The Gettysburg and Northern Railroad is 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 oper ...

located in the U.S. state of

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, ...

. The railroad operates a long line running between Gettysburg in Adams County and Mount Holly Springs in Cumberland County. The Gettysburg and Northern Railroad is owned by

Pioneer Lines Pioneer Lines (formerly Pioneer Railcorp) is a holding company for a number of American short-line railroads. Other subsidiaries offer locomotive and freight car leasing to its own railroads and to third parties, and also freight car cleaning. ...

Operations

The Gettysburg and Northern Railroad operates a long line running from Gettysburg in Adams County north to Mount Holly Springs in Cumberland County. Between Gettysburg and Mount Holly Springs, the railroad serves Biglerville,

Aspers Aspers is a census-designated place in Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 486. At the 2000 census it was listed as the Bendersville Station-Aspers CDP. Geography Aspers is located at (39.97 ...

, Gardners, Peach Glen,

Hunters Run Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, ...

, and Upper Mill. The Gettysburg and Northern Railroad interchanges with CSX Transportation in Gettysburg and the Norfolk Southern Railway in Mount Holly Springs. Among the products carried by the railroad are canned goods, pulpboard, soda ash, grain, and scrap paper. The Gettysburg and Northern Railroad is owned by railroad holding company

History

The railroad was built in the late 19th century and opened in 1891 as the

Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railway The Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railway was a Pennsylvania line from near Carlisle southward to Gettysburg operated by subsidiaryof the Reading Company. The line also included the Round Top Branch over the Gettysburg Battlefield to Round Top, P ...

. The line was later leased to the

Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly call ...

and operated as the "Gettysburg Branch." The bankrupt Reading Railroad became part of Conrail in 1976, however the Gettysburg Branch was left out of the Conrail system. The

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, currently Yassmin Gramian. Presently, Pe ...

took over the branch and sold the line to a new company, the Blairsville & Indiana Railroad, in 1976; this company changed its name to

Gettysburg Railroad The Gettysburg Railroad was a railway line in Pennsylvania that operated from 1858 to 1870 over the 17-mile (27 km) main line from the terminus in Gettysburg to the 1849 Hanover Junction. After becoming the Susquehanna, Gettysburg & Poto ...

. As of January 2023, the Gettysburg and Northern is owned and operated by Patriot Rail In 1996, the Gettysburg Railroad was sold to

RailAmerica RailAmerica, Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida, was a holding company of a number of short-line railroads and regional railroads in the United States and Canada. In 2007, RailAmerica was acquired by Fortress Investment Group. Before that, it ...

subsidiary Delaware Valley Railroad Company, which operated the line as the Gettysburg Railway. In 2001, the Gettysburg Railway was sold to Pioneer Railcorp and the Gettysburg and Northern Railroad took over operations.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gettysburg And Northern Railroad Pennsylvania railroads Pioneer Lines Railway companies established in 2001