Beech Creek Railroad Co. - 1930's-60's dated Railway Stock Certificate

Stock printed by American Bank Note Co., NY. Also available in Specimen as well. Please inquire if interested. The Beech Creek Railroad was a defunct railroad that operated in central Pennsylvania between Jersey Shore and Mahaffey. Originally chartered in 1882, it was leased by the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad (later the New York Central Railroad) in 1890, and was subsequently operated directly by that company. Although much of the line was abandoned in the latter half of the 20th century, some sections at both ends remain active today.

The company was initially chartered as the Susquehanna and South Western Railroad on August 12, 1882. This charter proposed a 100-mile (160 km) line from Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to the southern border of Clearfield County. Backed by the New York Central Railroad, the proposed line was part of a broader strategy to secure access to bituminous coal reserves. At the time, the New York Central did not have direct access to the bituminous coalfields, which left it vulnerable to both the coal operators who mined the coal and to competitors like the Pennsylvania Railroad, which transported it.

The coal operators in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, many of whom already shipped coal over the New York Central via the Fall Brook Coal Company's rail network, were facing labor unrest and the depletion of their mines. William H. Vanderbilt, president of the New York Central, responded by devising a plan to gain access to the Clearfield Coalfield, previously dominated by the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Vanderbilts provided capital to a syndicate of Tioga coal operators and Clearfield-area businessmen, forming the Clearfield Bituminous Coal Company. This syndicate could discreetly acquire coal lands without raising suspicion.

The Fall Brook's rail network, extended down Pine Creek by the Jersey Shore, Pine Creek and Buffalo Railway—a paper railroad—would bring New York Central's trains to Jersey Shore, located on the West Branch Susquehanna River, west of Williamsport. From there, the Susquehanna and South Western would extend westward via Beech Creek and Moshannon Creek to the Clearfield area.

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