co. No. 10 For individual use
4164 Sulphur Springs 1923 Station 18.1 41.7
4165 Buffalo Mills, Pa 1923/1945 Station Telephone Office 21.1 44.7
Passing Siding No carload delivery 21.3 44.9
4167 Bard, Pa 1923 Station 22.5 46.1
4169 Madley, Pa 1923 Station 24.8 48.4
1945
4169A Leap Ganister Rock Co. 1945 For individual use 25.2 48.8
4170 Fossilville Gravel Pit 1923 For individual use 26.4 50.1
HY Hyndman, Pa 1945 Station Telephone Office 31.0 54.6
1945 Jct. B&O RR 31.2 54.8
1945 Penna. Post & Lumber Co. For individual use 31.2 54.8
STATE Block-Limit Station[11] 37.1 60.7
4182 State Line, Pa Telephone Office 38.4 62.0
1945 Shops Roundhouse https://digital.hagley.org/PRR_ME00596A 38.6 62.3
Turntable
Coaling
Water https://digital.hagley.org/PRR_ME00592A
Yard https://digital.hagley.org/PRR_ME00595A
1945 Passing Siding No carload delivery 38.6 62.3
1945 Jct. Cumberland & Pennsylvania RR 38.7 62.3
CU Cumberland, Md 1945 Jct. Western Maryland Railway 38.4 62.0
1945 Pennsylvania-Maryland State Line No siding 38.6 62.3
1945 City Jct. B&O RR Telephone Office 44.1 67.7
1945 Station Telephone Office 45.0 68.6
1945 Ridgley Yard 46.0 69.6

References[edit]

  1. ^ Pennsylvania Railroad, 1941 Division Accounting Maps Archived 2012-07-24 at archive.today
  2. ^ "PRR Chronology, 1871" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-14. Retrieved 2006-11-30. (72.9 KiB), January 2005 Edition
  3. ^ "PRR Chronology, 1872" (PDF). (86.1 KiB), February 2005 Edition
  4. ^ "PRR Chronology, 1873" (PDF)., February 2005 Edition
  5. ^ Hicks, W. Raymond. "Pennsylvania Railroad in Maryland." The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin 85 (1952): 9-10.
  6. ^ "PRR Chronology, 1876" (PDF). (116 KiB), April 2006 Edition
  7. ^ PRR Corporate History: Pennsylvania Railroad Archived 2007-12-29 at archive.today
  8. ^ "PRR Chronology, 1910" (PDF). (53.7 KiB), March 2005 Edition
  9. ^ Pennsylvania Railroad (1923). Lists of Stations and Sidings and Instructions for Making Reports to the Superintendent Car Service. Philadelphia, Pa: Pennsylvania Railroad.
  10. ^ Pennsylvania Railroad (1945). "C. T. 1000 Lists of Stations and Sidings and Instructions for Making Reports to the Superintendent Car Service" (PDF). www.multimodalways.org/index.html. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Pennsylvania Railroad (1943). Middle Division Time-Table No. 4, 14 November 1943. Pennsylvania Railroad.
  12. ^ a b c d Photographic evidence