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French Creek Valley
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Beginning in the mid 1800s, many railroad companies operated in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. The more notable ones include the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad (A&GW), the Erie Railroad (ERIE), the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad (B&LE), the Erie Lackawanna Railroad (EL), the Penn Central Railroad (PC), Conrail (CR), the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad (WNYP), and the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS). Traction (trolley) systems were also in operation for a time. We are committed to preserving the rich railroad history of northwestern Pennsylvania. Because the railroad industry was such a huge influence on our community, we believe its story should be preserved for future generations.
he French Creek Valley Railroad Historical Society is based in Meadville, Pennsylvania, an important railroad town along the mainline of the former Erie and later Erie Lackawanna Railroad. The historical society maintains a small display track in Meadville with a locomotive and several pieces of rolling stock, adjacent to the current mainline of the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad. The equipment pays homage to the Erie Railroad as well as nearby Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad. Future plans include the production of a library of video recordings of interviews of former railroad employees and the construction of a museum fashioned after the Erie Railroad passenger station in Meadville.
Meadville, Pa / May 2016 / RWH
Click to see this location plotted on a Google Maps page
1901 Official Guide ad / collection
1910 Official Guide map / collection
1910 Official Guide ad / collection
1910 Official Guide ad / collection
Motive Power
collection
Erie Railroad #518
Meadville, Pa / May 2016 / RWH
Erie Railroad #518
to Cleveland Electric Illuminating #518
to Ashtabula, Carson & Jefferson #518
to French Creek Valley RHS display
May 2016 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / May 2016 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / May 2016 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / May 2016 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / May 2016 / RWH
Our Erie Railroad Alco S2 #518 was donated to the FCVRRHS by the AC&J Railroad of Jefferson, Ohio where it operated as the #518. Its previous owner was the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. of Ashtabula, Oh where it also was numbered #518, but was painted in bicentennial colors in 1975 or 1976. It had those colors until we acquired it. Prior to its service with the CEI, it was EL #518 and originally Erie Railroad #518, which is how it will look after we complete the lettering."
The French Creek Valley Railroad Historical Society received this engine and started the move to their property and complete restoration. This effort included raising funds for this enormous endeavor which included moving, laying regulation track with special gravel bed, wood railroad ties and steel track plus striping and repainting.
See more #518 photos in our Ashtabula, Carson & Jefferson scrapbook in Shortlines
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Jul 2019 / RWH
Jul 2019 / RWH
Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Rolling Stock
Meadville, Pa / May 2016 / RWH
Bessemer & Lake Erie #80412
40' wooden boxcar / Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Erie Lackawanna #C356
bay window caboose / Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
May 2016 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / May 2016 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / May 2016 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
web
Conrail #64568
Russell snow plow (1945) / Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
This Delaware Lackawanna & Western Railroad snowplow built by the Russell Snowplow & Car Co. of Ridgway, PA, in 1945. The donation is courtesy of the Growth Resources of Wellsbor, Pennsylvania, with Ferlin Patrick as its president. G.R.O.W. had owned the Wellsboro & Corning Railroad, where our snowplow worked and resided after being acquired from Conrail. It was numbered as Conrail #64568. The snowplow became Conrail property when Conrail took over the Erie Lackawanna, along with several other eastern/mid-western railroads. It served on the EL still carrying the Lackawanna number of #94904, as far as anyone knows. It was assigned EL #1306, but never had the number changed. The snowplow is in excellent shape, having recently been repainted by the former owners.
Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
RWH
Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Location
Meadville, Pa / May 2016 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / May 2016 / RWH
RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH
Meadville, Pa / Jul 2019 / RWH