More from the Schuylkill River Area

The Little Schuylkill & Susquehanna Railroad (LSSR) began its existence as a potential canal. In 1822 a prominent resident of village of Catawissa, Pennsylvania, Christian Brobst, proposed a canal be constructed up Catawissa Creek to its headwaters. The steam locomotive on the front

of this post card was named after this town. The plan was to meet the headwaters of the Little Schuylkill River, about 3 plus miles away. Another canal would be constructed in the Little Schuylkill River to Port Clinton, where it would join with the Schuylkill Canal and Navigation to Philadelphia. Brobst, although not an engineer, proceeded to himself conduct a survey in 1825 of the proposed Catawissa Canal with home-made instruments. The plan went "nowhere". The difficulty of digging a three-mile canal (to connect the two rivers) through mountainous terrain was one example of the difficulties. However, Brobst used his Catawissa Canal project to get elected to the Pennsylvania State Legislature in 1827. In the period between 1827 and 1829, in the first and second coalfields, the preferred mode of transportation was shifting from canals to railroads. Brobst now advocated a railroad through the Catawissa Valley. Brobst persuaded Stephen Girard, Philadelphia banker and capitalist, and Moncure Robinson, engineer for the Pennsylvania Canal Commission and an accomplished railroad engineer, to tour the route where they were favorably impressed. The Legislature authorized a professional survey for this railroad. The railroad received a charter from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on February 28, 1826. Construction began in 1830. The tracks were constructed with strap iron on wood rails. Beginning with horse-drawn cars in 1831, the LSRR operated between Tamaqua, located at the end of the coal-rich Panther Creek Valley and the Port Clinton terminus of the Schuylkill Canal. It later made a rail junction with the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company. In 1833, the railroad acquired two steam locomotives, built in Liverpool, but the wooden tracks did not support the engines, requiring a resumption of animal-powered operations. This over-extended investment nearly bankrupted the young company. Only in 1845 did iron "T" rails replace the wooden rails, allowing the costly English locomotives to return to regular service. In 1854, the LSRR completed a junction with the Catawissa Railroad at Tamanend (also called Little Schuylkill Junction). In 1857, it built a roundhouse in Tamaqua, housing 21 locomotives and a turntable. In 1863, the company was leased by the Reading Railroad for 93 years. It formally merged with the Reading in 1952.

The post card was published by the Tamaqua Historical Society in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania. You can visit their website here: https://www.tamaquahistoricalsociety.org/