The Mount Gretna Narrow Gauge Railway was a

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...

line of the Cornwall and Lebanon Railroad in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

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, ...

that operated between 1889 and 1916. The Cornwall and Lebanon Railroad earlier had established a station and picnic ground at Mount Gretna.

History

The

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...

iron industrialist and railroad president Robert Habersham Coleman decided that a narrow-gauge railroad to the top of nearby Governor Dick Mountain would provide an additional tourist draw, and a spur at milepost 0.75 could service the Pennsylvania

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

rifle ranges nearby.Crittenden The line was built to the rare (in North America) and very narrow gauge of . Locomotives, apart from an early and unsuccessful H. K. Porter, IncShaw 1958 p. 183

Forney locomotive The Forney is a type of tank locomotive patented by Matthias N. Forney between 1861 and 1864 and used predominantly in the USA. Forney design Forney locomotives include the following characteristics: * An wheel arrangement, that is four drivin ...

, were three "American" types (#11, #12 and #15)Abdill 1965 p. 98 built by

Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...

. Locomotive #12 was ordered on 22 June 1889 and built in only 8 days to be ready for anticipated

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

crowds after the Porter Forney

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

proved too rigid for reliable service on small-radius curves. The Baldwin locomotives featured lagged

smokebox A smokebox is one of the major basic parts of a steam locomotive exhaust system. Smoke and hot gases pass from the firebox through tubes where they pass heat to the surrounding water in the boiler. The smoke then enters the smokebox, and is e ...

es and were the only gauge s ever operated in North America; although Baldwin built a gauge for the Ferrocarril de Tacubaya of

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

in 1897. Rails weighing were spiked onto the face of ties long. A

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, engine-house, water tank, runaround track, and storage tracks were near the junction with the Cornwall & Lebanon at Mount Gretna. Return loops were built near the rifle range and around Governor Dick peak. During the summer of 1889 passengers were carried in one conventional

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and 7 open-sided observation cars boarded from long foot-boards running along the length of either side of the car. These eight passenger cars were built by the Jackson & Sharp Company. Two more observation cars were added when locomotive #15 was purchased for the summer of 1890. At first the railroad was popular, but the tourist trade declined after the novelty had died down. The loop around Governor Dick was dismantled after the summer of 1896, but the railroad continued operation for the National Guard rifle range. A serious accident in 1915 killed off that traffic. One of the observation cars overturned on a sharp curve when a large number of guardsmen attempted to board simultaneously from one side of the car. There were some serious injuries, and the tiny railroad ceased operation in the summer of 1916, shortly after its parent company's purchase by 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 ...

. The narrow-gauge equipment was loaded aboard standard gauge cars on 14 September 1916.

Locomotives

Cornwall and Lebanon Railroad

The standard-gauge Cornwall and Lebanon Railroad continued operations as a branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and later

Penn Central Transportation Company The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

until 1972.

Hurricane Agnes Hurricane Agnes in 1972 was the costliest hurricane to hit the United States at the time, causing an estimated $2.1 billion in damage. The hurricane's death toll was 128. The effects of Agnes were widespread, from the Caribbean to Canada, ...

caused flood damage, preventing operation of trains on the branch, and the damage was not repaired. The branch was converted to the 21st-century

Lebanon Valley Rail Trail The Lebanon Valley Rail Trail (LVRT) is a National Recreation Trail. The rail trail goes from the southwestern border of Lebanon County and goes through Colebrook, Mt. Gretna, Cornwall, and the city of Lebanon. At the southern border of Lebanon ...

after the rails were removed.

References

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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mount Gretna Narrow Gauge Railway 2 ft gauge railways in the United States Narrow gauge railroads in Pennsylvania Railway lines closed in 1916 Defunct Pennsylvania railroads