Lancaster and Reading Narrow Gauge RR Co stock certificate c1871 (Pennsylvania) _ Quarryville Section

Rare short line from PA! Plain vignette of the Pennsylvania state seal. Unissued and not cancelled. Circa 1871 from cert printing and company records. Measures approximately 11 x 8 inches with stub. 

This line started out as the Lancaster and Quarryville Railroad and was completed in 1875. Originally planned to be a narrow-gauge route under the name Lancaster and Reading Narrow Gauge Railroad in 1871, the decision to make it standard gauge was decided shortly before construction began in 1874. As with most railroads in rural Pennsylvania, it carried both passengers and freight.

Hindered by the Panic of 1873, the company struck a deal with the Philadelphia & Reading to complete the line from Lancaster to Quarryville in return for control of the company, which it did in the following year. It thus became an extension of the Reading's Lancaster Branch. In 1876, the East Brandywine and Waynesburg Railroad built into the county from the east to reach the prosperous agricultural town of New Holland, and was promptly leased by the PRR. In 1877, the Columbia and Port Deposit, under control of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, finally finished its line into Columbia.

The Quarryville Branch was an extension of the P&R Reading & Columbia Lancaster Branch until January 1, 1900. When the Reading own the Quarryville Branch, it connected to it off their mainline at W. Clay and N. Charlette Streets in Lancaster, went down N. Mulberry Street (crossing the Pennsylvania mainline) to W. James Street, then went southeast across N. Arch Street to Water Street.

Passenger service along the line ceased in 1909. A few years later, the L&Q merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad on April 30th, 1915. The railroad was severely damaged by flooding caused by Hurricane Agnes on June 23-24, 1972, and was abandoned soon after.

Today, numerous bridges remain, along with three stations, and some warehouses with doorsills still at boxcar-floor height. A few bits of rails can be seen here and there, as well as various cuts and fills.

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