Talk:Union County Industrial Railroad

Post-Conrail history of UCIR lines

Wow, this is a real nightmare to unravel. Here are the current players:

• UCIR: has contract to operate former Reading Williamsport Line from Winfield to Allenwood, former Reading Catawissa Branch West Milton to Milton, former PRR Bellefonte Branch between Lewisburg and Mifflinburg. Lines from Lewisburg to Mifflinburg and New Columbia to Allenwood out of service account bad track. Controlled by Robey Railroads (now Susquehanna Union Railroad?).
• Lewisburg and Buffalo Creek Railroad: owns track from Winfield to West Milton. Non-operating, although it may have operated tourist service in the past.
• West Shore Railroad: owns out-of-service track Lewisburg to Mifflinburg (operation ceased 1997, track out of service 1999 due to hurricane).
• Union County Industrial Development Corporation: owns track from West Milton to New Columbia (also out-of-service ex-Reading track north of Allenwood)
• Westmoreland Industrial Development Corporation: owns track from West Milton to Milton.
• White Deer and Reading Railroad: owned by SEDA-COG JRA, owns track from West Milton to New Columbia. The local NRHS chapter also runs short excursions over this track.

According to a 1997 STB notice, the UCIR once owned the line from New Columbia to Milton, and was going to sell it to the West Shore Railroad. At the same time, another Robey subsidiary, West Shore Railway Services, Inc. was merged into the UCIR. Since the West Shore ended operations from Mifflinburg to Lewisburg in October 1997, I'm not sure if the transaction came off. The company running Mifflinburg-Lewisburg excursion trips was "West Shore Rail Excursions"; I don't know what relationship it bears to any of the others.

West Shore Rail Excursions was a privately owned corporation completely separate from West Shore Railroad Corporation. West Shore Rail Excursions leased the line from Lewisburg to Mifflinburg for excursions. Other than a speeder and a SW-1 locomotive, all motive power and passenger consist was owned by West Shore Rail Excursions. The SW-1 locomotive was also eventually sold to West Shore Rail Excursions. West Shore Rail Excursions also utilized the Lewisburg and Buffalo Creek Railroad property for excursions.

If this hurts, don't worry: the STB confused the WSRR and the WSRy in its original notice and had to print a revision three months later. Any new data on UCIR's former ownership of track and other operations is appreciated. Choess 20:38, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Attempted cleanup

Thanks for all of your hard work, Choess. I tried to clean up the article based on the above and the PA RR map cited. I removed the contradict tag and, since I did not know where else to put it, am dumping the former History section below. I also somehow became logged out while making the edits (it was a long slog), but I made the cleanup edits, Ruhrfisch 05:04, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

History

The line operated by the Union County Industrial Railroad was formerly part of the Reading Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad and was absorbed into Conrail. When Conrail abandoned it, some of it became the (much shorter) UCIR and other parts became the West Shore Railroad (another Robey Railraods operation). However, West Shore Railway Services, Inc. was merged with the Union County Industrial Railroad Company in 1997. The West Shore Railroad used to operate tourist excursions from Lewisburg as well as freight, but these excursions have ceased and the West Shore Railroad appears to have also ceased operation as a railroad (although it still does own the UCIR track). CORRECTION: The UCIR is a corporation for the operations of some of the railroad property in Union County. In fact, there are four separate physical railroads in Union County as of 2006. These railroads include the West Shore Railroad Corporation, the White Deer NRHS Chapter, the Joint Rail Authority, and the Lewisburg & Buffalo Creek Railroad. Of the physical rail in Union County, UCIR only has contracts to operate the north/south line, which is the old Reading. The line from Lewisburg to Mifflinburg, is not in operation. Also note that West Shore Railroad never operated its own excursions. Excursions were actually operated by a third party who rented the line from Lewisburg to Mifflinburg from the West Shore. Finally, West Shore Railroad has never been part of "Robey Railroads", nor does "Robey Railroads" currently own any physical rail in Union County.