This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines.(April 2022) |
Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad | |
---|---|
Overview | |
Locale | Adams & Cumberland Pennsylvania |
History | |
Commenced | 1882 |
Completed | 1884 |
Technical | |
Line length | 21.5 mi (34.6 km) [1] |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
External images | |
---|---|
1886 relief map @ Gettysburg | |
station with engine on south spur |
The Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad (G. & H. R. R.) [2] was a railway line of Pennsylvania from Hunter's Run southward to Gettysburg in the 19th century. The north junction was with the South Mountain RR, [3] and a crossing with the Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad's westward extension was at Gettysburg. The crossing also served as a junction for westbound trains to transfer southward across the Gettysburg Battlefield via the G. & H. R. R.'s Round Top Branch [4] to the company's Little Round Top Park.
The company charter was granted on October 6, 1882, to "J. C. Fuller, Jay Cooke, John M. Butler, Jay Cooke, jr.,[ sic ] R. J. Woodward, Spencer Ervin, Charles D. Barney, Wm. H. Woodward, and Daniel King." [5] The 22 mi (35 km) initial route by Professor Ambrose E. Lehman had been surveyed into Gettysburg along Rock Creek on January 12, 1882, [6] but the mainline was instead completed into the west side of the borough along Oak Ridge. [4] The passenger schedules expanded from three to seven stations between Hunter's Run and Gettysburg from April 21 to July 3, 1884; with the former identifying the Pine Grove station off the mainline and the latter similarly adding "Laurel" ("Table Rock" was added by May 25, 1885). [7]
Groundbreaking was on April 18, 1883, [6] and grading had been started by June 20 and completed in October, [6] except for December grading of the Gettysburg roundhouse lot on the north side of the "Tapeworm" right-of-way. [8] Tracklaying had begun on August 20, 1883; [6] the 1st train arrived February 26, 1884 (two "golden" spikes driven); the station was completed by Joseph J Smith on March 4 ("cellar and foundations" by George W. Lady); [8] and scheduled passenger service began April 21, 1884. [9] Conewago Creek (west) flood damage on June 24 was repaired, and the first fatality was on July 22, 1884, when the "Jay Cooke" locomotive decapitated a man who stopped his wagon on the tracks (additional locomotives included Engine No. 7, the "J. C. Fuller".) On May 12, 1884, the company laid east-west Gettysburg tracks along Railroad St across Washington St, [10] and the competing east-west railroad to Gettysburg added track on Carlisle St the next morning to prevent the Gettysburg and Harrisburg from continuing eastward. [10] (By 1904, the east-west railroad had allowed the G. & H. R. R. to connect for a southern junction [4] near the lane now named Gilliland Alley.)
The first Gettysburg excursion train to Pine Grove Park was on May 28, 1884. [10] Two additional G. & H. R. R. stations were south of Gettysburg for excursions on the Round Top Branch; which had been surveyed by July 14, 1882; [11] had begun construction by May 1884; [12] and had started operations in June 1884. [13] Beginning with the 1884 Camp Gettysburg, the Round Top Branch supported various Gettysburg Battlefield camps after the American Civil War such as the 1918 Camp Colt.
In October 1884, Chief Engineer Lehman commenced an Idaville-to-York Springs survey for an eastward branch. [14] A new Baldwin locomotive had been purchased by April 10, 1889, when Lehman began the survey for the southward extension from Round Top to the Washington, DC, Pennsylvania Railroad terminal at the National Mall via Westminster, Maryland and that was never built [15] (Lehman & Col Fuller had visited Littlestown, Pennsylvania, in 1884 regarding the Westminster route.) [16] In February 1899, an engine derailed while a hostler moved it from the Gettysburg roundhouse.
The "Reading Railroad" took control of the Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad on May 22, 1891, and retained the G & H's superintendent (W. H. Woodward) as the head of their Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railway subsidiary. [17]
Coordinates | |
---|---|
junction: Hunter's Run | |
county line | |
station: Starner's station: Peach Glen by 1916 | 1928 partial derailment |
station: Idaville | near trestle site of 1907 wreck |
station: Gardner's Station | |
station: Bendersville “Aspers Station” by 1888 [18] | land of Fred A. Asper [18] |
station: Sunnyside | 39°56′50″N77°13′58″W / 39.947255°N 77.232736°W |
station: Biglerville | |
"Arendtsville Road" [7] | pick-up point [10] |
bridge: Conewago Creek | curve washed out in 1912 |
station: Goldenville | Reuben Golden's warehouse [8] |
landform: Keckler's Hill | Susquehanna/Potomac divide |
Mummasburg Rd | |
c. 1995 reroute point | 39°50′34″N77°14′27″W / 39.84283°N 77.240748°W |
1938 reunion station | end of W Lincoln Av |
switch for siding | toward college |
switch for siding | adjacent to station switch |
switch for station siding | |
crossing with east-west line | 39°49′57″N77°14′16″W / 39.832606°N 77.237733°W |
road | [ specify ] |
switch (curve from east-west line) | behind 1896 Meade School [4] |
Fairfield Rd siding [19] | commissary siding [20] |
Hancock Station | |
Round Top Station | |
Wheatfield Road | |
terminus E of Little Round Top [4] | between ends of 2 rock walls |
The Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the 4-acre (1.6 ha) site of the first shot at Knoxlyn Ridge on the west of the borough, to East Cavalry Field on the east. A military engagement prior to the battle was conducted at the Gettysburg Railroad trestle over Rock Creek, which was burned on June 27.
Hanover Junction is a small unincorporated community, which is located in south-central York County, Pennsylvania, United States, near the borough of Seven Valleys. The junction serves as a rest stop on the York County Heritage Rail Trail.
The Hanover Branch Railroad Company was a railroad that operated in Pennsylvania in the mid-19th century. The company was incorporated on March 16, 1847, and began operating trains in 1852. It represents the oldest portion of the Western Maryland Railway. It extended from the connection with the Baltimore & Susquehanna Railroad at Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania, to Hanover.
The Gettysburg Railroad was a railway line in Pennsylvania that operated from 1858 to 1870 over the 17-mile (27 km) main line from the terminus in Gettysburg to the 1849 Hanover Junction. After becoming the Susquehanna, Gettysburg & Potomac Railway line in 1870, the tracks between Gettysburg and Hanover Junction became part of the Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad in 1874, the Baltimore and Harrisburg Railway in 1886, and the Western Maryland Railway in 1917. Today, its line is part of the CSX Hanover Subdivision.
Round Top is a populated place in Adams County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, near Little Round Top. It is notable for two Battle of Gettysburg hospitals, the 1884 Round Top Station, and several battlefield commemorative era attractions such as Round Top Park and the Round Top Museum. The unincorporated community lies on an elevated area of the north-south Taneytown Road with three intersections: at Blacksmith Shop Road to the northeast, Wheatfield Road, and Sachs Road.
The Gettysburg Railroad was a short-line heritage railroad that operated in Pennsylvania from 1976 to 1996. The 23.4 mi (37.7 km) line ran from Gettysburg to Mount Holly Springs.
The Gettysburg Electric Railway was a borough trolley that provided summer access to Gettysburg Battlefield visitor attractions such as military engagement areas, monuments, postbellum camps, and recreation areas. Despite the 1896 Supreme Court ruling under the Takings Clause against the railway, battlefield operations continued until 1916. The trolley generating plant was leased by the Electric Light, Heat, and Power Company of Gettysburg to supply streetlights and homes until electricity was imported from Hanover.
The Round Top Branch was an extension of the Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad from the Gettysburg borough across the Gettysburg Battlefield to Round Top, Pennsylvania. The branch ran southward from the terminus of the railroad's main line, west of the school and St. Francis Xavier Cemetery, across the field of Pickett's Charge, south of Cemetery Ridge, east of Weikert Hill and Munshower Knoll, and through Round Top to a point between Little Round Top's east base and Taneytown Road. In addition to battlefield tourists, the line carried stone monoliths and statues for monuments during the battlefield's memorial association and commemorative eras and equipment, supplies and participants for Gettysburg Battlefield camps after the American Civil War.
The South Mountain Railroad was a southcentral Pennsylvania railway line for "connecting the Pine Grove works to the Cumberland Valley R. R." and which provided mining and passenger services via a southwest section from Hunter's Run, Pennsylvania, and a northern section from Hunter's Run to the CVRR junction northeast of Carlisle. The northern section merged with the Gettysburg & Harrisburg Railroad line south from Hunter's Run to the Gettysburg Battlefield in 1891 to create the Gettysburg & Harrisburg Railway line, while the branch southwest from Hunter's Run became the Hunter's Run and Slate Belt Railroad line.
The Hunter's Run and Slate Belt Railroad was a railway line from the Hunter's Run junction of the Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railway that ran southwestward along the south side of Mountain Creek to the Pine Grove Iron Works. The line serviced facilities for mining, for manufacturing, and for recreation. Portions of the railbed are a section of the Appalachian Trail as well as the majority of the Cumberland County Biker/Hiker Trail and the entire "Old Railroad Bed Road" that is the southeast border of Pine Grove Furnace State Park.
The Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railway was a Pennsylvania line from near Carlisle southward to Gettysburg operated by a subsidiary of the Reading Company. The line also included the Round Top Branch over the Gettysburg Battlefield to Round Top, Pennsylvania until c. 1942.
The Tapeworm Railroad was a railway line planned by Congressman Thaddeus Stevens and nicknamed by opponents ridiculing a lengthy serpentine section around the Green Ridge of South Mountain after an orator compared the path to a tapeworm depiction on a product's packaging. Switchbacks were planned on the west slope at Hughs Forge along the E Br Antietam Creek and on the east slope at Stevens' 1822 Maria Furnace along Toms Creek, with three east slope tunnels through spurs of Jacks Mountain.
The Pine Grove Railroad Station was the end of the line for the 1870 South Mountain Railroad, which transported materials from limestone pits and three operating ore mines for the Pine Grove Iron Works. The station had a roundhouse and, by 1872, a depot with siding "Pine Grove" was listed on the Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad's passenger schedule of April 21, 1884; and the SMRR railroad offices and repair shops were transferred to the 1891 Hunter's Run and Slate Belt Railroad with the station servicing the 1892 Fuller Brick and Slate Company south of the tracks Despite a 1902 forest fire in the area that destroyed buildings, both "Pine Grove Furnace" and "Pine Grove Park" were listed as 1904 HR & SB RR railway stations, and in 1912 new Reading Company track was laid to Pine Grove on "the former Hunters Run and Slate Belt Line". The Pine Grove area was sold to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1913, the tracks and ties have been removed, and the station area is part of the Pine Grove Furnace State Park.
Round Top Station was the southernmost station of the Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad and was located west of a blacksmith shop along the Taneytown Road that was in operation in 1880.
The Hanover Junction Railroad Station is an historic railroad station which is located in Hanover Junction in North Codorus Township, York County, Pennsylvania.
Bendersville was a Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad (G&H) stop east of Bendersville, Pennsylvania, with facilities of Frederick A. Asper that included a 3-story brick flour mill, grain elevator, and warehouse built in 1883. The depot was opposite the mill over the tracks.
The Western Extension is a Western Maryland section of railway line between Highfield-Cascade, Maryland, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The extension of the Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad westward from the Gettysburg Battlefield to Marsh Creek was completed in 1884, crossing the north-south Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad and its 1884 Round Top Branch in the borough The line was completed to Orr Station by June 30, 1885, then after an 1886 merger formed the Baltimore and Harrisburg Railway, the 15 mi (24 km) to the mainline at Highland near the Mason–Dixon line was completed in 1888-1889. The B&H leased their line to the Western Maryland Railway until the WM purchased it in 1917. The Western Extension used portions of the 1830s Tapeworm Railroad bed and required construction of the Jacks Mountain Tunnel south of Maria Furnace.
Round Top Park was an excursion park located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, near the end of the Round Top Branch and owned by the Gettysburg & Harrisburg Railroad. It operated from 1884 to 1896. In addition to amusements, the park provided services during the memorial association era for steamtrain and trolley tourists visiting nearby military sites of the Battle of Gettysburg.
Pine Grove Park was an excursion park on the South Mountain Railroad line. It was located in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, "in a grove of magnificent trees". It was established by Colonel Jackson C. Fuller c. 1881. It operated from c. 1881 to c. 1904.
The Northern Central Railway of York is a non-profit, Civil War themed heritage railroad based in New Freedom, Pennsylvania. A reproduction 4-4-0 steam locomotive hauls passengers over 10 miles of Northern Central Railway track between New Freedom and Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania. The operation was originally named Steam into History and held its grand opening on June 1, 2013. In 2019 it took up the historical name Northern Central Railway.
The round-house lot is being graded and the surplus earth hauled across the "Tapeworm" on[to] the Mumper lot, thus making a commencement for the Round-Top branch.
The G and H had a three-engine round house in the yards
"South Mountain Junction" at Carlisle will hereafter be known as "Gettysburg Junction." … Train will stop for passengers at Arendtsville road.
Track Foreman Coulson and his force of hands are laying heavy iron rails--80 pound to the yard--on the Round Top branch.
Mr. Lewis A. Bushman's warehouse at Round-Top was raised on Saturday. … The two new wells at Round-Top are both successes … Saturday, Beneficial Society of Bailey's Nail Works, Harrisburg, over 550 on a train of ten new coaches. This was the heaviest passenger train yet over the road, and hundreds of persons in the evening watched the powerful No. 7 engine pull the long train over the steep grade just beyond town … The "dummy" Baldwin made frequent trips … taking town folks to the hill
The long siding south of the Fairfield road is down; also a long one at Goldenville. … The H. J., H. & G. Railroad is completing the track connecting that road with the Round-Top branch of the G. & H. The two tracks have also been joined just beyond the Cashman lime kilns, to allow the new road a more convenient route to Round-Top. … over 500 … colored Odd Fellows of Carlisle.
The H. J., H. & G. Railroad is completing the track connecting that road with the Round-Top branch of the G. & H. The two tracks have also been joined just beyond the Cashman lime kilns, to allow the new road a more convenient route to Round-Top. … over 500 … colored Odd Fellows of Carlisle.