About The French Creek Valley Railroad Historical Society

In March of 1880 a group of citizens met at City Hall in Meadville to discuss the building of a competing railroad line. Business men of the city were feeling the effects of a lack of competition to the Atlantic & Great Western Railway. After much discussion a decision was made to construct another railroad immediately. An executive committee made up of fifteen citizens was appointed, with the purpose of procuring subscriptions to the capital stock of the new company. Soon they hired a civil engineer to survey several routes that could be used, and how much those separated routes would cost to construct.

Meadville Railway Company was organized. The officers of the new railroad were elected, with James J. Shryock named President. The route of the line chosen followed the abandoned tow-path of the canal through Evansburg, and connected with the Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad at Linesville, a distance of twenty and one-half miles. With capital stock of $125,000 the railroad soon begins construction at Linesville. The company officers raised stock from the communities of Meadville, Evansburg and Linesville, but fell short by $25,000. Facing failure of the organization, they opened negotiations with the Pennsylvania Company, operators of the Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad, and that company agreed to subscribe the needed $25,000. The conditions to the agreement was that Meadville Railway would be leased to them when completed, and was to be operated by them at actual net cost.

Site is secured for new station to be built in Meadville. Location to be on Pine Street, bordered by Buttonwood Alley (later Bessemer Street) on the west, Torbett Alley on the north, and the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad on the east. The dimensions of the new station will be 30′ wide by 100′ long. It was a Pennsylvania RR W18B combination station design.

Construction of the line is proceeding slowly. Meadville Railway made in its lease agreement with the Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad to complete the line, including finishing the bridge crossing French Creek in Meadville. (The Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad obtained the franchises held by the Erie Canal Company to build their railroad from Girard Junction, west of Girard, PA, through Linesville to New Castle, PA starting in 1870).

The Erie & Pittsburgh operates its first train from Linesville to Meadville. Passengers disembarked on West Street, as the new station was not complete yet. The following day service began with passengers riding to Linesville to make connections with Pennsylvania Railroad passenger trains.

The station was now open, and the Meadville Railway is in full operations. Passenger trains make two round trips a day, leaving at 8:00 AM and 4:30 PM and arriving at 2:30 PM and 10:25 PM. There are four stops between Meadville and Linesville, and the cost is 70 cents one way. In addition to hauling passengers, Conneaut Lake Ice Company begins shipping ice from their siding in Evansburg, creating profitable freight traffic for the new line. Until its closing in 1929, the railroad will have hauled 100,000 tons of ice from the facility.

Due to the Pennsylvania Company operating the railroad at such a large expense that the Meadville Railway was receiving nothing, the railroad was foreclosed by the stockholders and reorganized to become the Meadville & Linesville Railway Company. The Erie & Pittsburgh gives up operating lease of the railroad, and embargoes its interchange connection at Linesville.

An interchange connection was made off the westbound New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad (later Erie Railroad) track to the Meadville & Linesville trackage near the station between Torbett Alley and Pine Street.

The M&L is running 4 passenger trains each way daily, and beginning the 17th, Sunday train service will commence from Meadville to Evansburg (Conneaut Lake). Train departs the station at 2 PM and returns at 7:30 PM. Fare is 25 cents round trip.

Construction of the Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie Railroad continues north from Osgood (Greenville) towards Albion and crosses the M&L at Shermansville. The crossing will be later known as Meadville Junction.

The M&L again falls into financial difficulties and was reorganized as the Meadville, Conneaut Lake & Linesville Railroad Company. Nine days later a lease was drawn up with the Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie Railroad to operate the line.

The Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie agrees to lease Exposition Park, later named Conneaut Lake Park, for the season. A one mile spur track would be built into the park from a point on the main line called Lynces Junction. The first train arrived at the park one year later, in 1892. The railroad would continue a leasing arrangement of the park until 1905. The result of this operating agreement brought increased passenger business, especially from Meadville.

The Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie begins operating the MCL&L. The lease came with an agreement the railroad would change the rails from iron to steel, rebuild the 279′ bridge over French Creek using steel, and return the entire line to good operating condition.

The 99 year lease of the Meadville, Conneaut Lake & Linesville by the Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie is officially filed.

The Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie builds the Vallonia branch to reach the Meadville Distillery Company on Race Street. This extension, along with businesses served on Sycamore Alley, increases the freight business at the station.

Published passenger timetable lists 6 departures and 6 arrivals at Meadville Station. Connections at Meadville Junction connects with trains going either north to Erie or Conneaut, Ohio, or south to Pittsburgh on the PS&LE. Trains also connect at Linesville with Pennsylvania Railroad trains going either to Erie or Pittsburgh.

The newly formed Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad assumes responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the Pittsburgh, Bessemer & Lake Erie and the Meadville, Conneaut Lake & Linesville Railroads for a term of 999 years.

Bessemer purchases properties on Mead Avenue and Poplar Street to create a strip of land following the tracks north to south giving another 25′ of width along the tracks. They proposed a new brick passenger station to be built facing on Mead Avenue. They also planned to then move the current station to the rear of the new building. This would relieve the increasing freight and passenger business issues.  

Bids were reportedly out for the construction of the new station. Instead of constructing a new station the existing station received an 11′ by 15′ baggage room addition on the southwest corner of the existing station, and the north end of the structure was extended another 50′ towards Mead Avenue, making the total structure 150′ long.

A large crowd visits the station as then-President William Taft visits Meadville campaigning for a third term in the office. He ends up losing to Woodrow Wilson in the November election.

Passenger service to the station was down to 4 trains each way. The railroad began using a gasoline powered McKean Motor passenger car on the line to lower operating expenses. It was removed from service in 1916.

Arsonists attempted to set fire to the Bessemer freight house, but were unsuccessful. The following day they set fire to the Erie Railroad freight house on Water Street. That fire did $5000 to the structure and another $5000 to its contents. The arsonists were never found.

The economic depression and the increasing use of motor vehicles were taking away much of the passenger train traffic on the line. The Bessemer took action, filed for and received permission to abandon the passenger service from Linesville to Meadville Junction after public notice had been given.

Mail service on the Bessemer Meadville branch was abandoned by the government.

Passenger service on the branch from Meadville to Meadville Junction was abandoned, resulting in the end of all passenger service to the Meadville Bessemer station.

The Pittsburgh, Bessemer & Lake Erie and the Meadville, Conneaut Lake & Linesville Railroads are officially merged into the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad.

The Erie Railroad purchased the Vallonia Branch from the Bessemer after using the trackage since 1928 under a special arrangement with the Bessemer.

The Bessemer sold its interchange property at Linesville to the Pennsylvania Railroad after receiving permission to abandon the remaining trackage from Meadville Junction to Linesville.

O. S. Brock leases the station from the Bessemer & Lake Erie, and then leases it to John Hubert Milling Company.

Mattocks Five opens Meadville Farm and Garden and purchases the station on an Article of Agreement from O. S. Brock. The discrepancies between the apparent ownership of the station and the legal chain of title is unknown.

The last passenger train to serve Meadville, Erie Lackawanna train number 6, The Lake Cities, would depart that evening.

Meadville Farm & Garden suffers a fire. Meadville City firemen extinguish the flames quickly, resulting in minimal damage to the structure.

Bessemer & Lake Erie files for abandonment of the entire remaining Meadville Branch. The ICC would give its approval 4 years later.

Mattocks Five officially purchases the station from the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad.

The last Bessemer train arrives in Meadville from Albion yards. It was also the “last run” for the train’s conductor, J.W. Shearer, who retired from the railroad after 33 years of service.

Conrail takes over 1.4 miles of the Bessemer branch trackage in Meadville from the station to Dad’s Dog Food plant.. The remaining 15.6 miles of trackage from Kerrtown west to Meadville Junction is abandoned, leaving the entire mainline that the Meadville Railway Company built now just history. One, though, can walk the Ernst Bike Trail today and explore a section of the former right-of-way beginning at the Park Avenue Plaza on Route 19 in Meadville, ending 5 miles west at the Mercer Pike.

Mattocks Five acquires additional properties adjacent to the existing station property from the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Meadville.

Norfolk Southern, successor to Conrail, takes over the remaining former-Bessemer trackage to Dad’s Dog Food plant in Kerrtown.

Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad leases from the Norfolk Southern the ex-Erie RR Franklin Secondary and its associated lines between Meadville and Oil city. Included in this is the trackage to Dad’s Dog Food plant in Kerrtown.

Meadville Farm & Garden closes its doors for the last time, and files for bankruptcy.

French Creek Valley Railroad Historical Society purchases the station structure from the bankruptcy trustees and begins the project of restoring the historical railroad station to its former glory.

The renovation of the Meadville Railway Company Depot has been completed and the Meadville Railroad Depot Museum is open for business.