Welcome To The Pittsburg & Shawmut Railroad
May 4th, 2012
Welcome to the Pittsburg & Shawmut Railroad of western Pennsylvania. The is a personal web site and is not officially connected to the former Pittsburg & Shawmut Railroad Company or Genesee & Wyoming, Inc. present owner and operator. The site was created in May 1996 to share history, memories, photos, and information about the P&S RR and was last updated 5/4/2012.
The Genessee & Wyoming corporate site is at: www.gwrr.com
Email about this site may be sent to Dennis Snyder at: dlswpfl@aol.com
Email to the P&S RR Historical Society may be sent to:
REMEMBER The Pittsburg, Shawmut, and Northern Railroad? It was the parent of the Pittsburg & Shawmut. Confused yet? The PS&N historical society web site is at:
We return you now to the Pittsburg & Shawmut Railroad of yesterday and today, confusing yes, but enjoy!
———————————————————-NEWS—————————————
As most of you know, in late January 2012 it was announced the power plant at Reesedale would be closing by September 2012, as well as several others. The last coal train to the plant seems to have run in February 2012.
—————————-FEATURE PHOTOS—————–
NOTE - CLICK ON THE IMAGES FOR A BIGGER VIEW, THEN CLICK YOUR BACK BUTTON TO RETURN TO THE SITE
We’ve worked around the “issue” that delayed this update, thanks for your patience so here we go with several more photos. As always, thanks for all who have sent so many photos over the years!
In February 2012 Al Crate caught this view at Brookville, as many of you know the BPRR has discontinued their use of the SD45s and is adding a fleet of SD40-2s to the roster, here are two of them.
Dennis Morgan took this amazing view that inlcudes the new bridge over the PSR at Kittanning with a northbound train led by BPRR 459, awesome shot, almost like a painting!
Speaking of Kittanning, thanks to Jim Hoover, enjoy these amazing shots of the P&S being constructed around 1913, including the P&S station, tracks, etc!
Back in the 1995 David Baer was at the Dora loader while BVL1 was working.
In March 1992 David was over by Fairmont City (more commonly known by the nearby New Bethlehem) on the Mountain Laurel where GP7 #11 was teamed up with three SW9s on the way to the loader at Sligo.
Stephanie Colotta sent us this shot of caboose 150 at Brookville back in the mid 1970s when the red and yellow switchers were being rebuilt and repainted into the bicentennial scheme. The 150 and 151 were built out of boxcars.
Here’s one from Mike Zollitsch all three of the three former P&S SW9s now working and looking good on the Lycoming Valley, the 231, 238, and 239 received their original Shawmut numbers when repainted, they became P&S 1775, 1816, and 1776. A 4th SW9, the 1865 or 236 went to Juniata Valley so after the G&W acquired the Shawmut almost half of the fleet of nine switchers remain in central PA still hauling freight.
Stephie caught the 357 and three “pups” switching in Brookville back in the 1970s.
Here’s some sad shots from Andrew Watson of what used to be the coal processing plant and loader at Dora, the crossing on the north end of Timblin, and the crossing on the south end of Timblin looking both ways. This was just after the tracks had been taken up in August of 2006.
Photos from Mahoning Yard are scarce, but in the early 1970s Kurt Reisweber was lucky enough to catch this train there.
Way over on the other end of the Shawmut system Gale Simpson was on hand at Lawsonham in the 1990s when a Red Bank RR train was pulling in, it would run around the train here and head on east towards Brookville and Driftwood.
MODEL RAILROAD CORNER
Here is a nice collection of Sam Kanish’s N scale P&S units.
From Al Crate’s layout one of the SW9s is teamed up with GP7 357 and about to duck into Knoxdale tunnel just after crossing East Branch viaduct.
On a previous layout of mine a southbound is passing the Brookville station, which doesn’t exist in my present day layout. Here GP7’s 11 and 10 and a SW9 do the honors.
—————————VIDEOS——————————-
KGL 1 southbound at McWilliams
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL3X8PzVFWM
PREVIOUS CLIPS:
Great clip from 1990s at Falls Creek with MNL & P&S power.
www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DFc_ntZ5_MCo
Here is a short clip from Rick Tonet’s Shawmut adventures in the late 1980s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUriMK_wsok
Here is a clip of my HO scale P&S layout in Florida.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhT520dIQRo
Here is another short layout clip of a Brookville Local picking up cars at Dora.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcrk0Ob6j5g
And below are two HO scale P&S trains with quite the variety of color and power!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtkqSM1ovPw
ABOUT THE WEB SITE - The original P&S site started May 16, 1996 and ended October 31, 2008 when AOL discontinued all web sites. All of the information and photos were saved. Special thanks to Mike Cyr of Tampa, FL for hosting this new site for us Shawmut fans. If you’re a fan of train simulators, etc. or would like to watch alot of trains on the live Folkston, GA webcam, check out Mike’s site at:
EARLY P&S RR HISTORY - The Pittsburg & Shawmut Railroad was being planned in 1903 and was constructed over the next several years. Originally named the Brookville and Mahoning Railroad, it was renamed Pittsburg & Shawmut in 1910. The 88 mile long rail line ran southwest from Brockway, PA to Freeport, PA to connect with the Pittsburgh, PA area as an extension of its parent railroad The Pittsburg Shawmut and Northern. Note that in the late 1800s Pittsburgh was spelled without the “h” and both railroads used the older spelling.
In 1916 the P&S broke away from the PS&N and became a separate railroad. The PS&N had financial problems through its entire history and was finally abandoned in 1948. The P&S was completed from Brockway to Freeport in 1917 and continued to operate for nearly 100 years and although it struggled at first, did very well at times.
The during the last half of the 1970s and first half of the 1980s business was really booming on the Shawmut. In the mid 1970s the red and yellow Shawmut switchers were repainted red, white, and blue for the nation’s Bicentennial and over the next few years additional GP7 power was added. During this time coal was loaded at places like Dora, Colwell, Reddco, Brockway, and other loaders and found their way to power plants in the northeast and the power plant at Reesedale.
MORE RECENT HISTORY - During the last half of the 1980s business was dropping off. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the company expanded by purchasing around 110 miles of track from Conrail. This was the former Pennsylvania Railroad “low grade secondary” from Lawsonham to Sligo and Lawsonham to Driftwood including the 25 mile long former New York Central line from Rose to near Clarion known as the Piney Branch. The lines were operated as the Red Bank Railroad from Lawsonham to Sligo and the Mountain Laurel Railroad from Lawsonham to Driftwood and six additonal red, black, and silver GP10 locomotives were received. However, business continued to decline on all these lines over the next few years and it was finally decided to sell all the lines.
In April 1996 the Pittsburg & Shawmut along with the Red Bank and Mountain Laurel Railroads, were purchased by Genesee & Wyoming, Inc. (GWI) and received the reporting marks PSR. Genessee & Wyoming has purchased and operated many smaller railroads around the country. Although it originally appeared the Shawmut name would continue under G&W ownership, all PSR operations were absorbed into the neighboring Buffalo & Pittsburgh (BPRR) in 2004 effectively eliminating the proud little Pittsburg & Shawmut name from railroading.
TODAY - Today the former P&S mainline from Freeport to Colwell remains in operation by the BPRR as does the tracks from Dellwood to the glass plant at Crenshaw including Brockway yard. The locomotive and car repair shops at Brookville remain in operation. The former Mountain Laurel section of the low grade east of Brookville is being operated by BPRR as well. Much of the tracks from Reesedale to Colwell are being used for car storage as is some of the area around Brookville and to the south near Rayard.
Coal has always been the Shawmut’s main business and coal is presently being loaded at Rose Bud Mining operation at Penefield on the former Mountain Laurel as well as a Rose Bud loader at Clinton on the former Shawmut. Coal and other commodities are sometimes loaded at Brockway Yard and coal is also loaded at Bridgeburg. The power plant at Reesedale had recieved coal by the railroad until it was announced in January 2012 that the plant will be closing by September 2012, it is believed the last coal train to the plant ran in February 2012. Several other businesses are served by the railroad today as well.
GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN - The Pittsburg & Shawmut mainline from Brockway to Brookville, from south of Rayard to Mahoning, Red Bank Railroad from Lawsonham to Sligo, and Mountain Laurel from Lawsonham to Brookville (including the Piney Branch) have all been abandonded and removed. This includes the Widnoon and Conifer branches off the original P&S mainline. All of these have been removed since the 1996 purchase by G&W. Some of the earlier branches had been removed long ago.
MORE PHOTOS AND INFORMATION - Additional photos and info are available on the Shawmut Yahoogroup. You can join this group by creating a free Yahoo account, then by sending an email to the address below.
shawmut-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Another Yahoogroup for the Buffalo and Pittsburgh (BPRR) covers present day operations of the former P&S and MNL as well as the BPRR and can be joined by sending an email to the address below.
BPRR-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
As always, many thanks to everyone who have helped with photos and information over the years, it is only because of you we’ve been around for so long!