Lehigh and Mahanoy Railroad

History

The Quakake Railroad was chartered on April 25, 1857 to build a connection between the Beaver Meadow Railroad (the Lehigh Valley Railroad's Hazleton Branch) and the Catawissa, Williamsport and Erie Railroad. The original plan took it to the Catawissa near the Lofty Tunnel, and an inclined plane was graded near the hairpin curve on the Catawissa, south of the tunnel. However, that plan and the inclined plane were abandoned prior to completion, and instead the junction was moved to the south to Quakake Junction, near Tamanend. The full line opened on August 25, 1858 from Black Creek Junction on the Beaver Meadow Railroad west to Quakake Junction on the Catawissa, and was at first operated by the Catawissa.

A charter supplement issued on March 21, 1860 allowed an extension to Delano, the headwaters of Mahanoy Creek, and down the creek into Mount Carmel, where it would connect to the Northern Central Railway's Shamokin Valley and Pottsville Railroad. The extension was built later that year. The company went into foreclosure on September 30, 1862, and was reorganized as the Lehigh and Mahanoy Railroad on October 11. In 1865 a branch was built from Park Place to Mahanoy City. On June 30, 1866 the company was merged into the Lehigh Valley Railroad.

Under the Lehigh & Mahanoy, the line between Raven Run and Centralia was completed in 1865. In 1866 it was built to Mount Carmel and connected to the Shamokin Valley and Pottsville Railroad owned by the Northern Central Railway. In 1884 the line, which lay low in the valley, was rebuilt higher up on the mountainside by the Lehigh Valley. This avoided flooding from Mine Run. A branch extended from Centralia eastward to the LV's Continental Colliery. It was abandoned when the colliery closed in 1954. A branch was built in 1877 from Kohinoor Junction via Girardville to Ashland. A two-mile switchback was built in 1939 from Logan Junction, west of Centralia to the Germantown Colliery. It as used until 1960 when that operation closed down. Two other extensions were built. In 1890 a one-mile line was constructed from Morris Ridge Junction, east of Mt. Carmel to the Midvalley No. 1 Colliery. In 1892 a three-mile line was built from Montana junction, east of Centralia, to Midvalley Colliery No. 2. These lines were abandoned by 1965 when the fine coal plant at Midvalley closed.

The decline of coal mining brought about the piecemeal abandonment of these lines. The Ashland Branch was cut back to Girardville in 1951, and in 1953, from Girardville to Weston Colliery. One mile of the Mahanoy City Branch was abandoned in 1957, and the line from Delano to about Gerhards in 1963. The line to Mt. Carmel was cut back to Aristes Junction in 1965, and from there to Raven Run in 1971. The remaining trackage was all abandoned by 1976.