North Lebanon Railroad Company $500 bond certificate 1854 (Pennsylvania)

Rare 1850s PA railway. Very nice center vignette of an older steam train pulling cars. Issued and pen cancelled. Dated 1854. Water or glue stains at the bottom and right margin which is typical of examples seen. Measures approximately 11 x 8 inches.

The railroad was started in 1850 by William Coleman who formed a partnership with George Dawson Coleman and created the North Lebanon Railroad Company. The North Lebanon Railroad Company was incorporated May 25, 1850, under the general railroad laws of Pennsylvania. The incorporation was also authorized by a special act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, approved April 2, 1850.

The North Lebanon Railroad Company was changed to Cornwall Railroad Company by a special act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, approved April 5, 1870.

The carrier acquired by merger on October 15, 1886, the property, rights, and franchises of The Cornwall and Mount Hope Rail Road Company, which had been incorporated August 11, 1883, under the general railroad laws of Pennsylvania.

It had a long and prosperous existence until the concentrator plant was moved from Lebanon to Cornwall in 1962. This move caused raw iron ore traffic to dry up, and the Cornwall Railroad lost its number one source of revenue. In 1964 the Reading Railroad took over operation and leased the line until 1968 when they bought it from Bethlehem Steel.

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