Blanchard had been an early investor in the Bellefonte & Snowshoe, and served as a director of the Tyrone and Lock Haven Railroad. This company was reorganized as the Bald Eagle Valley Railroad, of which he served as treasurer. Blanchard's history with these lines put him on good terms with Pennsylvania Railroad officials, who financed the Bald Eagle Valley and later took control of both that railroad and the Bellefonte & Snowshoe. Blanchard's other business interests included the Bellefonte Glass Works, the Bellefonte Car Works, and the Moshannon Land and Lumber Co.[2]
Because of his connections, Blanchard headed a group of Centre County businessmen that, in 1881, appealed to President George B. Roberts of the PRR to build a branch from Bellefonte to the iron ore deposits at Scotia. Blanchard and his associates saw the line as key to cutting transportation costs to bring ore to the blast furnaces at Bellefonte, and hired Samuel Brugger to survey a route from Bellefonte to Scotia, with a branch to State College.[2]
However, the PRR declined to act on the proposal, as it considered the group's estimates of ore production at Scotia and in the Buffalo Run Valley to be over-optimistic. Undeterred, Blanchard and other interested parties chartered the Bellefonte and Buffalo Run Railroad in 1882 to build the proposed lines, under the presidency of Blanchard. His legal skill was crucial in helping the new railroad acquire some of its right-of-way affordably through eminent domain.[3]