News of the year 1920 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 Philadelphia Inquirer, 12 January 1920:
PLAN NEW TROLLEY LINE
Ashland to Klingerstown Road to Supply Dauphin and Schuylkill
Special to the Inquirer
ASHLAND, Pennsylvania, 11 January [1920] – A newly organized corporation to be known as the Citizens’ Electric Company of Valley View, capitalized at $30,000, will open a trolley road extending from this place to Klingerstown, covering a distance of about twenty-five miles.
The new company will consolidate the Gratz, Hubley Township, Hegins Township, Lykens Township, Mifflin Township and Berrysburg electric companies, chartered to operate in parts of Dauphin and Schuylkill Counties.
The country to be traversed is totally without rail communication of any kind and covers the most valuable and prolific farming communities in this part of the State.
The route was surveyed some years ago when it was proposed to build the Midland Railroad, which project fell through after part of the construction work had been finished and which it is now proposed to use.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, 7 October 1920:
SUIT BROUGHT TO FORECLOSE BIG MORTGAGE
Trust Company Asks Court to Act Against Midland Pennsylvania Railroad
Equity proceedings were started yesterday afternoon in the Dauphin County Court to secure an order foreclosing on a mortgage for $960,000 held by the Commonwealth Title Company, Philadelphia, against the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad Company, incorporated in 1910, for the purpose of building and operating a railroad line from Millersburg to Ashland.
It is alleged in the statement filed by counsel for the banking institution that no interest has been paid on the mortgage since July 1, 1912, and that according to the mortgage agreement made when the bonds were issued for the amount, failure to pay interest for a period of six months gave the trust company the right to ask for foreclosure.
Want to Sell
The court is also asked to authorize a public sale of all the property of the Midland Company in case the amount of the mortgage and the interest payments to date are not paid. The railroad company is given thirty days to answer the bill. George A. Aldrich, president, accepted service of the suit yesterday afternoon.
It is said in the bill of complaint that work on the line was began from Millersburg to Gratz, in Dauphin County, and some tracks were laid but subsequently were torn up and the line was never completed and put into operation to Ashland, Schuylkill County, as originally planned.
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From the Harrisburg Daily Independent, 7 October 1920:
CREDITORS WANT MIDLAND SOLD
The Dauphin County Court was asked today to order the sale of the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad Company, which is alleged to be insolvent and which began ten years ago to build a forty-four miles railroad from Millersburg to Ashland, but gave up the “ghost” within three years, after only fifteen miles of rails had been laid as far as Gratz.
The request was filed by Charles H. Bergner, local counsel for the Commonwealth Title Insurance and Trust Company, of Philadelphia, which is the bondholders’ trustee, and which alleges that the railroad company has defaulted the interest payments since 1912 on the $2,000,000 worth of gold bonds originally floated by the company.
The Court has not yet fixed a time for conducting a hearing on the application and probably will not do so, lawyers said, until after the railroad’s officers file and answer to the complaint which is in the nature of a bill in equity.
The trust company represents a group of bondholders who hold $960,000 worth of claims against the railroad. Within the last several years, the petition recites, all the railroad equipment was taken up and stored on the company’s ground near Millersburg.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, 8 October 1920:
In an amendment to the statement filed in the equity suit of the Commonwealth Title and Trust Company, Philadelphia vs. the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the amount of the first mortgage which the court is asked to foreclose was reduced from $960,000 to $806,700.
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From the Lebanon Semi-Weekly News, 11 October 1920; also Lebanon Daily News, 8 October 1920:
ASK COURT TO ORDER SALE OF THE MIDLAND PENNSY RAILROAD
A number of Lebanon investors are deeply interested in the announcement that the Commonwealth Title Insurance and Trust Company of Philadelphia, asked the Dauphin County Court to order the sale of the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad Company, which started 10 years ago to construct a line from Millersburg to Ashland, but stopped after reaching Gratz, 15 miles from Millersburg.
The trust company represents bondholders who have claims aggregating $960,000 and who alleged the railroad has defaulted on the interest of $2,000,000 worth of gold bonds floated since 1912.
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From the West Schuylkill Herald, 15 October 1920:
Asks Court For Order To Sell Unfinished Railroad
The Dauphin County Court was asked to order the sale of the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad by the Commonwealth Title Insurance and Trust Company, of Philadelphia, which represents bondholders who have claims of more than $950,000 against the railroad company. It is alleged the company has defaulted since 1912 interest on the original $2,000,000 worth of gold bonds floated.
The Midland began ten years ago to build forty miles of track to connect Ashland and Millersburg. Seven years ago it stopped operations after fifteen miles of track had been built from Millersburg to Gratz.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, 15 December 1920:
The court signed a decree in the equity suit of Commercial Title and Trust Company vs. Midland Pennsylvania Railroad Company, authorizing the public sale of all the property of the company, after giving sixty days’ notice. It is alleged in the action that the trust company as trustee held a mortgage against the company for $906,7000 to secure bonds which were issued, but on which no interest was paid since July 1912. The company planned to build a railroad from Millersburg to a point in Schuylkill County, but never completed the work, although part of the road was constructed.
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From the Harrisburg Daily Independent, 15 December 1920:
MIDLAND STATE RAILWAY TO BE SOLD
An order authorizing the sale of the property, equipment and land of the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad Company, which gave up the ghost some years ago after competing a section of a proposed railroad between Millersburg, this county, and Pottsville, Schuylkill County, was signed in court late yeste4rday by Judge Hargest.
The Commonwealth Trust Company, trustee for the bondholders, had proceeded against the company and was given permission to put the railroad up at auction.
In the court order it is provided that the sale shall be advertised once a week for sixty days and that no bid of less than $25,000 may be accepted.
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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.