Lewisburg and Tyrone Railroad - Lewisburg, Centre and Spruce Creek

Lewisburg, Centre and Spruce Creek

The Lewisburg, Centre and Spruce Creek Railroad was chartered on April 1, 1853, to run westward from the vicinity of Lewisburg, on the west bank of the West Branch Susquehanna River, through the southern valleys of Centre County, Pennsylvania to Spruce Creek, on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). Its charter was amended on March 3, 1854, allowing it to reach the PRR at Tyrone, a town more industrially developed than Spruce Creek.

Funding was hard to come by, and construction slow in starting. During the mid-1860s, the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad considered building a line to Bellefonte to reach the LC&SC, and then use the LC&SC to reach the Catawissa Railroad. The plan fell through, but it drew the attention of the PRR to a potential competitor.

The railroad was leased to the PRR on July 23, 1869, and it was the PRR that would provide support for construction and operate the railroad. By the next year, the railroad had been opened from Montandon, on the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad east of the Susquehanna, across the river into Lewisburg. In 1871, it was open as far west as Mifflinburg, about 10 miles (16 km) up the Buffalo Valley. The company continued grading west towards Laurelton and did some work on the line east of Tyrone, but the Panic of 1873 slowed construction again. However, by 1877, the railroad had pushed its line through the narrow valley of Penns Creek to Rising Springs (now Spring Mills). The twisting line required two tunnels, through Paddy Mountain and Tunnel Mountain, cutting across loops in the winding course of Penns Creek through the mountains and extending its total length to 43.18 miles (69.49 km). On December 13, 1879, the company defaulted on its bonds, and on December 31, 1879, it was reorganized as the Lewisburg and Tyrone Railroad. The new company was leased to the PRR as well on January 1, 1880.