Most readers of the Benton News know about the former Bloomsburg and Sullivan Railroad which once lumbered up Fishingcreek valley from Bloomsburg to Jamison City. The story is available in detail here and here.
For those who came in late, we'll refresh your memory about the B&S and we'll talk about what happened to the B&S after a company you'll recognize from one of the three railroads mentioned in the game of Monopoly acquired the company at public auction on October 23, 1928, and placed the line in service as their Bloomsburg Branch in December 1928.
The B&S tracks came north in the Fishingcreek valley 29 miles, thanks in large part to an estimated 50 Italian workmen hired to lay the track under the supervision of John Bush (Giovanni Bucci), Bloomsburg. These men were housed in and around Zaners. The right of way was secured through the efforts of Capt. H. J. Conner and Silas McHenry. The first spike for the railroad was driven into the ground in early Spring 1887. Tracks generally were laid about 3/4 of a mile per day. The tracks reached Orangeville in time for the Fourth of July celebration in 1887. Ground was broken at the bridge a short distance north of Orangeville in August 1886 and finished into Benton in August 1887. The following spring, tracks were laid to Jamison City and service began from Bloomsburg to Jamison City November 30, 1888, with three passenger trains a day making round-trips. The telegraph was installed in the fall of 1889.
A railroad extension northward from Jamison City was originally intended to connect with the Lehigh Valley railroad. A route was once surveyed, but nothing came of it.
The last-scheduled passenger train from Benton ended its trip south November 15, 1930. The last time that the railroad carried any significant number of passengers was on a special train for an ox roast at Benton celebrating the 1934 election of George Earl as Pennsylvania's first Democratic governor in forty-four years. Freight service continued until 1969.
Employees of the Railroad Demolition Division of the R. Moulthrope Jr., Company of Lehighton began taking up the rails following flash flooding in the spring of 1969 which caused considerable damage to bridges and washed out the ballast of long sections of the tracks just north of Lightstreet.
The B&S connected with two other railroads, the Susquehanna, Bloomsburg and Berwick at Paper Mill, and the Lackawanna and Reading at Bloomsburg. Jamison City was almost completely dependent on the train from late 1888 until 1892.
The abandonment papers for Benton to Light Street was filed October 10, 1969. The Bloomsburg Branch was originally abandoned between Benton and Light Street, although service to Light Street from Bloomsburg was maintained for a few years until the floods associated with Hurricane Agnes in the 1972 hurricane season. The tracks from Light Street to Bloomsburg were abandoned after Hurricane Agnes. The B&S railroad tracks to Bloomsburg were taken up in 1971 when Railroad (Fifth) Street was repaved.
Former Benton resident Jim Laubach (See related article), now retired from Hershey Chocolate, has spent much of his life collecting railroad memorabilia. He has transferred many of his papers and photos to the archives of Reading Company Technical & Historical Society Museum , Hamburg, Pennsylvania. Jim donated blueprints of track locations for the B&S Railroad to the Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center.
On January 1, 1928, the first mortgage bonds of the B&S matured and the company was not financially able to meet the obligation. Under the mortgage terms, the trustee (Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Company) took possession of the property in order to protect the holders of the outstanding first-mortgage bonds.
The Reading Company (pronounced Red-ding) acquired the B&S October 23, 1928 at public auction. Much of the business of the B&S passed over the Reading line, so that company purchased the entire railroad line and equipment. There were other bidders for the railroad, but only Reading was interested in keeping the line running. The application to purchase the property was approved by the ICC and the Public Service Commission of Pennsylvania and on December 1, 1928, the Reading company took possession. The line was placed in service as their Bloomsburg Branch on December 1, 1928.
The Reading Railroad started in 1833 as the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad to build a line between the two cities for whom it was named. It turned a 94-mile coal-hauling line into a 1,367 mile Class I carrier in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware and was at one time the largest corporation in the world. The Reading's main purpose was hauling hopper cars of anthracite from the anthracite mines of eastern Pennsylvania--primarily from the counties of Columbia, Northumberland and Schuylkill--to the 275 acre, 5,800 car yard at Port Richmond (Philadelphia) and the 3,000 car Port Reading facility at New York harbor. Imagine a hopper car weighing 50- to 70 tons being emptied in ninety seconds!
A number of interesting things happened to the railroad over the years; in fact, older Philadelphians would consider the Reading company an institution in their city, somewhat akin to the warm feeling they would have toward a Horn & Hardart Automat, shopping at Wanamaker's or going out on the town at Bookbinder's Restaurant.
Some may know the Reading Terminal, the eight-story home of the railroad's executive staff and the home of the Reading Terminal Market, where at one time the people of the suburbs with money would phone for choice cuts of meat, seafood and fresh vegetables. The orders were processed and shipped out on the next available train. The order was picked up by a coachman in time for milady's dinner. If you are familiar with the Reading Terminal Market, you'll enjoy a nostalgic look back at the market "below the tracks." Click here and enjoy a trip back in time.
Who today would not be absolutely thrilled at a chance to ride a Reading Railroad train along the eastern end of the Catawissa branch of the line? (At one time, The Catawissa railroad had seven wooden trestle bridges, including one 546 feet high and 574 feet long and about as many tunnels. The bridge at Mainville was 115 feet high and 727 feet long.) For more on trains in Catawissa, go here , for views of Reading trains in Catawissa, go here and for a railroad history of Catawissa go here. Think what it must have been like to ride on the road of coal tipples and breakers, on sharp spurs and steep sidings. These tracks and those of the former B&S go through some of Pennsylvania's finest scenery in the eastern part of the state.
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Jim Laubach, a former Benton resident now living in Elverson (Chester County) Pennsylvania, has an "O" gauge model railroad loosely based on the Catawissa Division of Reading. |
| The majority of cars are Reading, as well as all six locomotives. |
Most of the train's traffic was within a hundred mile radius, except for the Williamsport run. Within that radius, trains served industries with familiar names, including Lehigh Portland cement, Bethlehem Steel, Wyomessing Mills, Hershey's chocolate, duPont products, Scott tissues and many more.
The main line of the Reading Railroad was from Philadelphia along the Schuylkill River to the town from which its name is derived, then through the anthracite region via Shamokin to Williamsport and Newberry Junction. A "bridge route" went west from Allentown to Shippensburg. The Reading also had lines from Philadelphia to Bound Brook and Port Reading, New Jersey, plus a line to Bethlehem, one to Lancaster and Columbia and from the Reading area to Coatsville and Wilmington, where the duPont interests were served. Other minor runs exited, too, including the one to Benton.
North of Reading, the old Reading Company is operated by two regional railroads:
A. Reading to Mt. Carmel--operated by Reading & Northern Railroad, an independent regional line. The R&N also operates the old LV/CNJ line from Jim Thorpe through the Lehigh River gorge to Wilkes-Barre and Meshoppen.
B. Avis to Montgomery--operated by Lycoming Valley Railroad, and from Sunbury to Mt. Carmel by Shamokin Valley Railroad. Both railroads are a part of North Shore System
A train close to home was the "Black Diamond," which ran through Bethlehem, the former town of Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe), Wilkes-Barre, Geneva and Buffalo. The "Black Diamond" was operated by the Lehigh Valley, although there were through sleepers from Bethlehem to Philadelphia over the Reading. Jim Laubach maintains that "The Crusader" was the Reading's best train, and the first Budd-built stainless steel train on the east coast.
The B&S connected at Bloomsburg with a branch of the Reading from Rupert to Bloomsburg. After the takeover by Reading, the Bloomsburg branch went from Rupert to Benton.
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A partial view of the Reading System circa 1947,
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The 1947 route map of the Reading system includes the route to Benton coming from Rupert, through "Paper Mill," to Orangeville, Zaners and Benton.
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The term "Paper Mill" needs further explanation, because of its similarity to "Paperdale." Picture courtesy of Jim Laubach |
Bloomsburg Paper Mill
Most of us have heard of Papermill Road, Bloomsburg. It is where the Hampton Inn and the Columbia-Montour Visitors Bureau are located. Many of us have eaten at Denny's Restaurant on Papermill Road. Lt. Moses Van Campen and 20 or so soldiers put up a fort near Papermill Road during the days when the local area was part of the frontier. It is the location of the Bloomsburg Sand & Gravel Company operated by Hanson Aggregates.
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In 1818, John Barton constructed a dam across Fishingcreek about two miles north of Bloomsburg and built a flour and grist mill. Sometime after 1882, the milling equipment was removed by the then-current owners and paper-manufacturing equipment was installed. The mill burned in 1855 and 1905, but was rebuilt both times. It burned again in 1932, but was not rebuilt. |
The Reading Railroad Heritage Museum, located in Hamburg, PA, is owned and operated by the Reading Company Technical & Historical Society, a non-profit corporation dedicated to preserving the history and heritage of the Reading Railroad. The museum is open to the public to tell the story of the Reading Railroad. The museum includes vintage railroad cars and locomotives, photographs, documents and artifacts from the Reading Railroad. The museum is open on Saturdays from 10 AM to 5 PM, and on Sundays from noon to 5 PM.
A number of local people were involved with the railroad after it became Reading property. Frank Klase retired from the Reading company after 57 years of service. Frank came to Stillwater when he was a teenager and became a telegrapher for the B&S in 1889 and he stayed there for some time until he was sent to Jamison City as station agent. From there he was sent to Bloomsburg where he worked in the B&S office for three years. On April 1, 1900, he accepted the position as agent in Benton and was with the B&S until it was purchased by the Reading Company in 1929. He remained with the Reading Company until October 1945 when he retired because of illness.
Revenue declined as the use of coal declined and the company entered bankruptcy in 1971 and became a part of Conrail in 1976. Many of the Reading tracks are today part of the Norfolk Southern and CSX freight networks.
A Reading Railroad realty office remains in operation in Wilkes-Barre to administer former railroad land owned by that company between Benton and Bloomsburg.
For further reading on the subject of the Reading Railroad, look at...
• Take a Ride on the Reading, by Frank P. Donovan, Jr.
• Historical and biographical annals of Columbia and Montour counties
• A personal favorite is to sit down and have a leisurely conversation with James Laubach or Nathan McKenzie. We especially thank Jim Laubach for his assistance in compiling the railroad information.
Quote of the Day:
" It is a definite, hard fact that if you want good fishing and good hunting, you must go where the railroad goes. That is not due to any inherent virtue of the railroad, but to the fact that it's the only effective way to get away from good roads."
--Bert Perks, quote found in Canadian National Magazine
