The Bell's Gap Railroad was a long railroad in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It was inaugurated in 1873 and consolidated in 1874. The original construction was narrow-gauge.

History

The Bell's Gap Railroad Company was incorporated under the general law of Pennsylvania on 11 May 1871, to construct a railway from Bell’s Mills, on the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

, to Lloyds in

Cambria County Cambria County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 133,472. Its county seat is Ebensburg. The county was created on March 26, 1804, from parts of Bedford, Huntingdon, and Somerset Countie ...

. The construction began in 1872, and the long line was put in operation in June 1873.Howard Fleming
''Narrow gauge railways in America. A sketch of their rise, progress and success: valuable statistics as to grades, curves, weight of rail, locomotives, cars, etc.''
1876. Page 60-61. The Pennsylvania & North Western Railroad Company became the successor by change of name of the Bell's Gap Railroad Company on 9 May 1874. In 1883 and 1884, the Pennsylvania & North Western Railroad Company (under control of the

) converted the original 3 foot gauge trackage to standard gauge.

Route and track

The grade was very heavy, the maximum of 158.4 feet to the mile (3.0 %) being continuous for . The sharpest curvature was 28° with a radius. There were ten of these curves on the maximum grade, two of which were long with a turning an angle of 168°. The weight of rail was 35 pounds to the yard (17.5 kg/m).

Rolling stock

The weight of the engines was 15 tons. The following rolling stock was used in 1875: * 2 locomotives * 2 passenger cars * 78 freight cars

Operation

Operations for year ending 31 December 1875 were as follows: * Gross earnings: $38,146.42 * Operating expenses: $18,504.85 (48.49 %) * Net earnings, $19,641.57

External links

Narrow gauge railway

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bells Gap Railroad Standard gauge railways in the United States Railway companies established in 1871 Defunct companies based in Pennsylvania Defunct Pennsylvania railroads 1871 establishments in Pennsylvania