The following is a slight departure from the true history of the Tuscarora Railroad, but largely based on local history and economics. Many of the names, firms, and figures are factual.

The Beginnings:

The people of Fulton County, PA were rather tired of not having a railroad to call their own. Both the East Broad Top and the Tuscarora Valley came close, but had yet to think about laying rails to their little corner of the world. The EBT had built a grade down the valley in the early 1890s, but dropped the idea once the prospect of the South Penn Railroad vaporized. In 1898, the TVRR, through its subsidiary, the Tuscarora Railroad, surveyed a line south from their current end at Blairs Mills, south to Burnt Cabins, and on to McConnelsburg, PA. While the line was graded as far south as Burnt Cabins, no rails were ever laid by them, either.

By 1905, the natives were getting restless. They were the only county in Pennsylvania without rail service, and they wanted their due. They had a grade (or two, depending on where you were standing) ready for rails and ties, and they were ready to gain their due connection to the outside world. Negotiations began first with the East Broad Top, since their rails at Shade Gap were closest. Robert Seibert was president of that railroad (and the subsidiary Shade Gap Railroad) at the time, and while receptive to the concept, was busy spending money upgrading the physical plant of the EBT. If the EBT was going to help out, it would need some form of financial incentive from the promoters. The response from Thomas Moorhead, the president of the Tuscarora Valley was not much better. He was receptive, but his railroad was in no shape to spend money extending track south from Blairs Mills. They were having enough trouble keeping things running north.

Enter the lumbering firm of Comerer and Franker. They saw potential for this southern route, not only in the rich timber resources along the way, but also in other commodities such as iron ore, sand for use in making glass, and barite, used largely in the manufacturing of paint. The firm's chief engineer, F. M. Butler prepared a rather elaborate prospectus concerning the potential for the region. He then went on to do something that no one else had proposed--a new railroad, built on the existing grade, but operating completely independently of the EBT and TVRR. To his thinking, he could make a going concern of this railroad with only two locomotives, 45 various freight cars, and 6 passenger cars. His line would run south from Shade Gap, through Neelyton, then onto McConnelsburg and Websters Mills--a total distance of 26 miles. The cost? $333,000.

The EBT was intrigued, the TVRR insensed. This "new" railroad was going to completly ignore them, and they needed the potential income more than the EBT did. There had to be a middle ground somewhere. Negotiations between the three parties began in ernest in the spring of 1906. The lumbermen were busy trying to raise whatever capital they could, but needed a bit of help from both railroads. The railroads, while not able to help financially, were willing to help out in terms of materials--the largest portion of the expense. The new railroad was already at an advantage in that the grading had already been completed, including several stone culverts and bridges. This brought the cost per mile down to around $6,500. In order to entice the new railroad to build north of Neelyton to Blairs Mills, the TVRR threw in a considerable bone--the first locomotive. It wasn't large, but it was at least something to power the construction trains. That, coupled with the prospect of a reduced construction cost because that portion had already been graded, made the offer too good to pass up.

Not to be outdone by their underfinanced counterparts, the EBT stepped up with their offer. They would be willing to supply some of the rolling stock needed by the railroad. And while they couldn't equal the TVRR's offer of a surplus locomotive, they did use their connections with the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad to secure the second hand purchase of one of their aging moguls. In addition, the railroad was in the process of upgrading the rail along their line, and had a stash of surplus 45 lb rail. Some of this had been used to build the Rocky Ridge branch, but a good amount was still lying around, or in service waiting to be replaced. This was sold to the new company at a discounted rate.

In return for their contributions, the two railroads became silent partners in the new venture, each receiving 3% of the profits, in addition to regular freight charges for moving the goods over their respective lines to interchange with the PRR.

After all the horse trading was done, the total cost per mile fell to $5,300 for the already graded section between Blairs Mills and Burnt Cabins. The operators of the new line decided (wisely) to limit construction to that 17 mile stretch to begin with, as it was a lot easier to finance $100,000 and go from there once the money was coming in.

Construction began in the fall of 1906, and on March 29, 1907 the first train rolled into Burnt Cabins. Almost immediately, the railroad began seeing revenues from the rich timber resources, but the ore traffic was almost non-existant. Agricultural products provided the vast majority of the rest of the freight traffic over the line. Passenger service was initially quite strong, but between the novelty wearing off, and the fact that the railroad was bringing the outside goods to them, the locals found little need for actually riding the trains, save the occasional excursion to the "big cities" of Port Royal or Mt. Union.

By the summer of 1907, it was clear that the railroad would need additional motive power. Old #1 wasn't good for much more than inspection service, certainly not everyday hauling. The mogul did okay, but when she was out for repairs, that was it. The EBT had just placed an order for a new loco, which would presumably render one of their older locos surplus, but the TRR, perhaps in a show of one-upsmanship, decided they too would order a brand new loco from Baldwin. Theirs would be a 2-8-0 consolidation. This particular locomotive would have outside frames, something rarely seen on eastern narrow gauge lines except the two-foot lines up in Maine. This locomotive was almost exactly the same size as the EBT's new 2-6-2, but with smaller and more numerous drivers, she could pull a bit more--a fact that delighted the management to no end.

To be continued...