Beaver Valley Railroad Company Author:Wayne A. Cole laminated cover, 80 b/w photos, 10 maps "Incorporated in 1899, the Beaver County Railroad Company was owned by one of the wealthiest industrialist in America, Mr. Joseph Newton Pew, the owner of Sun Oil Company. When Pew first came to Beaver County, having earlier organized Peoples Natural Gas Company, he purchased numerous properties on the wes... more »tern edge of Beaver and in Vanport, Pennsylvania. He also made a strong acquaintance with Mr. Fred C. Cook, President of Cook - Anderson, a large construction firm. "In the coming years people would often refer to the Beaver Valley Railroad has the "Cook Railroad." The Beaver Valley Railroad became one of the longest residing street railroads in America. The railroad became valuable real estate to the Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroads. Historically, the little 3.14 mile railroad became a big player. "With the advent of World War II, The Department of Defense recognized the location of the railroad as of strategic importance for a national defense industry. By 1941 the railroad was purchased equally by the PRR and the P&LE railroads. In the end the small railroad carried the propellers for the B 29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb. "In the coming decades the Beaver Valley Railroad was equally owned by the PRR and the P&LE, whose bickering over the railroad continued almost to the end. By 1970 the former Beaver Valley Railroad was abandoned by the P&LE and the Penn Central. The Beaver Valley Railroad Company chronicles a remarkable story of one of America's longest residing street railroads tucked away in an unsuspecting Western Pennsylvania community on Fifth Street in Beaver."« less
ISBN-13: 9780972739726 ISBN-10: 0972739726 Pages:88 Edition:1 of 1 Rating: