Perry County Railroad Company stock certificate 1889 (Pennsylvania)

Exceedingly rare PA short line railroad. Custom vignette of an artist's interpretation of the Pennsylvania state seal. Vertical folds from mailing. Issued and not cancelled. Dated 1889. Measures approximately 10.5 by 8 inches.

This is the only one we have seen in over 30 years of collecting.

Perry County Railroad Company was incorporated 1887 in Pennsylvania. During the railroad’s golden age, Perry County was seen by historians as the gateway to the west. Unfortunately, the route west took a different route and Perry County missed the railroad boom. Cut off from the main line, the Perry County Railroad was acquired in 1903 after financial troubles.

Between 1889 and 1893, New Bloomfield and Duncannon business leaders financed the standard-gauge Perry County Railroad, from Duncannon through New Bloomfield to Landisburg. Not to be outdone, Newport investors, led by David Gring, constructed the narrow-gauge Newport & Sherman’s Valley Railroad from Newport to New Germantown between 1890 and 1892.  The trains took passengers, lumber, bark, livestock, grain, and produce to Duncannon and Newport and returned with passengers, farm machinery, and commercial goods.

When the Perry County Railroad was financially teetering, it was sold to the Newport and Shermans Valley Railroad Company, which proceeded to disband this section of railroad from Bloomfield. The Susquehanna River and Western Railroad Company was incorporated 1903 for the purpose of acquiring the property, rights, and franchises of the Perry County Railroad Company. The Susquehanna River and Western Railroad consolidated the Perry County Railroad and the Newport & Shermans Valley Railroad. It ceased operations in 1935 and was abandoned.

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