Bellefonte and Snowshoe Railroad - Independent Operation

Independent Operation

The railroad's operations began at Bellefonte, site of coal-hungry iron furnaces and the head of navigation on the Bald Eagle & Spring Creek canal. Using the tracks of the Tyrone and Lock Haven, it passed north through the narrow valley of Spring Creek to reach the Bald Eagle Valley at Milesburg. The Tyrone and Lock Haven was intended to stretch north up the valley to Lock Haven and south to Tyrone, but only a little grading had been accomplished north of Milesburg or south of Wingate, where the Bellefonte & Snow Shoe turned onto its own tracks. It followed the valley of Wallace Run through Gum Stump, and, at the forks of Wallace Run, climbed the side of a mountain by a series of switchbacks. The line continued climbing through Rhoads following the edges of the Jonathan Run and South Fork Beech Creek gorges, crossing the latter and winding through Fountain to reach Snow Shoe. The total length of the line, from Wingate to Snow Shoe, was 20.26 miles (32.61 km) long.

As new mines opened up in the region, extensions to the railroad began to be built. A line built in 1861 from Snow Shoe north, then west to Gillintown and Moshannon (also known as Per Se) was incorporated on April 11, 1863 as the Moshannon Railroad, and appears to have been operated as part of the Bellefonte and Snow Shoe, adding an additional 2.00 miles (3.22 km) to that road.

In the meantime, the Pennsylvania Railroad had taken control of the Tyrone and Lock Haven, reorganized in 1861 as the Bald Eagle Valley Railroad, and begun to extend it up and down the valley. In 1863, it was completed south from Wingate to Vail, where it reached the PRR-controlled Tyrone and Clearfield Railroad, and in 1865, the line was finished from Milesburg to Lock Haven.

The Bellefonte & Snow Shoe continued to improve its physical plant, stringing a telegraph line from Snow Shoe to Wingate in 1869. In 1871, the directors resolved to construct a branch from Bellefonte to the vicinity of Oak Hall to connect with the Lewisburg, Centre and Spruce Creek Railroad when it reached that point. However, the financial difficulties of the latter long delayed its construction, and while the link would be built (as the Bellefonte, Nittany and Lemont Railroad), it would not be the Bellefonte & Snow Shoe that would construct it.

A serious wreck occurred on the railroad on June 11, 1878, when the Miller's Spring Trestle collapsed under the southbound mixed train from Snow Shoe to Bellefonte and it fell 55 feet (17 m) into a ravine. One passenger was killed, and two passengers and four crewmen were injured.