Valley Express Newsletter Fall 2021
The Expanded FCVRRHS Expanded Fall 2021 Valley Express Volume 16 Number 2  | |
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History of the Meadville Railway -part 2 by Carl Timko Meadville Railway had several railroad structures of note along the way. First, of course, is the passenger depot, err... station according to Pennsy mandates, in Meadville, Evansburg, Shermansville, and one already in use for the Erie & Pittsburgh in Linesville that was built in 1875. Stations were not more than shanties at West Union, Watson Run, and West Vernon. Other structures were the engine facility in Kerrtown, which consisted of a brick one-story three stall roundhouse, a turntable (twice installed) with 5 tracks. One track was the lead into the yard, another was a siding that went as far as the front edge of the roundhouse. There were three tracks into the roundhouse and another track leading from the turntable to along side the sand house and extending to the length of the roundhouse on the east side. Dimensions are not known for the turntable lt was known the first one was not big enough for the engines that were to use it, necessitating the replacement. Also at the facility were a one-story oil house, a one-story sand house, and a water tower. lt is unknown of what material the water tower was constructed, but a good bet is it was made of wood. The engine house and turntable were gone by 1922, as referenced by the 1922 Meadville Sanborn Fire lnsurance Map. The other buildings were made of brick with slate or metal roofs with coped walls. This is according to the Sanborn map legend. The stations were of wood construction and likely had metal roofs. The Meadville station was built in 1881, having been completed after the opening of the Meadville Railway. But it was not as it is now. The northern 50 feet of the building was added by the Bessemer and Iake Erie Railroad around 1907. Also, the western addition was likely added when it became a farrn and garden store.   Caption for Drawing at Right: 1912 Sanborn Map of the Meadville Railway (MCL&L in 1912) engine facilities at Kerrtown, PA. Tuentable next to Hope Station tower to left and below turntable. Oil house, sand house to right and below turnyable, and the roundhouse. The Evansburg/Conneaut Lake station was a one-story wood framed building, 24 feet,3 inches wide and 52 feet 6 inches long, with a composite roof, and a 3 foot by 7 1/2 foot bay. It had a pladorm that was 8 feet wide and 2O feet long The 1153 foot siding and had a capacity of 17 cars. Evansburg also had the ice House, which facilitated the storage and distribution of large blocks of ice for commercial and residential purposes. Ice was cut from the waters of the adjacent Conneaut Lake. There eventually was a Passenger station at Shermansville. An article in the November 25, 188l edition of the Conneautaille Courier noted that the passenger business at Shermansville was better than at any other station on the Meadville Railway and that should entitle Shermansville to a station house. It is mentioned that when the Shermansville station was closed, it was moved to Meadville. If this is fact, the Junction. ermansville station was likely built between 1882 and 1884. The locomotives that traversed the Meadville Railway have been a puzzle. We know that the successor, Meadville & Linesville Railway, had three locomotives, all 4-4-Os. Since the Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad operated the Meadville Railway, it is likely that the locomotives were supplied by the E&P and/or the Pennsyhania Railroad (the E&P was a subsidiary of the PRR), and were likely to have been older 4-4-Os. One engine that did operate on the Meadville Railway was the Meadville Railway #1. The #1 was a Pennsylvania Railroad veteran that was built by the Norris Locomotive Works in 1848. The Meadville RailwaY did acquire this engine in 1880 and it was in rough but still usable shape. It did last through the Meadville & Linesville Railroad (1884-189L), and three years in service for the Meadville Conneaut Lake & Linesville Railroad and Pittsburgh Shenango & Lake Erie, which leased the MCI&L. As far as owning any other locomotives, not even the Meadville Railway board of directors meeting minutes mentioned any purchase or lease of locomotives. According to a clipping from the October 14,1881 edition of the Conneautuille Courier, the locomotives had to run in reverse to Linesville because the turntable in Meadville was too light for the locomotives to be turned. Another tumtable was being built to replace the initial one. That statement in itself suggested there was more than one locomotive in use. The latter tumtable was built right up to the edge of Hope Street, as evidenced by the 19l2 Sanborn Fire Insurance map. The freight and Passenger equipment used were likely to have been borrowed or leased from the Erie & Pittsburgh since the E&P operated it anyhow. When the Meadville Railway began they ran mixed frerghts with the freight and then one or two Passenger cars on the end, as they had no cabooses; at least earlier in the railway's existence. (Many tbanks to Scolt Woods and tbe Greenville Railroad Park, Sanborn Maps, Dennis Mead, Ron Stafford, PRR€, THS, arcbiaed issues of tbe Conneautaille Couriet, "Pennsyluania Railroad -Lines West: Erie and Pittsburgh Railroad" by N Bucban; "Tbe Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad -1569-1969" by Roy C. Beaaer | |
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