How many railroads did Hurricane Agnes kill in 1972?

How many railroads did Hurricane Agnes kill in 1972? I know of at least two: the Crooked Lake branch and the NYS&W west of Butler, NJ.

The PRR (Penn Central) Elmira branch between Elmira, NY and Williamsport, PA and between Horseheads and Montour Falls, NY.

The Dresden-Penn Yan line of the Penn Central (ex-NYC).

The SL&S branch of the Lehigh Valley between Towanda and Dushore, PA (repaired between Towanda and Monroeton).

The ErieLackawanna branch from Corning, NY to Blossburg, PA.

Northern Central (PC) from North of Baltimore, Md. to South of York, Pa. New Freedom, Pa. to South of York, Pa. was repaired many years later for access to Stewartstown RR.
Octoraro (PC) between Wawa and Chad's Ford Jct., Pa., part of which had been used by the Wawa & Concordville tourist line. SouthWest of Chad's Ford Jct. was later connected to the Wilmington & Northern (Reading Co.) and operated by a succession of short lines. There was also government ownership of most of the branch for a while.

Am not 100% sure, but I believe that the Montrose Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, Tunkhannock-Montrose, PA was severly damaged by the hurricane and never placed back in service.

Couldn't it be argued that it essentially dealt the Erie Lackawanna a death blow?

The New York Central's Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley and Pittsburgh also ceased operation between Falconer and Dunkirk after Agnes. The Warren-Titusville portion of the DAV&P had been abandoned in August of 1967. The remaining Falconer (NY)-Warren (PA) portion of the line was abandoned with the formation of Conrail in 1976 although some industrial trackage near Warren remained through the formation of the Allegheny Railroad in 1985. See:

http://wnyrails.org/railroads/davp/davp_home.htm

Name a railroad in the Northeast at the time. If it didn't kill it mortally wounded.
Rgds IGN

Aa3rt wrote:The ErieLackawanna branch from Corning, NY to Blossburg, PA.

you mean the Erie line south out of Elmira, not Corning, then over to Tioga Junction, then south to Blossburg..
(it didnt go up to Corning)

Scot

scottychaos wrote:

Aa3rt wrote:The ErieLackawanna branch from Corning, NY to Blossburg, PA.

you mean the Erie line south out of Elmira, not Corning, then over to Tioga Junction, then south to Blossburg..
(it didnt go up to Corning)

Scot

You're right Scot, once again, I should know enough to doublecheck a reference before relying on my 56+ year old memory when posting something for Internet posterity.

Aa3rt wrote:

scottychaos wrote:

Aa3rt wrote:The ErieLackawanna branch from Corning, NY to Blossburg, PA.

you mean the Erie line south out of Elmira, not Corning, then over to Tioga Junction, then south to Blossburg..
(it didnt go up to Corning)

Scot

You're right Scot, once again, I should know enough to doublecheck a reference before relying on my 56+ year old memory when posting something for Internet posterity.

well your both kinda right. the Erie line from Southport to Tioga jct was gone before 1950 and the Erie used trackage rights on NYC north to Corning.
at one time Erie had rights from Corning down to Newberry Jct. and the NYC had rights on the Erie down to Blossburg and Morris Run.
I think Art is referring to the line south of Tioga jct. that was damaged by the hurricane.

charles

RSD15 wrote:
well your both kinda right. the Erie line from Southport to Tioga jct was gone before 1950 and the Erie used trackage rights on NYC north to Corning.
at one time Erie had rights from Corning down to Newberry Jct. and the NYC had rights on the Erie down to Blossburg and Morris Run.
I think Art is referring to the line south of Tioga jct. that was damaged by the hurricane.

charles

Thanks for the additional information Charles! Yes that's the line I was referring to. I attended a junior college in Williamsport from 1971 through 1973. When classes reconvened in the fall of 1972 many of my classmates talked about how they'd spent the summer cleaning up after Agnes. (Being from northwest PA, just south of Jamestown, NY, we weren't too badly affected although I did volunteer to go to Salamanca to help clean up after the waters receeded.)

A couple of friends, one from Mansfield and another from Blossburg told me of the damages in their area. Both being aware of my interest in railways told about the damage to the EL branch that used to serve those towns.

Incidentally, I just dug out my trusty "Official Guide of the Railways" from October of 1968 and the EL branch in question is listed as "Corning-Blossburg" as follows:

Mile 0 Corning
Mile 13.5 Lawrenceville
Mile 20.7 Tioga
Mile 29.4 Mansfield
Mile 31.3 Canoe Camp
Mile 34.3 Covington
Mile 39 Blossburg

I was really only familiar with the Mansfield-Blossburg portion of the line as it paralleled Route 15 south which was a route I'd take to/from school. Thanks again.

IIRC it also took out the PC Chester Creek Secondary between Wawa and Lamokin, if it was even still in service at that time.

Both the Chester Creek Secondary between Wawa and Lamokin and the Octoraro between Wawa and Chadds Ford Jct. (both former PC) are currently owned by SEPTA. PennDOT state insisted that the lines be purchased by SEPTA for future transit use. As such, neither line was abandoned and trackage remains in place. Rails can be found dangling mid air on both lines, with ties strewn in all directions. Quite eerie. Signal masts are still around between Wawa and Chadds Ford Jct.

See here for more details
http://www.abandonedrails.com/Chester_Creek_Branch

We need to remember that much of the territory mentioned previously was already in trouble in so far as revenue was concerned. The north east railroad situation in 1972 was not
a pretty picture and that takes in pretty much everything.
Noel Weaver