Welcome To The Pittsburg & Shawmut Railroad
July 27th, 2010
Welcome to this personal web site about the Pittsburg & Shawmut Railroad of western Pennsylvania. The site is not officially connected to the former Pittsburg & Shawmut Railroad Company or Genesee & Wyoming, Inc. present owner and operator. This site was first created in 1996 to share history, memories, photos, and information about the P&S RR and this edition of the site began 11/5/08 and was last updated 7/27/2010.
The Genessee & Wyoming corporate site is at: www.gwrr.com
The P&S RR Historical Society web site is at:
http://home.comcast.net/~shawmutline
Email to the P&S RR Historical Society may be sent to:
The Pittsburg, Shawmut, and Northern Railorad site is at:
I can be reached at dlswpfl@aol.com
Dennis Snyder
Winter Park, FL (formerly of Dayton, PA)
—————————-VIDEOS——————————-
Enjoy this short clip of a Mountain Laurel train at Falls Creek with P&S and MNL 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
————————–FEATURE PHOTOS———————–
[NOTE: Click on the photo for a bigger image, then click "full size" for an even bigger image. Use your "back" button to return to the site]
P&S 237 was looking pretty good in this mid 1970s photo from Kurt Reisweber at Brookville, it was teamed up with freshly painted #239 which was now the 1776 and named Betsy Ross.
How about this look at the 237 at Markle from Kurt, wow! I walked over this bridge as a kid in the 1950s.
Love this view Kurt got from the route 28-66 bridge of a northbound at Colwell. Compare it to David Baer’s photo below!
David caught KGL1 from the bridge in June 1991 working the Colwell loader.
Special thanks to Kurt for these great photos as well to David and all the others who have shared to help keep the Shawmut alive.
ABOUT THE WEB SITE - The original P&S site started May 16, 1977 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.
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 still recieves coal by the railroad. 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!