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<div dir="auto">Never knew this. Thanks for sharing.</div>
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<div dir="auto">------ Original message------</div>
<div dir="auto"><b>From: </b>Daria Phoebe Brashear via Pittsburgh-railways </div>
<div dir="auto"><b>Date: </b>Sat, Jan 18, 2020 1:23 PM</div>
<div dir="auto"><b>To: </b>Western PA Trolley discussion;</div>
<div dir="auto"><b>Cc: </b></div>
<div dir="auto"><b>Subject:</b>[PRCo] one more South Fork-Portage/Penn Central source</div>
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<div class="PlainText">Railroad Magazine, May 1948, the forgotten trolleys of Cambria County.<br>
<br>
"The Southern Cambria electric never contemplated going beyond South Fork<br>
with its track east from Johnstown. Yet there was another road that planned<br>
on building east from South Fork, through Portage and Gallitzin into<br>
Altoona, Pa. This was the South Fork-Portage Railway which started<br>
construction east from South Fork along a single track in 1913. Two heavy<br>
steel, center door interurbans were ordered from the Niles Car Company for<br>
the start of what was hoped to be an extensive interurban, with trackage<br>
rights over the SCR into Johnstown.<br>
<br>
Actually what resulted was more of a joke than an interurban line to the<br>
riders, once it commenced operation. Instead of going to Altoona or<br>
Gallitzin, or even Portage, the line traveled a couple miles out of South<br>
Fork to Summerhill, and a mile or so beyond, stopping just a few feet east<br>
of the old Portage Railroad cut. It was graded to Portage, and a bridge was<br>
built at Wilmore, but there the money ran out. So a three-mile single track<br>
was the net result of the originally impressive plan.<br>
<br>
The two heavy interurbans arrived as ordered from Niles Company. Painted<br>
red, they closely resembled similar equipment used on Kansas City, Clay<br>
County and St. Joe, and on the Trenton-Princeton interurban in New Jersey.<br>
But on a single-tracked shortline with no turnouts, it's not only difficult<br>
to operate two cars -- it's impossible. For there's no way to get one car<br>
past the other without installing helicopter blades.<br>
<br>
So we find Number 1 standing at the east end of the track where it stayed<br>
until abandonment, having never been operated. Car 2 made the short run<br>
back and forth, day after day, on hourly schedule, The ponderous<br>
interurban, with its whistle, arc headlight and impressive pilot was little<br>
short of ridiculous on this three-mile _interurban_ pike. Due to the center<br>
doors, a two-man crew was necessary; so with expected haste, the road went<br>
into receivership, and was reorganized as the Penn Central Railway in 1918.<br>
<br>
Like the Southern Cambria Railway, the Penn Central had its troubles with<br>
the hilly country, Coming into South Fork, the right-of-way passed down a<br>
heavy grade, and on several occasions cars glided down the slope into town<br>
like toboggans, knocking down power poles and throwing South Fork into<br>
darkness. On one occasion Number 2 ran off the tracks, clipped off the<br>
front of a store and a barber shop, then swung back into the street and<br>
rolled to a stop beside the Pennsy tracks. A Pennsylvania derrick lifted<br>
the car on to the railroad's track and carted it up to the old Portage cut<br>
where it set it back on its own runway again.<br>
<br>
Finally, the town put a large bumping block across the rails at the borough<br>
line, stopping the car there. This spelled doom for the Penn Central. In a<br>
matter of weeks, the line had ceased operation."<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
-- <br>
Daria Phoebe Brashear<br>
AuriStor, Inc<br>
dariaphoebe.com<br>
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