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The Story of the Stewartstown RailroadThe History of a Little Railroad That Refused to DieBy Eric J. Bickleman
The Stewartstown railroad resides over 100 miles (161 kilometers) South of Belleville near the Maryland border. It was built in 1885 and ran between its namesake and New Freedom, a distance of only seven miles (11 kilometers), where it made a connection with the Northern Central Railroad. The Stewartstown was financed by local stock subscriptions and was making a healthy profit in its early years. This caught the eye of the KV directors in 1892, and they persuaded the president of the line, James Fulton, to speak at several fund raising meetings to help promote their own little railroad. It was said that Fulton had a "silver tongue" and was able to convince many in Kishacoquillas Valley to buy stock in the newly formed KVRR. He even predicted that the KV would have a much better return of profit than his own railroad. Time would prove him wrong, since the Stewartstown continued to run until 2004 as an excursion train. It's amazing how alike the Stewartstown railroad and the KV were. Not only were they about the same length and promoted and financed in the same way, but they were run in a similar fashion also. In fact, the KV's first conductor and superintendent was John Gemmill from the Stewartstown Railroad, where he'd previously held the same positions. This book not only covers the Stewartstown Railroad but gives a good account of the New Park & Fawn Grove Railroad. This was another shortline railroad whose sole connection was with the Stewartstown Railroad. The two roads eventually merged in 1924. Eric Bickleman gives a good historical look at the Stewartstown Railroad and has not forgotten the model railroader in the process. The track plans are some of the best I've seen, and the author has thoughtfully included floor plans and elevation drawings of both the old and new Stewartstown passenger stations. But for a railroad that has lasted for almost 120 years I was surprised to find less than 40 photographs in the book. Many are good but I was expecting a lot more. The paper is uncoated and cream colored and the binding (on my copy) is very fragile. The book was published in 1996 by the Baltimore Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society and is available at www.nrhsbalto.org.
Steel Rails to StewartstownA Visitor's Guide to the Historic Stewartstown RailroadBy Eric J. Bickleman and Kurt BellThis booklet will make a perfect companion to The Story of the Stewartstown Railroad above, especially for anyone who plans to visit the area. It is written by the same author, Eric Bickleman, with the help of Kurt Bell the archivist at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. The booklet gives a very brief history of the railroad, but more importantly a good description of the interesting locations along the right-of-way. An entertaining map drawn by Kurt Bell has each location labeled, making it easy to find your way. An additional bonus is a driving tour of the New Park & Fawn Grove Railroad. All the photographs appear to be different than those in the book above. There are some excellent overhead shots but all of photos were produced using a very coarse screen and appear quite grainy. But this booklet was produced as an inexpensive tourist guide and serves that purpose well. As far as I know, the booklet was only available at the Stewartstown Railroad gift shop. |
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