A colorized photograph of the Williams Valley Railroad station at Tower City, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, built after 1892 when a rail line was extended to Lykens, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. According to a history of this railroad, a engine house was also located near this site in Tower City. Part of the freight station can be seen at the left side of the photo (behind the main station) and out of the picture frame at right was the waiting room for miners. The line and its stations were leased to the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad in 1907 who continued to operate passenger trains well beyond when they were financially profitable.
Other railroads that operated in the area around Tower City included the Union Railroad which was chartered in 1826 and had a line from Lebanon to Pine Grove; the Swatara and Good Spring Railroad Company, chartered in 1831; a railroad planned to operate through the Seeley Tunnel, chartered in 1843; the Dauphin and Susquehanna Railroad, built in 1846-1847; and the Fishing Creek, Swatara & Schuylkill Railroad, chartered in 1844. Beginning in 1862, the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad began acquiring older rights-of-way and extending lines in the area, including extending its rail lines to Tower City and later, Williams Valley Junction, Schuylkill County.
The history of the railroads serving in and around Tower City is complicated and needs further research. A good place to start understanding the what, how and why these rail lines were developed is in the railroad history found in the Centennial History of Tower City and Porter Township, 1868-1968:
EARLY RAILROADS
The first railroad to serve the west end of Schuylkill County was the Union Railroad, chartered on March 3, 1826, and completed from Lebanon to Pine Grove in 1829. The rails were of wood and the wooden cars were drawn by horses and mules, the same power used to pull the canal boats and barges over the Union Canal. These crude railways were not real competition to the canal until 1848 when steam, wood-fired locomotives were put in use and steel rails replaced the old wooden rails. The travel time was then reduced by seventy-five percent and the loads per trip were quadrupled.
When coal was discovered near Lorberry in 1830, mining was begun immediately and developed as extensively as the crude mining methods allowed. To increase the rail tonnage the rail line was extended in 1835 to Lorberry, and later extended to Lincoln and in 1869 to Kalmia. The grade from the top of the Stoney Mountain was too steep for rail traffic, but the engineers overcame this difficulty by laying the roadbed on a gradual grade to a point west of the Dauphin County line, from which a parallel track was laid on a gradual descending grade west to the colliery. This was the Kalmia switch-back, not the only such in our valley, as will be later shown.
John William Donaldson was a large landowner and coal operator in the village bearing his name and in order to market his coal, he and others secured a charter under the name of the Swatara and Good Spring Railroad Company on April 2, 1831 to construct a railway from Pine Grove along the Swatara and up the Good Spring Creek to the coal measures to the west. The name was changed in 1841 to the Swatara Railroad Company. The line to Tremont and Donaldson was put in operation in 1843, but steam powered locomotives were not put in use until 1849.
In 1843, a group of Harrisburg businessmen and financiers obtained a charter to construct a railroad from the Susquehanna River at Dauphin, thence west through Clarks Valley to the Williams Valley, thence through the Seeley Tunnel then under construction, to the gap south of Valley View, and thence through the Deep Creek Valley to Ashland. About twelve or fifteen miles of track were laid at the extreme west end of Clarks Valley but the project was abandoned for a variety of reasons. The promoters encountered great difficulty in obtaining rights-of-way from the landowners, and they were involved in extensive and protracted litigation as well. The collapse of the Seeley Tunnel was the biggest blow to the enterprise for this was an essential link to the success of the venture, for the grade up the mountains was much too steep for horse-drawn freight and passenger cars. When additional capital to complete the tunnel was not obtained, this grand scheme was abandoned. It is an interesting speculation as to what our community might have been had this railroad succeeded. The tremendous coal tonnage to the north would probably have been shipped by this route to Harrisburg and the west, since it was considerably shorter that the route from Pottsville, Reading, Lebanon and Harrisburg. Had the road been completed, we might have had a rival to Pottsville.
Another early railroad was the Dauphin and Susquehanna Railroad built in 1846 and 1847 from Dauphin to Gold Mine, for the purpose of transporting the coal from the mines at Gold Mine, Rausch Gap and Yellow Springs to Harrisburg and the west.
In 1844, the Fishing Creek, Swatara and Schuylkill Railroad Company was chartered. This line was completed in 1854 from Auburn to Pine Grove and then extended to High Bridge. In 1861, the Philadelphia & Reading Railway acquired the Dauphin and Susquehanna Railroad and extended the line from Gold Mine and the High Bridge connecting the Fishing Creek, Swatara and Schuylkill Railroad. These two systems were eventually merged into one and called the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad, known locally as the S. & S. The gorge over the Fishing Creek was spanned by a 60 foot igh wooden bridge, the focal point of many hikes by youngsters of our valley across the mountain to the high rocks, and thence up along the railroad bed to the High Bridge.
In 1862, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad acquired the right-of-way of the Union Railroad and the Swatara railroad and in 1863 extended the latter line from Donaldson to Good Spring. In 1868, urged by Charlemagne Tower, the line was extended to east Brookside although not open to traffic until 1872 of 1873. The intention of the Reading Railroad was to continue the roadbed to Williamstown and there connect with the Summit Branch Railroad, a subsequent subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad, but the Reading, owner of the Philadelphia & Reading Coal and Iron Company, realized that by doing so it would lose valuable rail traffic to its competitor, for much of the west end coal would be shipped over the competing line to Harrisburg and the west, The terminus of the Philadelphia and Reading was therefore at Tower City Station at old East Brookside Colliery, but the line was later extended to West Brookside where it connected with the Williams Valley Railroad, the connecting point being called Williams Valley Junction.
THE WILLIAMS VALLEY RAILROAD
When the railroad was extended to East Brookside, passengers, mail and freight were carried up and down the steep grade by horse drawn wagons. This was a hazardous trip and upsets were frequent. Teamsters were obliged to fasten chains from the coupling pole to the wheels so that they would slide on the earth and snow, serving as an additional brake. To overcome this hazard a group of business men, merchants and tradesmen planned to construct a toll road for wagons and carriages with an easier grade from the valley to East Brookside. In order to arrive at a probable construction cost, they consulted John Jameson, who was then building the railroad from Kalmia to Clarks Valley, for the purpose of transporting the timber to the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company operatons across the mountains to Lincoln and Lorberry. Jameson suggested that a railroad would better serve the needs of the community and advised the enterprising men that if the community would raise $13,000 he would secure the remaining required capital for the 3.3 miles from West Brookside to Tower City. Williamstown then became interested, followed shortly thereafter by Lykens and Wiconisco residents. Jameson estimated the cost for the whole twelve mile long line would be $90,000.00 with local residents to raise one-half and he the remainder.
A charter was obtained on September 19, 1891 for the Williams Valley Railroad Company, with John Jameson, president; C. M. Kaufman, secretary and general traffic manager; A. F. Baker, general manager; and the following directors: J. W. Durbin and Amos Lebo of Williamstown; Edward Lebo and John L. Matter, Lykens; Isaac Mossop of Wiconisco; A. F. Baker of Norristown; E. F. Phillips and C. M. Kaufman of Tower City; Harper T. Bressler of Tower City and A. L. Pritchard of Williamstown later became directors.
The road to Tower City was opened to traffic on July 1, 1892, and to Lykens in 1893. The rolling stock consisted of one steam engine, the George F. Baker, and three passenger coaches. Depots were built at Tower City, Williamstown, and Lykens, and an engine house and office at Tower City.
In constructing the railroad the steep grade had to be conquered. This was accomplished by constructing a “back switch’ from West Brookside eastward on a descending grade to a point north of Yohe Street in Reinerton and thence westwardly on a gentle grade to Lykens. The present older generation [in 1968] can remember the thrill of backing up the grade to the mountaintop and and marveling at the gorgeous view of the valley below as the train proceeded east to Keffers, Good Spring and Tremont. The grade was not gentle, hosever, and when the trains were long two engines were often needed to negotiate the ascent.
The whistle of the George F. Baker sounded the death knell of the old stagecoach, and thereafter freight was shipped to the station at the top of Fourth Street from whence teamsters delivered it to the merchants, tradesmen and residents of the community.
The railroad was owned and operated for fifteen years by local men, but it encountered competition for passenger service from the trolley line. Because of the decline in passenger fares between Tower City and Lykens and the cost of maintaining an expensive roadbed, the owners leased the land and right-of-way, and sold the rolling stock to the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad in 1907, and later it was merged into the Reading Railway System.
The Williams Valley Railroad operated four passenger trains daily west and east. Passenger service continued to decline after the line was acquired by the Philadelphia & Reading, and service was continued principally for the convenience of the miners who worked at Brookside and Good Spring and for the occasional traveler to Pottsville and Philadelphia. The old “miners” train left Tower City at 5:55 a. m. and arrived at West Brookside at 6:0:7 and Pottsville at 8:05. If the traveler made proper connections, he could reach Philadelphia at 11:55 a. m.
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Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.