Juniata Valley Railroad

Serving Customers from Lewistown to Burnham, Pa.

The Juniata Valley Railroad was incorporated in 1996 to assume from Conrail the operation of the three branch lines radiating out of Lewistown.  These lines include remnants of the former railroads extending to Selinsgrove and to Milroy, and the branch to the West Mifflin Industrial Park. The Pennsylvania Railroad had been incorporated in 1846, to construct from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh.  Three years later (1949,) Lewistown became its first western terminus  and industry quickly developed due to the proximity of the Juniata iron ores.  The Freedom Forge at Burnham/Yeagertown had been producing pig iron from these ores since 1795, and was acquired by Andrew Carnegie in 1865.  A railroad (the Mifflin & Centre County RR) was projected to build northward through this iron belt, from Lewistown to Milesburg, in 1860.  Construction began in 1863, and by 1865 the line extended only 12 miles to Milroy, there being no favorable route northward over Seven Mountains to Milesburg.  The Pennsylvania RR leased the M&CC RR in May 1865, and for years handled enormous traffic to and from Burnham Steel Company, successor to the Freedom Forge.  The north end of the line was abandoned in segments between 1976 and 1980. Entrepreneurs also projected a line eastward from Lewistown to the Susquehanna River at Selinsgrove and Port Trevorton, incorporating the Middle Creek Railroad in 1865.  Despite having constructed some roadbed, this line was moribund by 1870.  It was reincorporated as the Sunbury & Lewistown Railroad in 1870, opened from Lewistown to Selinsgrove, 43.5 miles, on December 1, 1871, and immediately leased by the PRR.    But the traffic was rural and the little line was foreclosed in 1874.  It was reincorporated again in 1874 and immediately leased “by PRR interests.”  Under PRR control, it served as an important shortcut for moving Wilkes-Barre anthracite westward, avoiding Harrisburg, and for moving perishables to New York markets via interchange with the Lehigh Valley RR at Mt. Carmel, avoiding both Harrisburg and Philadelphia. With the industrial decline of the 1950s, the middle of the line was taken up beginning in 1957.  Conrail operated the line from 1976 until the Juniata Valley RR became the operator in 1996.

Juniata Valley Railroad

LVRR

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