The Cambria and Indiana Railroad (C&I) is a

railway company A railway company is a company within the rail industry. It can be a manufacturing firm or an rail transport operations, operator. Some railway companies operate both the trains and the track, while, particularly in the European Union, operation ...

that is located in the southeastern part of Indiana County, Pennsylvania in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Incorporated in 1904 and built in 1910 with the intention of carrying

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

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 discovered in the area soon after its construction, and C&I's fortunes subsequently became closely intertwined with the coal industry. C&I became the "richest railroad in the country", generating the most revenue per mile of track, during the 1930s and 1940s.Lewis, David
"A Short History of the Cambria and Indiana Railroad."
Accessed 2014-07-06. The increasing use of

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describ ...

for heating purposes, however, dealt a severe blow to C&I and in 1995, C&I divested almost all its assets.

Brief history

The Cambria and Indiana Railroad, originally named Blacklick and Yellow Creek Railroad (B&YC), was founded in 1904 by Vinton Lumber Company as a

subsidiary company A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a sam ...

to haul its lumber. Soon after its construction, coal was found in the area and the subsidiary was subsequently purchased by John Heisley Weaver and B. Dawson Coleman for US$100,000 in 1910 to serve its coal interests in the

Cambria Cambria is a name for Wales, being the Latinised form of the Welsh name for the country, . The term was not in use during the Roman period (when Wales had not come into existence as a distinct entity). It emerged later, in the medieval period, ...

and

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

counties. At the time of purchase, the B&YC was only ten miles long but the railroad was extensively extended soon after its acquisition to better serve its new purpose. Construction began in February, 1911 and the name of the company was officially changed on 20 April 1911 to reflect the name of the two counties that it served. By 1919, C&I was also serving 23 other mines in the area. Scheduled passenger service started in 1914 until 1 December 1931, after which, it only ran only when needed until the late 1930s. The first locomotive on the C&I was a Baldwin Steam Locomotive #3 which was subsequently sold in January 1930.C&I Photos by Mark Anderson
/ref> The C&I became the "richest railroad in the country", generating the most revenue per mile of track, during the 1930s and 1940s. All this, however, was to change as a result of the declining use of coal for heating homes in preference for electricity. By 1962, there were only four mines left on the line, spelling the apparent demise of the C&I.

Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succe ...

became the majority owner of the railway in 1950. Business picked up when the BethEnergy subsidiary, opened Mine 33 near Ebensburg in 1963, and Barnes & Tucker opened a large mine at Stiles in 1965, thus sustaining C&I for another thirty years. However, in the summer of 1994, Bethlehem closed down Mine 33, spelling the apparent demise of the C&I. A year later, C&I sold almost all its trackage as scrap and donated most of its abandoned right-of-way to the Cambria County Conservation and Recreation Authority to become part of the Ghost Town Trail for use by bicyclists and walkers. C&I locomotives were dispatched to other Bethlehem subsidiary railroads. A small portion of trackage was retained by Conrail and another portion was sold to a private owner. In 1998, the private owner sold 9.6 miles of the abandoned track back to the C&I. Bethlehem Steel was acquired by ISG in 2003. In 2004, nearly 10 years following the closing of Mine 33 and the end of C&I operations, ISG reported plans to reopen Mine 33 to produce coke primarily for steel-making by 2006, and also to generate electricity. This development was shelved in late 2006 due to economic conditions. File:Cambria and Indiana Railroad Yard Colver Mine.png, Cambria and Indiana Railroad Yard Colver Mine File:Cambria and Indiana RR map 1923.png, 1923 Map (distorted scale) File:Cambria and Indiana RR timetable 1923.png, 1923 Timetable

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cambria Indiana Railroad Defunct Pennsylvania railroads Former Class I railroads in the United States Railway companies established in 1911 American companies established in 1911

Brief history

See also

References