Possum Railroad near Kane, McKean County?

Folks, A friend sent me an inquiry requesting information on a "Possum Railroad" that ran near Kane, PA in the 1918-1920 time frame. When I suggested that the name might be a nickname, he stated that a relative had worked as a car repairman for the line and that it was listed as Possum Railroad in both his uncle's World War 1 registration and his 1920 census form. I checked my Pennsylvania logging books and came up empty, can anyone provide some insight on this one?

Cherry Tree & Dixonville Railroad in Heilwood (Possum Glory),
Pine Twp.,
Indiana County,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A
May be a candidate, had the Possum Glory branch to the mines.

Thanks for the reply but my friend specifically stated Kane, in McKean County. I'd found a logging railroad that served Kane but was abandoned over two decades prior to the date(s) provided.

If you can get copy of Allen: "The railroads of McKean County, Pa" (Railroad and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin 76) perhaps info there.

Tom Taber also produced a substantial collection of material on Pennsylvania looging roads, serialized in paperback form and formallly titled "The Logging Railroad Era of Lumbering in Pennsylvania" , Last I had heard, Mr.Taber was informally affiliated with the Williamsport Memorial Library. They might also be able to identify other libraries which have the material, or arrange an inter-library loan.

Aa3rt wrote:Folks, A friend sent me an inquiry requesting information on a "Possum Railroad" that ran near Kane, PA in the 1918-1920 time frame. When I suggested that the name might be a nickname, he stated that a relative had worked as a car repairman for the line and that it was listed as Possum Railroad in both his uncle's World War 1 registration and his 1920 census form. I checked my Pennsylvania logging books and came up empty, can anyone provide some insight on this one?

I've heard the name for that area, but beyond that I can't help. I think the logging railroad books already mentioned may be a good source.

Gentlemen, Thanks for the replies. I am originally from the area of northwest PA in question, am quite familiar with the railroad history and have the complete set of Pennsylvania logging railroad books (Including the addendum and index) in my library. In fact, that is the first thing I counsulted when this question was posed to me.

I did find a Possum Run in bordering Warren County that was served by a logging railroad at one time, but again it does not fit the criteria.

The R&LHS Bulletin sounds like a good resource if I am able to locate a copy.

Here's a website about a "Possum Hollow" from Perry County (far away from Kane, just north of Harrisburg). It is pretty much tongue and cheek and not very serious, but what caught my eye was "By 1920 the virgin timber was gone, the railroad shut down". So the 1920 seemed like a coincidence worth mentioning.
http://user.pa.net/~nrwing/possumhollow/history.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Don't know if it is a real place though - the "map" doesn't tell you very much at all.
JS
PS. I might have access to the RLHS bulletin mentioned above, but it will take a week or two before I can get to it though.

CarterB wrote:If you can get copy of Allen: "The railroads of McKean County, Pa" (Railroad and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin 76) perhaps info there.

Also could be in one or more of these several RLHS bulletins by Allen:
"The Railroads of McKean County, Pa.," (bulletin #/starting page) 76/38,
78/64, 80/68, 81/29, 82/58

CarterB wrote:

CarterB wrote:If you can get copy of Allen: "The railroads of McKean County, Pa" (Railroad and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin 76) perhaps info there.

Also could be in one or more of these several RLHS bulletins by Allen:
"The Railroads of McKean County, Pa.," (bulletin #/starting page) 76/38,
78/64, 80/68, 81/29, 82/58

I'll check when I can get to them, JS

I finally got a chance to get hold of the RLHS Bulletins mentioned above. I didn't read every last word, but they had section headings with the name of each of lots of RR's in McKean County, mostly the usual standard gauge and narrow gauge RRs you see in various places in the web, plus a few small ones I haven't seen anywhere, but nothing like "Possum". Seems to be a dead end here. JS