The Pittsburg and Shawmut Railroad , also known as the Shawmut Line, was a
short line railroad
:''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.''
A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...
company operating passenger and freight service on standard gauge track in central and southwestern
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, ...
. Since 2004, it has been operated as part of the
Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad, which is owned by
Genesee & Wyoming Inc.
History
The Pittsburg and Shawmut Railroad is often confused with the similarly named
Pittsburg, Shawmut and Northern Railroad from which the P&S had its origins. Further adding to the confusion is the fact that both were nicknamed the ''Shawmut Line'', both operated in roughly the same geographic area, and both used similar diamond logos during their history. In fact the two were separate and unrelated companies after their 1916 split.
The main line consisted of approximately 88 miles (140 km) of standard gauge track extending from
Brockway, Pennsylvania to
Freeport, Pennsylvania
Freeport is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Armstrong County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania; it is situated along the Allegheny River in the southwest corner of the county. The population was 1,813 at the 201 ...
. The main shops were located in
Brookville, Pennsylvania
Brookville is a borough in Jefferson County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, northeast of Pittsburgh. As of the 2010 census, the population was 3,933. Founded in 1830, it is the county seat of Jefferson County
History
The area was initially ...
.
Beginnings
The Pittsburg and Shawmut Railroad Company began life on July 21, 1903, as the Brookville and Mahoning Railroad, leased by the
Pittsburg, Shawmut and Northern Railroad. When the PS&N declared bankruptcy in 1905, the B&M was spun off into a separate entity and was renamed in 1909 due to confusion with the
Boston and Maine Railroad's initials. Like its parent, the P&S was also financially troubled in its early years. The company struggled until corporate fortunes improved with the war mobilization of the 1940s.
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
was the principal commodity for the line for its entire existence.
Doodlebugs and passenger trains ran on the route in the early years but had all been eliminated by 1939.
Recent History
The company acquired a ten-mile (16 km) section of
Conrail track running from
Sligo to Lawsonham in 1989 and reorganized it as the Red Bank Railroad. On December 31, 1991, the company purchased about of the Low Grade Secondary track from Lawsonham to
Driftwood, Pennsylvania
Driftwood is a borough in Cameron County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 36 at the 2020 census.
History
The community takes its name from Driftwood Branch Sinnemahoning Creek (in older sources called "Driftwood Creek").
Geograph ...
from Conrail and organized it as the Mountain Laurel Railroad.
Spelling of Pittsburg
The spelling of ''Pittsburgh'' as ''Pittsburg'' derives from the company's origins in the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railroad. That company was chartered in 1899 when the
name of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was commonly spelled without the ''h''. The
United States Board on Geographic Names advocated the ''h''-less spelling from 1891 to 1911 in an effort to standardize the spelling of place names in the United States.
Management
The company operated under its own management until 1996 when it was acquired by the
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. The Genesee & Wyoming operated the Pittsburg & Shawmut Railroad under its own banner until January 1, 2004, when it was absorbed into the
Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad, another G&W company. Simultaneously, a new company with the same name was created to purchase the property, which is now operated by the BPRR. (The P&S also acquired the
residual common carrier obligation
A common carrier in common law countries (corresponding to a public carrier in some civil law systems,Encyclopædia Britannica CD 2000 "Civil-law public carrier" from "carriage of goods" usually called simply a ''carrier'') is a person or compan ...
on the lines.) Several portions of the main line were abandoned before the absorption and several others since.
External links
Buffalo and Pittsburgh RailroadThe Shawmut Line
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pittsburgh Shawmut Railroad
Pennsylvania railroads
Former Class I railroads in the United States
Railway companies established in 1909
Genesee & Wyoming
Non-operating common carrier freight railroads in the United States