A New Century Brings the Competition of Two New Railroads
Timeless Home- Smethport, Pennsylvania

Two new railroads would serve Smethport beginning (in 1899): the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railroad and the Kushequa Railroad. Neither, however, would have the same impact on Smethport’s growth and stature as had been sparked by the BB&K.

In 1899 the Shawmut and the Kushequa both laid track into Smethport at about the same time. In order to get to the planned destination beyond Smethport, they had to cross the existing BB&K rails just below where Lake Side Garage is today. This need to cross the BB&K would lead to a series of on-going disagreements between the two new railroads.

March of 1899, Elisha Kent Kane incorporated the Smethport Railroad as a way to connect his Kushequa system to the Pennsylvania R.R. at East Smethport. The Smethport Railroad was actually an extension of the Kushequa R.R., which Kane built from the Kushequa area up Kinzua Creek. It also went into the Ormsby area in order to tap the timber supplies that were needed to feed Kane’s huge saw mill in Kushequa. After crossing the McKean Brothers saw mill at McKeans, just a mile north of Ormsby, the railroad split into two sections. One section went down into Cole Creek and headed toward Farmers Valley. The other section went through Ormsby, and then paralleled the old East-West Highway (today’s PA State Route 59) down Ormsby hill, around a horseshoe loop on the hillside behind the Smethport Specialty toy factory, then alongside the golf course, across Hilton Avenue, and into Smethport.

The McKean County Miner, on October 12, 1899, described the railroad as “a snake path in the grass,” more than it resembled a railroad. The line began service on February 26, 1900. The depot was located just below 701 Water Street (Garvin Dille’s house) on the west of the entrance to Hamlin Lake Park. The BB&K depot was only a block east below Church Street. The BB&K tracks blocked the extension of the Kushequa any further toward East Smethport at that point.

The Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern R.R. arrived in Smethport at about the same time. The Shawmut, as it was called, showed little interest in building northward past the BB&K until it heard that the Kushequa had received permission by the Borough Council to lay track along Water Street. The Shawmut quickly learned of its competitor’s plans and sent an agent to Smethport. He brought with him a large amount of cash. He visited each property owner along the proposed Water Street route and bought the property for the railroad as he went. The Shawmut then made an agreement with BB&K officials, who came to Smethport on a special train, to cross the narrow gauge railroad. A track gang installed the crossing and the Kushequa Railroad was blocked from accessing East Smethport for several more years. The Kushequa R.R. filed court action, but it was not resolved for three decades. Several more years passed before the Kushequa could get across the BB&K

Another confrontation between the two railroads occurred a year after the Keating and Smethport Railroad made a deal with the owner of the BB&K to have control of the railroad from Ormsby into Smethport. The K&S operated between the Pennsylvania RR in East Smethport and the Shawmut in Smethport. The railroad, part of the Kushequa system, served the Keating Extract Co. in East Smethport to the BB&K crossing, a total trackage of about a mile. The deal discarded the BB&K’s Smethport branch from Ormsby into Smethport and to East Smethport where the BB&K connected with the Pennsylvania R.R. All freight and passengers coming to Smethport over the BB&K were forced to change trains at McKeans and take Kushequa trains into town. This was in January 1905.

The Kushequa started to change the BB&K's 3 foot narrow gauge into standard gauge so that it could finally cross the Shawmut. The Shawmut disagreed with the legality of the move and took the matter to court. It wasn’t until 1913 that the court decreed that E. Kent Kane’s railroad could cross the Shawmut.

While Kane awaited the court decision, he found a way for his railroad to enter East Smethport. His plan was unique in design. He piggy-backed his standard gauge cars on to a narrow gauge flatcar pulled by a BB&K engine. The Kushequa cars were pulled over the crossing one at a time, and then unloaded on the other side. This was in the vicinity of the rear of Costa’s new supermarket near the trailer court. They were then assembled into a unified train and taken over the now standardized rails of the BB&K to East Smethport. After the court gave permission to cross the Shawmut in 1913, most all of the original BB&K line that had been standardized was scrapped and the Kushequa relocated along the north edge of the mill pond, then up the valley and into East Smethport.

Passenger service on the Kushequa into Smethport ended in 1917. All train service stopped in 1927. The Shawmut’s life was 20 years longer. Oddly, the Smethport Board of Trade sponsored an excursion over the Shawmut to Mount Jewett in the early days of its existence. The reason for the trip was to advance industrial development in Smethport, Marvindale, Hazel Hurst, and Mount Jewett. The glass or wood chemical industries were well established in those towns. Yet, by the time the Shawmut Railroad ran its last train through Smethport on April 1, 1947; most of the industries were gone.

All that exists today of these old railroads are the grades that traveled along the creek or up the steep hillside. Once they were used to transport passengers and freight from a busy town. Now they serve snowmobiles, hikers, and fishermen.

These industries weren't the only reason Smethport shared in this growth. Its position as county seat capitalized on the need for legal transactions and the subsequent growth of county government.

The Smethport community grew as a result. Hamlin's bank, and later the Grange Bank, prospered. Merchants thrived. The community infrastructure modernized, bringing water, gas lights, and eventually electricity to Smethport. Roads improved, railroad traffic increased, schools grew, churches increased.

While today finds a less than perfect economic climate, with many local graduates fleeing the area, there has also been a return to Smethport by many, bringing answers other than the heavy industry of the past 150 years. But without that history of industry, Smethport would still be a quaint town nestled in the valley, between two streams.

Abandonment of Shawmut Railroad Authorized By Interstate Commerce Commission Order
I.C.C Gives Operators 45 Days to Close Up Affairs of Only Local Railroad Link; Smethport Industry May Get Other Service
McKean County Democrat January 9, 1947

Although the Interstate Commerce Commission last week authorized the nearly half century-old Pittsburg, Shawmut and Northern Railroad and its wholly owned subsidiary, the Kersey Railroad Co., to abandon operations, there is widespread belief that railroad service to and from Smethport will not be materially affected by the impact of the I.C.C. order.

Even though the road is entirely abandoned it is thought probable that the Pennsylvania Railroad will provide adequate service to the Quaker State Oil Refining Corporation plant at Farmers Valley and several other large local customers, heretofore dependent on the Shawmut line.

Another possibility broached is that the Pennsylvania may operate over Shawmut trackage from Coryville to Smethport, where the two roads now run in close proximity to one another. A third possibility, however remote, it that another railroad will acquire and operate the entire trackage and equipment of the Shawmut, “lock, stock, and barrel.”

The Pittsburg, Shawmut and Northern operates a 144-mile line from Wayland Junction N.Y., to Hyde, Pa., through Smethport. The Kersey runs 12 miles from Paine to Cardiff, Pa., with branch lines from Force to Tyler, Pa., and from Weedville to Browns Run, Pa. 1946.

The ICC said the railroad trustees had rejected an offer of $465,000 for the line on the grounds this figure was too far below the estimated salvage value of $1,374,442 for track, bridge materials, lands and buildings and $132,627 for rolling stock.

Robert C. Sproul of Pittsburgh, one of the railroad’s receivers, said last week definite action probably would not be taken for 45 days but there was a chance that the line might be reorganized if a proper offer was not received.

At a hearing last August, Sproul said the line had lost money consistently, reaching the peak deficit of $901,045 in 1945 of $466,960. Sproul said figures were not compice for the last half of the year but he expected them to be about the same as for the first six months.

In ruling on arguments that abandonment of the line would affect 250 to 300 employees, the ICC said that “a carrier cannot be compelled to remain in business merely for the purpose of furnishing employment.”