Editing Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania (section)

===Railroad history===
{{unreferenced section|date=July 2013}}
[[File:Map of Eastern Pennsylvania Railways Company c 1907.png|thumb|Map of [[East Penn Railroad]]'s rail lines, {{Circa|1907}}]]
In the early 19th century, southern Schuylkill County was served by the [[Union Canal (Pennsylvania)|Union Canal]] out of [[Pine Grove Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania|Pine Grove Township]] with connections west, and the [[Schuylkill Canal]] southward from [[Port Carbon, Pennsylvania|Port Carbon]] to [[Philadelphia]].<ref>Munsell, W., History of Schuylkill County, Macnamara, New York (1881), pp. 80-81</ref> Coal mined by the [[Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company]] in the [[Tamaqua, Pennsylvania|Tamaqua]] and [[Coaldale, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania|Coaldale]] areas was often shipped down the [[Lehigh Canal]] from [[Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania|Jim Thorpe]] in neighboring [[Carbon County, Pennsylvania|Carbon County]]. To the north, mountain and ridges were a natural barrier to navigation. 

Other means were required to transport coal out of the rich basin of the [[Mahanoy Creek|Mahanoy Valley]]. Several railroads were founded in the late 1820s and early 1830s north of the [[Schuylkill Canal]] to enable the transport of coal to the canal terminus in Philadelphia and other markets, including:<ref>Munsell, W., History of Schuylkill County, Macnamara, New York (1881), p. 46</ref>

* [[Little Schuylkill Navigation, Railroad and Coal Company|Little Schuylkill Railroad]], from [[Port Clinton, Pennsylvania|Port Clinton]] to Tamaqua, twenty miles in length.
* Mill Creek Railroad, from Port Carbon up the valley of [[Mill Creek, Pennsylvania|Mill Creek]] four miles, with about three miles of branch roads intersecting it. This was the first road completed and was in operation part of the year 1829.
* Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven Railroad, commencing at [[Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania|Schuylkill Haven]] to [[Minersville, Pennsylvania|Minersville]] having a length, including the west branch, of fifteen miles. There were also about five miles of branches intersecting it.
* Mount Carbon Railroad, commencing at [[Mount Carbon, Pennsylvania|Mount Carbon]] and extending up the east and west branches of the Norwegian Creek; a length of road seven miles.
* Schuylkill Valley Railroad, commencing at [[Port Carbon, Pennsylvania|Port Carbon]] to [[Tuscarora, Pennsylvania|Tuscarora]], a distance of ten miles, with fifteen branches intersecting it, the distances combined amounting to another ten miles.

Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven Railroad served the Schuylkill Canal. Chartered in 1831, tracks were laid from the flats in Schuylkill Haven along the river through [[Cressona, Pennsylvania|Cressona]] and [[Minersville, Pennsylvania|Minersville]] to [[Tremont, Pennsylvania|Tremont]]. The railroad eventually reached [[Ashland, Pennsylvania|Ashland]] and [[Locust Gap, Pennsylvania|Locust Gap]] via the Gordon Planes.

Construction on the Little Schuylkill Railroad began in 1829. It ran from [[Port Clinton, Pennsylvania|Port Clinton]] northward to Mahanoy Junction above Tamaqua. It would become the keystone of the Philadelphia and Reading system, serving as a gauntlet for its eastern and western branches. Connecting with it were four important lines. The {{convert|146|mi|km}} Catawissa Railroad operated from Mahanoy Junction to West Milton, providing access to the Mahanoy region by joining the northern terminus of the Little Schuylkill with connections to [[New York City]], [[Scranton, Pennsylvania|Scranton]] and also points west.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tamaquastation.com/history.html|title=Tamaqua Railroad Station - History|website=www.tamaquastation.com}}</ref> At Port Clinton, it connected with the [[Reading Company|P&R]]'s main line from [[Mount Carbon, Pennsylvania|Mount Carbon]]. Its most important connection would be with the Mahanoy and Broad Mountain Railway via Mahanoy Tunnel and East Mahanoy Railroad.

There was once over {{convert|1,000|mi|km}} of railroad track in Schuylkill County.{{citation needed|date = July 2013}} At one point in the 19th century, the largest railyard and roundhouse in the world was located at Mill Creek between Pottsville and [[St. Clair, Pennsylvania|St. Clair]].