Historical Postcard Images
of the Pennsylvania Railroad
This site contains thumbnail links to images of scenes on the Pennsylvania Railroad that are now either gone or have changed with time. It is very much a work-in-progress, and I will add new images as I acquire and digitize them. Click on the thumbnails to see larger images.
Site Index:
Cumberland Valley Railroad
The Juniata Valley
The Pittsburgh Division
The Cumberland Valley Railroad ran between Harrisburg, PA and Winchester, VA. In 1919, the Pennsylvania Railroad absorbed the CVRR into its corporate structure and made it the Cumberland Valley Division (later the Cumberland Valley Branch). Today, the Winchester & Western RR operates the southern section of the CVRR from Hagerstown, MD to Winchester, VA. The line from Hagerstown north to and Shippensburg, PA forms part of the Norfolk Southern (ex-CONRAIL) line to Harrisburg and the Northeast. The ex-CVRR line from Lemoyne, across the Susquehanna River from Harrisburg, to a point just south of Carlisle, survives as an industrial spur. CONRAIL tore up the track between Shippensburg and Carlisle.
I am grateful to Ivan E. Frantz, Jr. for providing four of the images in this section, thus helping to tell a more complete visual story. Images from Mr. Frantz's collection are so labeled.
Martinsburg, WV, approximately half way between Winchester, VA and Hagerstown, MD., was an important junction between the Baltimore & Ohio and the Cumberland Valley Railroad. The CVRR's passenger station, pictured in these two different tinted post cards, still stands.
Hagerstown, MD was (and still is) a major junction of railroad lines connecting the Appalachian South with the industrial Northeast. Here, the Western Maryland Railway crossed the CVRR, and branches of the Baltimore & Ohio and the Norfolk & Western also added to the busy interchange traffic. The CVRR/N&W link provided an important alternate route for freight traffic bypassing the congested area around Washington, DC and supported through Pullman passenger service between southern Appalachia and New York City. Although this view from the Ivan E. Frantz, Jr. Collection is labeled only as the CVRR passenger station, it was shared by the CVRR and the N&W.
The CVRR was one of the oldest railroads in the United States; it was built in the 1840s and 50s when laying tracks right through the middle of a town's streets was common. In Chambersburg, the CVRR's headquarters town, the mainline ran up the middle of Third Street. In 1876, the railroad built a new passenger station at the corner of Third and King streets to replace an inconvenient stub-end terminal two blocks to the northeast. The Third Street station served the town until a realignment program necessitated the construction a new building one block east in 1914. The first view looks east; a train shed visible above the station's roofline obscured the track side of the station. The second view is from the collection of Ivan E. Fronts, Jr. and looks southwest through the train shed. The station building survives today as the headquarters of the Public Opinion newspaper.
In 1914 the CVRR completed a major civil engineering project that relocated the mainline through Chambersburg from the middle of Third Street to an elevated embankment, called the "high line," about one block to the east. At the same time, the Cumberland Valley moved its corporate headquarters to a new 4-story brick building adjacent to the high line, between East Market (today's Lincoln Way East) and East King streets, and erected a new passenger station nearby. The first view, looking north, shows an overview of the new structures shortly after their completion. The second post card is a close-up of the front entrance to the passenger station. Passengers reached the track-level platform via a pedestrian sub-way and stairs. The station was demolished ca. 1960.
This is not a post card image, but it such a rare image that I felt it should be included. Pressed for power during World War II, the Pennsy acquired six Class Y3 2-8-8-2 articulated engines from the Norfolk & Western in 1943. PRR designated them Class HH1 and renumbered them. In this photograph from the Ivan E. Frantz, Jr. Collection, recently acquired Y3 No. 2045 is seen at the northern (eastern running) end of the passenger platform in Chambersburg. The engine had not yet been renumbered, but the pilot symbols EE - EEH show she was assigned to Enola for maintenance.
Shippensburg, a market town straddling the line between Franklin and Cumberland counties, was the next major town north of Chambersburg. On the eastern edge of town, the CVRR connected with the Reading line from Harrisburg before turning sharply northwest through the heart of the business district. The CVRR mainline ran at street level through Shippensburg right up to the end of service in the early CONRAIL era. This beautiful little Italianate structure was the passenger station.
At Carlisle, the county seat of Cumberland County, the CVRR finally got around to relocating the mainline to an elevated embankment away from the downtown. This photographic postcard shows the last train on High Street on October 16, 1936. The passenger station's roof is visible just beyond the far end of the commercial block on the right. The power for this train is E3sb 5011, which had been assigned to the Schuylkill Division in 1931. During the 1930s Pennsy class E3 and E5 4-4-2 "Atlantics," bumped from mainline service by bigger K-class 4-6-2 Pacifics, were the mainstay passenger engines on secondary routes like the Cumberland Valley Division. The E's in turn displaced the 4-4-0 "American" D16sb's that had been the CVRR's premier passenger engines when the line was absorbed by the PRR in 1919. Long before it lost its independent corporate identity the Cumberland Valley Railroad was controlled by the PRR; by the Turn-of-the-Century its motive power roster was dominated by the latest graduates of the Juniata Works. The second image shows the High Street station earlier in the century.
To enter Harrisburg, the CVRR had to bridge the Susquehanna River at Lemoyne. This post card image from the Ivan E. Frantz, Jr. Collection shows the CVRR's fifth -- and final -- Susquehanna bridge, a two-track structure completed in December 1916. The view is from the Harrisburg side, looking southwest toward Lemoyne.
PRR in the Juniata Valley
Mt. Union sits on the south bank of the Juniata River about mid-way between Lewistown and Altoona on the former Pennsylvania Railroad mainline from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. Manufacture of refractory bricks for the iron and steel industry was the town's major industry. The PRR operated a tie creosoting plant there, as well, and interchanged traffic with the narrow gauge East Broad Top Railroad.
PRR's Mt. Union creosoting plant ca. 1910. PRR broke ground for this facility in November 1908 on the plot of ground between Division Street and the Juniata River. The smallness of the plant is deceiving. On October 20, 1910, The Huntingdon Globe reported that the plant's railroad yard held 6 million board feet of timber and 1/4 million ties.
East Broad Top/PRR interchange yard at Mt. Union ca. 1907. Note the dual gauge track and the drastic difference in size between narrow gauge and standard gauge boxcars. In the full-size image, a "beehive" brick kiln at one of Mt. Union's three refractory brick plants is visible just above the roof on the small building mid-way up the left edge of the image.
West of Mt. Union the former PRR mainline passes through Jacks Narrows. This ca. 1910 postcard view looks east toward Mt. Union. NB (Jacks) tower clings to the riverbank in the distance. NB controlled the junction of the original PRR main line through Mt. Union with the elevated bypass completed in 1907. The old main was retained to serve several industries and the East Broad Top Railroad's dual-gauge interchange yard.
Huntingdon is the county seat of Huntingdon County. The PRR's main line shared the north bank of the Juniata River with the Juniata Division Canal of the State Line of Public Works on the eastern approach to the town. This post card from a ca. 1850 artist's rendition overlooks the single-track PRR and the canal from the east.
Catastrophic flooding in early June, 1889 so heavily damaged the Juniata Division Canal that the Commonwealth authorized its abandonment over nearly its entire distance. The PRR quickly relocated its main line to the more gradual curvature of the canal basin in many places, including Huntingdon. This view from the same vantagepoint as the 1850 scene shows the scene ca. 1910. Note the 4-track main line now occupying the canal bed, with the old railroad grade still visible to the right.
The standard gauge Huntingdon & Broad Top Mountain Railroad terminated at a small interchange yard and passenger station across the PRR main line from the PRR's Huntingdon passenger station. In this ca. 1910 view looking east the PRR station is in the left background. In the canal era, the main line ran down the street on the other side of the station. An H&BTM locomotive at right partially obscures the H&BTM's little passenger station, which occupies the PRR's eastbound passenger platform accessed by a pedestrian tunnel from the westbound platform. Although the H&BTM fell to the scrapper in 1954, its Huntingdon station survived in fair condition until the Norfolk Southern Corporation demolished it for no apparent reason in 2001.
Pittsburgh Division
Johnstown, PA is famous for the disastrous flood of 1889 and for the burning debris field that piled up behind the PRR's stone bridge. This is the stone bridge viewed from the confluence of the Little Conemaugh and Stoney Creek rivers in downtown Johnstown. The mill buildings of Cambria Steel (later owned by Bethlehem Steel) stand in the distance.
East Liberty was an affluent suburb in Pittsburgh's "East End" when this tinted photograph postcard was made ca. 1920. It warranted a large commuter station (right distance) and a multi-story post office (left distance, above trees). Today this scene, looking northwest from across Fifth Avenue, is filled with the bus barn of Allegheny County's Port Authority Transit and an employee parking lot. The post office building survives as a paint dealership.
Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Station is shown here as it appeared when this postcard was mailed in 1917. The tower at left controlled the junction between the PRR's mainline from Philadelphia and the old Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne, and Chicago RR. Today the tower is gone, replaced by a metal shed labeled "W.PITT," and the Greyhound bus terminal occupies the area under the elevated tracks. Pennsylvania Station survives as "The Pennsylvanian," a high-security, up-scale apartment building, while the AMTRAK station occupies a corner in the basement.
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Martinsburg, WV, approximately half way between Winchester, VA and Hagerstown, MD., was an important junction between the Baltimore & Ohio and the Cumberland Valley Railroad. The CVRR's passenger station, pictured in these two different tinted post cards, still stands.
Hagerstown, MD was (and still is) a major junction of railroad lines connecting the Appalachian South with the industrial Northeast. Here, the Western Maryland Railway crossed the CVRR, and branches of the Baltimore & Ohio and the Norfolk & Western also added to the busy interchange traffic. The CVRR/N&W link provided an important alternate route for freight traffic bypassing the congested area around Washington, DC and supported through Pullman passenger service between southern Appalachia and New York City. Although this view from the Ivan E. Frantz, Jr. Collection is labeled only as the CVRR passenger station, it was shared by the CVRR and the N&W.
The CVRR was one of the oldest railroads in the United States; it was built in the 1840s and 50s when laying tracks right through the middle of a town's streets was common. In Chambersburg, the CVRR's headquarters town, the mainline ran up the middle of Third Street. In 1876, the railroad built a new passenger station at the corner of Third and King streets to replace an inconvenient stub-end terminal two blocks to the northeast. The Third Street station served the town until a realignment program necessitated the construction a new building one block east in 1914. The first view looks east; a train shed visible above the station's roofline obscured the track side of the station. The second view is from the collection of Ivan E. Fronts, Jr. and looks southwest through the train shed. The station building survives today as the headquarters of the Public Opinion newspaper.
In 1914 the CVRR completed a major civil engineering project that relocated the mainline through Chambersburg from the middle of Third Street to an elevated embankment, called the "high line," about one block to the east. At the same time, the Cumberland Valley moved its corporate headquarters to a new 4-story brick building adjacent to the high line, between East Market (today's Lincoln Way East) and East King streets, and erected a new passenger station nearby. The first view, looking north, shows an overview of the new structures shortly after their completion. The second post card is a close-up of the front entrance to the passenger station. Passengers reached the track-level platform via a pedestrian sub-way and stairs. The station was demolished ca. 1960.
This is not a post card image, but it such a rare image that I felt it should be included. Pressed for power during World War II, the Pennsy acquired six Class Y3 2-8-8-2 articulated engines from the Norfolk & Western in 1943. PRR designated them Class HH1 and renumbered them. In this photograph from the Ivan E. Frantz, Jr. Collection, recently acquired Y3 No. 2045 is seen at the northern (eastern running) end of the passenger platform in Chambersburg. The engine had not yet been renumbered, but the pilot symbols EE - EEH show she was assigned to Enola for maintenance.
Shippensburg, a market town straddling the line between Franklin and Cumberland counties, was the next major town north of Chambersburg. On the eastern edge of town, the CVRR connected with the Reading line from Harrisburg before turning sharply northwest through the heart of the business district. The CVRR mainline ran at street level through Shippensburg right up to the end of service in the early CONRAIL era. This beautiful little Italianate structure was the passenger station.
At Carlisle, the county seat of Cumberland County, the CVRR finally got around to relocating the mainline to an elevated embankment away from the downtown. This photographic postcard shows the last train on High Street on October 16, 1936. The passenger station's roof is visible just beyond the far end of the commercial block on the right. The power for this train is E3sb 5011, which had been assigned to the Schuylkill Division in 1931. During the 1930s Pennsy class E3 and E5 4-4-2 "Atlantics," bumped from mainline service by bigger K-class 4-6-2 Pacifics, were the mainstay passenger engines on secondary routes like the Cumberland Valley Division. The E's in turn displaced the 4-4-0 "American" D16sb's that had been the CVRR's premier passenger engines when the line was absorbed by the PRR in 1919. Long before it lost its independent corporate identity the Cumberland Valley Railroad was controlled by the PRR; by the Turn-of-the-Century its motive power roster was dominated by the latest graduates of the Juniata Works. The second image shows the High Street station earlier in the century.
To enter Harrisburg, the CVRR had to bridge the Susquehanna River at Lemoyne. This post card image from the Ivan E. Frantz, Jr. Collection shows the CVRR's fifth -- and final -- Susquehanna bridge, a two-track structure completed in December 1916. The view is from the Harrisburg side, looking southwest toward Lemoyne.
