Central Valley Railroad

North Central Branch - A mostly passenger route with a few thru freight trains running between Harrisburg and Baltimore. Most freight trains were sent through the low grade cutoff and on thrrough Perryville. There were several local or "Turn Trains" running from York, Pa to Parkton, Md and some off to Harrisburg. The Baltimore & Susquehana Railroad which was chartered in 1828 began building noth out of Baltimore and reached York, Pa in 1838. In 1851 the B&S reached the Susquehana river at Lemoyne, Pa(across the river from Harrisburg). Trains began running across the whole line by mid 1851. In 1853 the B&S sarted construction north to Sunbury, Pa and Lake Erie. In 1854 the B&S went through a re-orginization and thus the Northern Central Railroad was born. Work on the Sunbury line continued and was opened in 1858. In 1860 the State of Maryland started foreclosure proceedings against the cash strapped NC. Things looked really bleak for the NC when most of it's stock was being sold off. Upstepped J. Edgar Thompson President of the Pennsylvania Railroad who purchased most of the NC stock that was being sold off and transferred it to the PRR. In 1875 the PRR intergrated NC operations into it's own and in 1910 the PRR permently leased the Northern Central. The Northern Central Branch had many restrictions due to curvature and weight, so they continued to use K-4, K-5, and E7 power. These trains were often fitted with more powerful units for their westerly or northerly legs. .

YORK, PA - Laid out in 1741, by order of the Proprietors, It was the first Pennsylvania town west of the Susquehanna River. In 1741 the Provincial Authorities appointed Thomas Cookson the deputy surveyor of Lancaster county to draw up town plans on the Codorus Creek. He placed the town on the east bank of the Codorus Creek which fell into line with Baltimore to the south and John Harris settlement(Harrisburg) to the north. As being a native of Yorkshire he named the town York and it's main north-south street after King George(George St.). Farming and Agriculture became the economic mainstay for York during the 1800's and also into the early 1900's. In 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor, leaders of York's Industrial community got together and drew up a 15 point business objective called the "York Plan". They presented the plan to the National Association of Manufacturing at their New York conference. The plan was then presented to the Council of National Defense. The York plan was laid out nationally and became the framework for industrial development during WWII. It's slogan "To do what we can with what we have" made York lead the way during the Industrial boom during the 1940's. After WWII development of manufacturing in York county slowed considerably but Agricultural efficency increased as well as farm production. many of the county's major manufactures were in their second century and many had national and international markets. From the time of the 1950's to present day York County has become home to numerous divisions of corporations with multinational connections. Today York has over 850 companies and a labor force well exceeding 184,000 men and women.