News of the year 1917 of the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad is presented here as reported in area newspapers.
For all previous articles on this doomed project, see: Midland Pennsylvania Railroad.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, 13 January 1917
TRAIN MAKES TWO TRIPS
Berrysburg, Pennsylvania, 13 January [1917] – The Midland Pennsylvania Railroad trains made two trips to this place on Sunday. A number of people took in the service at Killinger Reformed Church….
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From the Harrisburg Daily Independent, 5 February 1917:
George Dockey shipped a carload of flour over the Midland Railroad on Friday. Lumber is also being shipped.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, 22 March 1917:
It is reported that work will be resumed on the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad about April 1st [1917].
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From the Harrisburg Patriot, 28 March 1917:
MIDLAND RAILROAD AGAIN AT STANDSTILL
Millersburg, 27 March [1917] – Construction work on the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad line here still remains at a standstill and no person here seems to know if the road will ever be completed. Since the line was completed from here to Berrysburg, several excursions have been run and some freight carried. It is evident that another chapter in the stormy history of the little railroad has been written.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, 31 March 1917
Midland Railroad Prepares to Rush Construction Work
Berrysburg, Pennsylvania, 31 March [1917] – The Midland Pennsylvania Railroad Company is preparing to resume work on the railroad on 1 April [1917]. All debts will be paid before that time. The work will then be rushed as fast as possible.
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From the Harrisburg Daily Independent, 7 June 1917:
WANTS MIDLAND ROAD PROBED
Investigation of the affairs of the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad Company which has competed ten miles of the proposed railroad between Millersburg and Ashland is sought in an informal complaint made to the Public Services Commission by Sumner S. Bowman, Millersburg, a member of the Dauphin County Bar. On the heels of this complaint Bowman filed suit today against the railroad company to recover $450 alleged to be due on two carloads of coal furnished by a client of Bowman to the railroad company.
Bowman said he wants the investigation because he has a number of clients who are creditors of the railroad company.
Speaking this morning of his complaint, Bowman said he charges that the directors of the railroad, some of them Philadelphians, have issued $2,000,000 worth of bonds, circulated chiefly in states of the west – Washington, Oregon, etc. – and that only $23,000 of that money actually was invested in the railroad which is not in operation and which now extends only from Millersburg to Berrysburg. Moreover, he declares, the company proposes to float $10,000,000 worth of bonds to finance the railroad.
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From the Harrisburg Patriot, 14 June 1917
Upper end residents of the county will welcome a Public Service Commission probe of the defunct Midland Pennsylvania Railroad which was going to bring a new era to that section. Most folks will want to know where the money goes.
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News stories from Newspapers.com and from on-line resources of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.