HOME | DD

Description

  To stop Conrail from removing the last rail link left in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Grow Resources of Wellsboro (GROW) combined with help from the North Shore Railroad, created the Wellsboro & Corning Railroad in 1992. Like the other railroads in the County before, The W&C transferred owners several times. In 2008 the railroad was bought by the Myles Group. It was at this point in time, the natural gas boom was taking place throughout the northern half of the state. All of a sudden the 32-mile short line went from transporting three to four freight cars every other day, to fifty cars per week full of sand and fracking water from its connections with Norfolk Southern at Gang Mills, NY.
  As part of GROW's rail program, excursion trains on the affiliated Tioga Central were added to the rail line in 1994. The excursion trains were known for their fleet of 1940 vintage diesels from ALCO. The fleet included four RS1 road switchers formerly owned by Amtrak and the Susquehanna Railroad, an ALCO S-1 switcher, and the last remaining Delaware & Hudson RS3u painted for America's Bicentennial celebrations numbered 506 by the TC. The passenger cars were all built in the 1920s or later, with the majority being from Canada. Excursion trains often run trips from the station at Wellsboro Junction to Hammond Lake, with some special trains running to the New York state border.         In an $18 million dollar deal, the Myles group sold 70% of its interests to the short line holder Rail America in 2012. This transfer would not last long, as the company would merge with the even larger short line holding company Genesee and Wyoming (G&W) later the same year. The G&W's acquisition of the railroad has received mixed results in views. On one hand the railroad has a very high employee safety record, on the other however, the railroad has made major cuts to the line both figuratively and literally. In 2014 two of the Tioga Central's defunct RS-1 locomotives sitting near the station in Wellsboro were cut up for scrap, dealing a major blow to the historical railroad community. G&W has also reduced the number of excursion trains on the Tioga Central.
  Although the loss of the historic locomotives in Wellsboro was bad, the rest of the vintage roster was sent to The Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad. Former Tioga Central 506 was refurbished, although no longer sports its Bicentennial paint scheme in favor of the WN&P black. Today G&W's Buffalo and Pittsburgh number 886 has been doing some of the excursion trains as well as switching duties (although not included in the list.)

Description

  To stop Conrail from removing the last rail link left in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Grow Resources of Wellsboro (GROW) combined with help from the North Shore Railroad, created the Wellsboro & Corning Railroad in 1992. Like the other railroads in the County before, The W&C transferred owners several times. In 2008 the railroad was bought by the Myles Group. It was at this point in time, the natural gas boom was taking place throughout the northern half of the state. All of a sudden the 32-mile short line went from transporting three to four freight cars every other day, to fifty cars per week full of sand and fracking water from its connections with Norfolk Southern at Gang Mills, NY.
  As part of GROW's rail program, excursion trains on the affiliated Tioga Central were added to the rail line in 1994. The excursion trains were known for their fleet of 1940 vintage diesels from ALCO. The fleet included four RS1 road switchers formerly owned by Amtrak and the Susquehanna Railroad, an ALCO S-1 switcher, and the last remaining Delaware & Hudson RS3u painted for America's Bicentennial celebrations numbered 506 by the TC. The passenger cars were all built in the 1920s or later, with the majority being from Canada. Excursion trains often run trips from the station at Wellsboro Junction to Hammond Lake, with some special trains running to the New York state border.         In an $18 million dollar deal, the Myles group sold 70% of its interests to the short line holder Rail America in 2012. This transfer would not last long, as the company would merge with the even larger short line holding company Genesee and Wyoming (G&W) later the same year. The G&W's acquisition of the railroad has received mixed results in views. On one hand the railroad has a very high employee safety record, on the other however, the railroad has made major cuts to the line both figuratively and literally. In 2014 two of the Tioga Central's defunct RS-1 locomotives sitting near the station in Wellsboro were cut up for scrap, dealing a major blow to the historical railroad community. G&W has also reduced the number of excursion trains on the Tioga Central.
  Although the loss of the historic locomotives in Wellsboro was bad, the rest of the vintage roster was sent to The Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad. Former Tioga Central 506 was refurbished, although no longer sports its Bicentennial paint scheme in favor of the WN&P black. Today G&W's Buffalo and Pittsburgh number 886 has been doing some of the excursion trains as well as switching duties (although not included in the list.)