in the country, and its magnitude amazed practical railroad men everywhere."
(Wellsboro Agitator - 1900)
Introduction
"Building Fall Brook Railway (actually P&NY) - near Main St. Bridge, Penn Yan, NY - 1887"
from a postcard of the period (printed in Germany!)
In 1851, Hon. John Magee purchased a controlling interest in the Corning & Blossburg Railroad in New York State, beginning a series of acquisitions and leases which led to the formation, in 1892, of the Fall Brook Railway and its ultimate merger into the New York Central system.
Mr. Magee, my great-great-granduncle, was a former two-term member of Congress whose extensive businesses included the Fall Brook Coal Company, which operated mines at Antrim, Blossburg and Fall Brook, PA. After a foreclosure sale in 1854, Magee's rail line, renamed as Blossburg & Corning (B&C), was used to transport coal and timber to the Chemung Canal at Corning, NY, where it was sent by barge to Lake Seneca, at Watkin, N. Y . From there it was loaded into steamers for transport, often via the Erie Canal. This trackage was one of "the oldest railroads in the U.S., built expressly to carry coal."
As the market for coal increased, the Fall Brook Coal Company built seven miles of railroad to carry coal from their mines at Fall Brook, PA to Blossburg, PA. That line, called the "Fall Brook Branch" was completed in 1859.
In addition to the Blossburg & Corning, the Fall Brook company gradually leased rights over the Wellsboro and Lawrenceville R.R., and Cowanesque Valley R.R. These were folded into the Corning, Cowanesque and Antrim R. R. (C. C. & A.) by 1874, which was controlled by the Fall Brook interests. This went only as far north as Corning, NY. In 1877 the Syracuse, Geneva and Corning R. R. (S. G. & C.) was built, extending the line to Geneva, NY. To complete construction, then-President George J. Magee mortaged the entire Fall Brook Coal Company, and his own personal wealth, apparently against unanimous advice to the contrary. This allowed Fall Brook to ship by rail directly to Watkins, avoiding the Chemung Canal, and assuring its demise. Shortly, a link from Geneva to Lyons (Geneva and Lyons R. R.) was constructed by the New York Central and Hudson River (N. Y. C. & H. R.), connecting the entire route from Fall Brook's coal fields to New York Central mainline tracks. The S. G. & C. was hailed as a brilliant business decision by George Magee. It is evident that the Fall Brook was coordinating its interests with the Vanderbilt-controlled N. Y. C. & H. R.
At the same time that coal findings along the Fall Brook began to thin, demand exploded for coal to fuel industrial expansion (as well as locomotives). Cornelius Vanderbilt and his N. Y. C & H. R. needed to develop a way to get coal from their vast antracite and iron deposits in Pennsylvania (an area controlled by their rival, the Pennsylvania Railroad System) to their mainline in upper New York State. In 1882, Vanderbilt and a coalition had acquired 22,000 acres of coal land in Clearfield and Centre counties (PA) and gained control of the Jersey Shore, Pine Creek and Buffalo Railway Co. with connection to the Beech Creek and Reading Railroad. The name was later changed to Pine Creek Railway Co. and leased to Fall Brook by the N. Y. C. & H. R. This created contiguous track from the new mines in Pennsylvania to the N. Y. C. & H. R. at Lyons, NY. The leased railroads owned no locomotives or rolling stock; everything was owned by the Fall Brook Coal Co. [see map]
To give an idea of the scope of their rail operations, in 1887 there were: 1,424 employees; more than 250 miles of track operated and used by the company; 57 locomotives and 2,543 cars, freight and passenger.
In 1892, the coal and railroad operations of the Fall Brook Company were split, with all the rail operations transferred to the newly named Fall Brook Railway Co. which included leases of the Syracuse, Geneva and Corning, Geneva and Lyons, Fall Brook, and Pine Creek Railways. By 1893, that system owned 74 locomotives and 3,469 cars (of which 25 were passenger cars).
After pursuing the Magees for years, Vanderbilt ultimately leased the entire Fall Brook line in 1899. After purchase of all interests 1909, it consolidated them to form the Geneva, Corning and Southern Railroad Company which, in 1914 became the "Fall Brook Division" of the newly consolidated New York Central System.
Throughout, the Magee family directed the operations of the Fall Brook. First, Hon. John Magee (1794-1868) who was followed in 1868 by his son Duncan (who passed away in 1869 after only a year as president). John's son General George J. Magee (1840-1897) succeeded and was responsible for the explosive growth and consolidation of the rail operations. Upon his death in 1897, George's son Col. John Magee took over and was instrumental in the ultimate lease to the N. Y. C. & H. R. He continued in coal interests and operations for some years following.
This site is not an exhaustive history but, rather, a brief glimpse of the Fall Brook Railway with suggestions of further resources for anyone wanting to learn more. In addition, we have created a repository of original news articles, and excerpts, from local papers. And it is a way for our family to remember some of our more colorful ancestors.
Today, the Wellsboro & Corning Railroad actively operates on a portion of the original Fall Brook roadway from Wellsboro, PA to near Corning, NY. The Tioga Central Railroad operates excursion and charter trains along a portion of that roadway. The Tioga Transportation Society is an organization interested in maintaining and operating the Tioga Central Railroad. By assisting with the railroad, they are helping to keep alive a part of America’s great railroad heritage and are helping the many thousands of people who visit Tioga County, PA and Tioga Central Railroad each year to develop an appreciation of that heritage.
Daniel Magee Beach
May, 2009
PS - My great-grandfather, Attorney Daniel Beach, having had the good sense to marry Hon. John Magee's niece, was at various times Treasurer, General Counsel and Vice-President of the Fall Brook interests.
NOTE - We actively seek historical material for this site. If you have any information, photos, etc., of the pre-1900 Fall Brook interests, which would help illuminate this site, we would love to include them. While we occasionally purchase and collect original artifacts and instruments, photo scans of relevant materials are greatly appreciated and will be appropriately credited.
Contact Us - mail@fallbrookrailway.com
"Remarkable evidence of the safety of traveling on well managed railways is furnished by a report of the present Fall Brook railway system. In 30 years, it has carried about 6,000,000 passengers. It was originally only 53 miles long, but has been gradually extended, until its main line and branches are 250 miles in length. During the first ten years, when 1,000,000 passengers were carried, not one was killed or injured. In the next 20 years, when passengers numbered over 5,000,000, no passengers were killed and only six injured, two of these suffering because of their own carelessness or misconduct. How these figures compare with larger roads that have more accidents, but also carry more passengers we do not know, except that railway travling is the safest method of conveyance yet devised, but the record of a road that in 30 years kills no passengers is worthy of special attention." (Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Journal - 1893)
