The North Shore 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 opera ...

that operates of track in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

, Montour, Columbia, and Luzerne

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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, ...

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 territorie ...

. The line runs generally northeast between

(in Northumberland County) and the

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

village of Beach Haven in Salem Township (in Luzerne County). Other communities served include Danville (in

Montour County Montour County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,136. Its county seat is Danville. The county is named for Andrew Montour, a prominent Mét ...

), Bloomsburg, and Berwick (both in Columbia County). The rail line runs generally northeast along the north shore of the North Branch of the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

, roughly following U.S. Route 11. There are of SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority track in Northumberland County, in Montour County, and 15 in Columbia County. Beach Haven is just east of Berwick and the Columbia County - Luzerne County line. The corporate offices are located in Northumberland, where there is a connection to the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

line.

North Shore Railroad System

The North Shore Railroad gives its name to the North Shore Railroad System, which includes the following short lines: * Juniata Valley Railroad (JVRR)* *

Lycoming Valley Railroad The Lycoming Valley Railroad is a short line that operates of track in Lycoming and Clinton counties in Pennsylvania in the United States. It is part of the North Shore Railroad System. The line runs generally west between Muncy (in ...

(LVRR)* *

Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad The Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad is a short line railroad that operates of track in Blair, Centre, and Clinton counties in Pennsylvania in the United States. It is part of the North Shore Railroad System. The line runs generally northea ...

(NBER)* *North Shore Railroad (NSHR)* *

Shamokin Valley Railroad The Shamokin Valley Railroad is a short line railroad that operates 27 miles of track in southern Northumberland County, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is part of the North Shore Railroad System. The line runs generally southeast bet ...

(SVRR)* *

Union County Industrial Railroad The Union County Industrial Railroad is a short line railroad that operates on approximately 12 miles (20 km) of track in Union County in the U.S. State of Pennsylvania. It is part of the North Shore Railroad System. The line is alon ...

(UCIR) The first five railroads (those marked with an asterisk, *) are owned by SEDA-COG JRA (Susquehanna Economic Development Association - Council of Governments Joint Rail Authority) and operated under contract by Robey Railroads, a private company. The North Shore and the Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroads were the first two railroads owned by the SEDA-COG JRA. Robey Railroads also operates UCIR. As of 2006, there are plans by Robey to consolidate these six lines as the Susquehanna Railroad Corporation, a non-operating

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

. The system has

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may con ...

via the Norfolk Southern line. These allow the North Shore Railroad to connect to the south with the Shamokin Valley Railroad (at Sunbury), and to the north and west with the Union County Industrial Railroad (at

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

), the Lycoming Valley Railroad (at Muncy and at Linden) and the Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad (at

Lock Haven Lock Haven is the county seat of Clinton County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Located near the confluence of the West Branch Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Creek, it is the principal city of the Lock Haven Micropolitan Statistical Area ...

History

The North Shore Railroad's line first was built in 1852 as part of the

Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad The Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad (LBR) was an 80-mile (129 km) long 19th century railroad that ran between Scranton and Northumberland in Pennsylvania in the United States. Incorporated in 1852, the railroad began operation in 1856 and ...

. This was in turn acquired by the

Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...

in 1873. The DL&W merged with the

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Erie ...

in 1960, forming the

Erie Lackawanna Railroad The Erie Lackawanna Railway , known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Route" ...

, and was absorbed into

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

in 1976. SEDA-COG JRA was formed in July, 1983 to continue to provide rail service to communities whose rail lines Conrail had decided to abandon. In 1984 the JRA took over the line along the north shore of the Susquehanna River from Northumberland to Beach Haven and renamed it the "North Shore Railroad".

External links

North Shore Railroad

{{DEFAULTSORT:North Shore Railroad Pennsylvania Transportation in Columbia County, Pennsylvania Transportation in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Transportation in Montour County, Pennsylvania Transportation in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania railroads Spin-offs of Conrail

North Shore Railroad System

History

See also

External links