Tioga Railroad

The Tioga Railroad was a corporation of the State of Pennsylvania, having its principal office at Susquehanna, PA. The accounting records of the Tioga Railroad are so incomplete and fragmentary that nothing of value could be obtained from them regarding its financial dealings, corporate operations, or investments. However, certain data indicated hereinafter were obtained from a balance sheet statement as of date of valuation, certified by the comptroller of the company, filed with us, and from other sources.

The Tioga Railroad was controlled by the Erie through ownership of a majority of its outstanding capital stock. The records reviewed do not indicate that this company controls any common-carrier corporation.

The Interstate Commerce Commission could not obtain sufficient accounting records of this company before 1931. Therefore, no information could be given from its accounts regarding its financial dealings, corporate operations, or investments. Certain information stated below was obtained from a history of the Erie System, compiled by George H. Minor. The records reviewed did not indicate whether The Tioga Navigation Company was controlled by any individual or corporation on the date of its demise, about 1852, exact date unknown, nor, on the other hand, whether it controlled any common carrier corporation.

The railroad owned by the company consisted of 27 miles of single-track, steam railroad, extending from the Pennsylvania-New York State line, near Lawrenceville to Blossburg, Pa. This property was all acquired by construction. The records reviewed did not indicate whether the construction work was per formed by forces of the company or by contract. Further details with respect to the construction of this property are given in the chapter on development of fixed physical property in the report on the Tioga Railroad.

The Tioga Railroad was incorporated April 6, 1850, under special act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania for the purpose of reorganizing The Tioga Navigation Company and succeeding to the property, rights, and franchises of that company. The latter company was incorporated February 20, 1826, under special act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and its property, rights, and franchises passed to the Tioga Railroad about 1852, by right of corporate succession. The date of organization was January 5, 1852.

The Harlan & Hollingsworth Company built an eight-wheeled passenger car for the Tioga Railroad. It had been in service for a very long time up to the Chicago Railway Exhibition of 1883, and it showed that marked progress had been made since its construction, as it lacked a number of useful modern features. The National Car Builder reported about it in 1883:

The seats are of the same pattern as the common seats of to-day. Their frames are iron and their arms of walnut, the upholstering being plain and of leather. The body of the car has the following dimensions, viz.: 8 feet 4 inches by 6 feet 4 inches by 36 feet. The timbers are about the same as those put in to-day, excepting that the end sills are mortised into the side sills. The body is supported by no springs aside from the ordinary rubbers in the pedestals. On the original trucks, which served for twenty-eight years, the wheels were outside of the bearings. The car is fitted with the ordinary freight drawbar and chain brakes. The only ventilation afforded is that by means of a 10-inch flue in the centre of the car. Light is supplied by two candles, one in each end of the car. There are no closets, lavatories, or water coolers in the car. One stove is furnished in the winter. A curious feature about the windows is that they do not raise, the panels between the windows being raised instead. This feature is, we believe, still to be found upon some other roads. This antique car originally cost $2,000, and has a recorded mileage of 1,100,000 miles.^[6][7]

• Tioga Central Railroad
• Erie Railroad