Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-02-04
COAST-TO-COAST
.LlNEEBROUGHT
AGAIN TOFRONT
Big Project Broached as Re
:. . suit of Revival of South
Penn Scheme

Exploitation of the potentiaiities
of the long dormant South Penn
Railroad project and the likelihood
of it's identification by the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad which acquired all
rights and titles eappertaining to 1t
more than a generation ago. has led
to the disclosure of "a yet more am
bitious and comprehensive one. of
which, however, the South Penn. line
will, form an integral part, should it
eventuate. Moreover. four lines dis
tinctively local to P!ttsburgh-the
ITnion Railroad, subsidiary of the
Carnegie Steel Company; the Mon
tour Railroad. owned by the Pitts
burgh Coal Company; the Pittsburgh
and West Virginia Railroad and its
subsidiary, the West Side Belt Rail-
road-all figure prominently in the
scheme. - -...'r
Outlined briefly, che greater por-
ject contemplates the constitution of
a coast-to-coast military all-rail
route to be permanently under gov
ernment control, whatever DISPOSE
tion shall be made of the roads now
so controlled and operated. This, ac-
cording to the tentative plans al
ready made and which, it is under
stood, have been submitted to and
approved by the Washington author
tiles. IS to be effected by the inclusion
of a number of roads already in
operation in the system and the con-
struction of requisite connecting
links to form a continuous line.
AS projected, the Eastern terminus
of the line will be Port Newark, n.
j., whence a road would be built
straight across the State of New Jer-
sey to Portland, station of the Le-
high and New England Railroad in
the eastern part of Pennsylvania.
The rails of this line are to be utilized
from Portland to Slatington on the
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad
whose Schuylkill and Lehigh branch
it will use to Virginsville. Thence to
Hamburg an abandoned line of the
Reading will be rehabilitated and
utilized and from this last-mention-
ed point II is proposed to follow an
old survey of the South Mountain
Railroad to Harrisburg where the
Susquehanna River will be crossed
and the South Penn survey be picked
up and followed to junction with
the Union Railroad at Bessemer.
Old Wabash Route
All of this section of the route will
involve new construction, including
completion of a tunnel through Tus-
carora mountain, started years ago,
the line through Fulton county to a
point near Bedford. thence to Mann's
Choice on the Juniata division of the
Pennsylvania Railroad and in its
course to Donegal and Scottdale,
skirting Mount Pleasant and through
Jacobs Creek Valley to the Yough-
iogheny river. where it will come
upon an old survey which 1t will fol-
low to Bessemer. From Bessemer it,
is. proposed to utilize the rails ofI
the Union Railroad to Miffiin juno
a junction with the existing Western
Pacific, which 1t will follow to Pacific
tidewater at Oakland, Cal.
Despite the apparent deviousness
of the route as planned, reference
to the map will disclose a consistency
of direction that is quite remarkable.
From the Atlantic seaboard terminus
to st. Louis its course is just a little
south of west and thence to the Pa
cific seaboard almost due west as the
crow flies. Nor is II in the least CHM
erical, according TO its Projectors
who have produced figures to proya
that it may be created at a minimum
of time, effort and cost, while tha
advantage it would be to the gov
ernment is obvious. In any event tho
project appears to possess merit suf-
ficient to have secured for Ii serious
consideration by the authorities at
Washington, -.4.. -