Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad explained
The Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad (G. & H. R. R.)[2] was a railway line of Pennsylvania from Hunter's Run southward to Gettysburg in the 19th century. The north junction was with the South Mountain RR,[3] and a crossing with the Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad's westward extension was at Gettysburg. The crossing also served as a junction for westbound trains to transfer southward across the Gettysburg Battlefield via the G. & H. R. R.'s Round Top Branch[4] to the company's Little Round Top Park.
History
The company charter was granted on October 6, 1882, to "J. C. Fuller, Jay Cooke, John M. Butler, Jay Cooke, R. J. Woodward, Spencer Ervin, Charles D. Barney, Wm. H. Woodward, and Daniel King."[5] The 22miles initial route by Professor Ambrose E. Lehman had been surveyed into Gettysburg along Rock Creek on January 12, 1882, but the mainline was instead completed into the west side of the borough along Oak Ridge.[4] The passenger schedules expanded from three to seven stations between Hunter's Run and Gettysburg from April 21 to July 3, 1884; with the former identifying the Pine Grove station off the mainline and the latter similarly adding "Laurel" ("Table Rock" was added by May 25, 1885).[6]
Groundbreaking was on April 18, 1883, and grading had been started by June 20
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=t3cmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GgAGAAAAIBAJ&pg=1565,6705580&dq=fuller+round-top+gettysburg&hl=en and completed in October, except for December grading of the Gettysburg roundhouse lot on the north side of the "
Tapeworm" right-of-way.
[10] Tracklaying had begun on August 20, 1883;
[11] the 1st train arrived February 26, 1884
https://www.nytimes.com/1884/02/27/archives/a-new-road-to-gettysburg.html (two "golden" spikes driven); the station was completed by Joseph J Smith on March 4
http://www.gettysburgdaily.com/?p=3009 ("cellar and foundations" by George W. Lady);
[10] and scheduled passenger service began April 21, 1884.
[12] Conewago Creek (west) flood damage on June 24 was repaired,
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BFQmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JgAGAAAAIBAJ&pg=1659,1043476&dq=fuller+pine-grove&hl=en and the first fatality was on July 22, 1884, when the "Jay Cooke" locomotive decapitated a man who stopped his wagon on the tracks (additional locomotives included Engine No. 7, the "J. C. Fuller".)
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CFQmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JgAGAAAAIBAJ&dq=round-top%20railroad&pg=1409%2C1200026 On May 12, 1884, the company laid east-west Gettysburg tracks along Railroad St across Washington St, and the
competing east-west railroad to Gettysburg added track on Carlisle St the next morning to prevent the Gettysburg and Harrisburg from continuing eastward. (By 1904, the east-west railroad had allowed the G. & H. R. R. to connect for a southern junction
[4] near the lane now named
Gilliland Alley.)The first Gettysburg excursion train to Pine Grove Park was on May 28, 1884.[13] Two additional G. & H. R. R. stations were south of Gettysburg for excursions on the Round Top Branch; which had been surveyed by July 14, 1882;[14] had begun construction by May 1884;[15] and had started operations in June 1884.[16] Beginning with the 1884 Camp Gettysburg, the Round Top Branch supported various Gettysburg Battlefield camps after the American Civil War such as the 1918 Camp Colt.
In October 1884, Chief Engineer Lehman commenced an Idaville-to-York Springs survey for an eastward branch.[17] A new Baldwin locomotive had been purchased by April 10, 1889, when Lehman began the survey for the southward extension from Round Top to the Washington, DC, Pennsylvania Railroad terminal at the National Mall via Westminster, Maryland and that was never built[18] (Lehman & Col Fuller had visited Littlestown, Pennsylvania, in 1884 regarding the Westminster route.)[19] In February 1899, an engine derailed while a hostler moved it from the Gettysburg roundhouse.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Jl4mAAAAIBAJ&sjid=j_8FAAAAIBAJ&dq=roundhouse%20gettysburg&pg=5696%2C370432
The "Reading Railroad" took control of the Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad on May 22, 1891, and retained the G & H's superintendent (W. H. Woodward) as the head of their Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railway subsidiary.[20]
Notes and References
- News: Diblasi . Nancy . Excursion Puffs Its Way To Mount Holly Springs . Google News Archive . Gettysburg Times . 2011-05-11.
- News: July 29, 1884 . Camp Gettysburg . Google News Archives . Gettysburg Compiler . 2010-05-06.
- News: March 4, 1884 . The New Railroad: Completion of the Track—Interesting Ceremonies—Dinner at the Eagle . Google News Archive . Star & Sentinel . 2011-05-11 .
- Julius Bien & Co. Lith. . 1904 . Map of the Battle Field of Gettysburg . Gettysburg National Park Commission (Nicholson, John P; Cope, Emmor; Hammond, Schuyler A) . New York.
- News: Railroad Charter . Google News Archive . Gettysburg Compiler . 2011-05-11. NOTE: Col Jackson C. Fuller was the president of both the Gettysburg & Harrisburg and the South Mountain https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NHcmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GgAGAAAAIBAJ&pg=6537,1522974&dq=fuller+pine-grove&hl=en railroads, the latter which provided shipping for Pine Grove Furnace which Fuller purchased in 1877 http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/mg/mg175.htm and where he had a farm.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BFQmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JgAGAAAAIBAJ&pg=1659,1043476&dq=fuller+pine-grove&hl=en The "Fuller Cornet Band" of Pine Grove Furnace played at Little Round Top Park in July 1884.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CFQmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JgAGAAAAIBAJ&pg=2882,1199890&dq=fuller+pine-grove&hl=en
- News: Gettysburg & Harrisburg R. R. . Gettysburg Compiler.
- News: October 9, 1888 . Large Assignee Sale . Google News Archive . Gettysburg Compiler . 2011-05-13.
- News: July 22, 1884 . Railroad Notes . Google News Archive . Gettysburg Compiler . 2011-05-07 . The long siding south of the Fairfield road is down; also a long one at Goldenville. … The H. J., H. & G. Railroad is completing the track connecting that road with the Round-Top branch of the G. & H. The two tracks have also been joined just beyond the Cashman lime kilns, to allow the new road a more convenient route to Round-Top. … over 500 … colored Odd Fellows of Carlisle..
- News: July 22, 1884 . Railroad Notes . Google News Archive . Gettysburg Compiler . 2011-05-07 . The H. J., H. & G. Railroad is completing the track connecting that road with the Round-Top branch of the G. & H. The two tracks have also been joined just beyond the Cashman lime kilns, to allow the new road a more convenient route to Round-Top. … over 500 … colored Odd Fellows of Carlisle..
- News: December 19, 1883 . Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railroad . Google News Archive . Gettysburg Compiler . 2011-05-12 . The round-house lot is being graded and the surplus earth hauled across the "Tapeworm" on[to] the Mumper lot, thus making a commencement for the Round-Top branch..
- News: Gitt . Joseph S . February 19, 1884 . Baltimore and Harrisburg Railroad . Google News Archive . Gettysburg Compiler; Adams County Railroads: Concluded . 2013-11-05.
- News: April 30, 1958 . Railroaders Tell About "Early Days":] Railroaders |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8WYmAAAAIBAJ&dq=round-top-branch&pg=3169%2C77538 |format=Google News Archives |newspaper=Gettysburg Times |access-date=2011-05-12 |quote=The G and H had a three-engine round house in the yards.
- News: May 13, 1884 . First Gettysburg Excursion to Pine Grove Park . Google News Archives . Gettysburg Compiler . 2011-05-11 . "South Mountain Junction" at Carlisle will hereafter be known as "Gettysburg Junction." … Train will stop for passengers at Arendtsville road..
- News: June 14, 1882 . Railroad Surveys . Town and County . Google News Archive . Gettysburg Compiler . 2011-05-07. (1982 Out of the Past commemoration)
- News: May 12, 1958 . Out Of The Past: Fifty Years Ago . Google News Archives . Gettysburg Times . 2011-05-07 . Track Foreman Coulson and his force of hands are laying heavy iron rails--80 pound to the yard--on the Round Top branch..
- News: June 24, 1884 . Town and Country: Local Flashes & Excursions . Google News Archive . Gettysburg Compiler . 3 . 2011-02-25 . Mr. Lewis A. Bushman's warehouse at Round-Top was raised on Saturday. … The two new wells at Round-Top are both successes … Saturday, Beneficial Society of Bailey's Nail Works, Harrisburg, over 550 on a train of ten new coaches. This was the heaviest passenger train yet over the road, and hundreds of persons in the evening watched the powerful No. 7 engine pull the long train over the steep grade just beyond town … The "dummy" Baldwin made frequent trips … taking town folks to the hill.
- News: October 21, 1884 . Local Items . Google News Archives . Star & Sentinel . 2011-05-12.
- News: April 16, 1889 . Local Flashes: From Gettysburg to Washington . Google News Archives . Gettysburg Compiler . 2011-05-12.
- News: November 18, 1884 . Littlestown Items . Google News Archive . Gettysburg Compiler . 2011-05-11.
- News: Reading Acquires A Road . subscription . . 23 May 1891 . 2011-05-12. (larger article in The Philadelphia Record)
