Stay Signed In
Do you want to access your site more quickly on this computer? Check this box, and your username and password will be remembered for two weeks. Click logout to turn this off.
Stay Safe
Do not check this box if you are using a public computer. You don't want anyone seeing your personal info or messing with your site.
Page re-worked 3/11/2009 There are many pictures on this page.
This railroad was built in 1887 by the Carbondale & Jefferson Railroad. It was about 4 miles long and was connected from the Delaware & Hudson in Winton to the Marshwood Colliery. The colliery closed in 1924, so the line was partially abandoned from the colliery to Sterry Creek. The remaining segment merged with the Erie in 1941. I do not know when this line was finally abandoned, but it probably also served the Dolph colliery.
This is a section of an 1891 USGS Topographical map showing this railroad line. Development has made exploring this line extremely difficult as only parts of it are left. A newer GPS program I am now using called "ExpertGPS" has finally allowed me to put these pieces together. These pictures were taken over several trips and by using this program with this map overlayed plotting data. It now makes it possible to determine where this railroad line was. There are other roads, and such has made hunting this down very hard. Some of the old information was also incorrect. This is why this page was completely re-written.
This is a 1923 road map from PennDot's site. It shows the line comes close to Route 247 but never crossed it. This was an important piece of the puzzle to determine the southern section which was abandoned first.
This is a section of a 1946 USGS Topographical map. This shows by this time the railroad line was already cut back to the site of the Dolph Colliery. This is the site of the present day Olyphant Mine Fire. The work involved to contain this underground mine fire has also disrupted the area.
Starting with the southern most section. Part of it is NOT the railroad bed, but rather a road constructed to bring equipment in during the trenching of the mine fire.
These relics are impossible to identify, but they do not appear to be part of the old railroad line.
Somewhere near here is where the railroad line terminated.
This culvert is the first sign of the railbed.
The other side is stone construction.
This area is clear only because it was cleared to fight the mine fire.
The left side is the only indication of an old railbed.
Signs of an old rock cut is seen on the right.
This photo was taken about 2 years ago before the latest trenching project began. This is the remains of a bridge that points to the site. This area is now completely destroyed.
The access road makes a sharp left towards the mine fire site. We discovered this section of the railbed shown clearly since the growth is down.
This small section, since its a high berm, does not have too much growth.
After a few hundred feet, it starts changing.
The map shows the area shown.
The next section is very grown in, so most pictures had to be taken from this angle. Here, I drew arrows showing the railbed. This area was also reclaimed years ago and is now just a grassy field. The railroad bed sits higher then the field, and circles around it.
One of the few spots we could climb up to inspect it shows a rock cut and the indication of a single track railroad bed.
This wide angle view shows the railroad bed in relation to the field.
The snow on the ground gives definition to where the railbed is.
This large fill to the right did throw us off at first. Once we determined the level where the railbed is, it can be seen here before this large fill covered up this section. We had thought the field was the level of the railbed, but as seen here, it sits higher up.
Right angle view showing the railbed emerging from the fill.
This picture also clearly shows the railbed, thanks to the snowfall.
Map of this area. The actual creek crossing was never found and just before it erosion wiped out a section of the railroad bed.
After crossing the creek, we thought we were on the Moosic Mtn & Carbondale railroad bed when we spotted these high up on the rock cut.
These were missed during the summer due to growth, but now they can be seen.
We originally thought this was the railroad bed, but after discovering the section above, this area is too low to be part of the railbed. This could potentially be a logging or mining road, or maybe part of the Dolph Sunnyside Branch railbed. At this time I don't know for sure.
There are several stone relics on the hillside.
This photo illustrates just how high up they are from this area that could be a road.
The twists here tend to make it look more like a road.
These were found in Sterry Creek nearby the field. We don't know what they are but there are two of them, the second one is across the creek almost buried.
We found a way above the berm to get a closer inspection of the stone relics.
Very difficult to get good pictures with the growth in the way.
However, looking beyond the relics, we discovered this was a railroad bed and the missing piece after the field!
It was getting dark by the time we got to this area, but this is on the same level as the railroad bed as it circles the field.
The rock cut to the right identifies the railbed. With snow on the ground we couldn't see any subgrade or ties.
We followed it out despite the light fading.
Here, rock cuts on both sides identify the railbed.
Collecting this GPS data and plotting it proves it is the MM&C Railroad.
The railbed is more level with the ground here.
It is very hard to see here, but it intersects with a section we found in a previous day.
Some sort of concrete remains with narrow gauge rail used for construction.
This area shown on the map.
Standing on what we thought was the MM&C Railroad, we spotted these.
Hard to say what they are, but looks like a loading platform.
Looking behind them, we found this section very grown in.
This shallow rock cut does identify it.
These photos were taken before we found the above section. Combining the GPS data does show this to be the same line.
This cut is more distinct and shows is an older cut.
The only spot in this area showing a double cut defining the railbed.
Growth had made this part difficult.
The railbed is cut off here, but just ahead is where "area 3" is which was found at a later date from this day.
Older pictures standing on a possible mining road shows the platforms.
The railbed would be behind this object.
These appear to be inspection pits for the locomotives.
There are two of them, one could be for ash dumping ?
Hard to tell how deep they are as debris is filling them up.
One of the end walls.
Long view of the pit. In the background is a path we originally thought was this railroad line but later determined it is not. The actual railroad bed would be to the LEFT of this picture. Again, we are not sure if this path was another railroad line, or a mining road.
More relics near the pits.
The remains of a foundation.
Near the foundation is when we first spotted this. Originally thinking it was the Dolph Sunnyside branch, it turns out this is the true location of the Moosic Mountain & Carbondale Railroad.
It turns out the railroad bed crosses this path (mining road?) at about a 30-40 degree angle. You can see it here after crossing. We thought this was another railroad line altogether, but the GPS data proved it to be the MM&C Railroad.
This is the end of this section. Whatever this crossing railroad line was we have not yet found it.
Standing on the unknown path, we saw this section after the growth died off last year. It appeared to be just a path at first.
We followed it to check it out. We found signs it was a railbed and not a simple path.
There is a distinct berm here.
More of the berm.
The signs here prove it was a railroad line.
It was not too grown in, it also follows from where it intersected the path.
Ties are the fingerprint of the railbed. This would be the section of the line that was abandoned last. The southern sections were abandoned first.
The Casey Highway is just ahead.
Turning about shows the railbed in clarity.
The construction of the highway has cut it off from here.
Returning to the main path, you can see the railbed's berm after crossing the path.
Here, ties can be seen in this older photo.
We found this over a year ago across the Casey Highway. Originally listed as unknown, the GPS data proved valuable to determine this is where it picks back up again after the highway cut it off.
This section is only a few hundred feet long, but plotting it with ExpertGPS shows it is the same line.
There is a distinct berm in this section.
This is the cinder base under the leaves.
Ties were also spotted along this section.
As we near the Athletic field in Jessup, the berm is quite high. After this area, the railbed has been erased completely.
This area was once known as the Jessup Railyard. The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western's Winton Branch and the Erie's Jessup branch converged here along with the Moosic Mountain & Carbondale Railroad. The area as been completely eradicated and is now only a grassy field. We spotted this years ago, but up until I could plot this culvert on ExpertGPS it was unknown. This culvert is from the Moosic Mtn & Carbondale Railroad before its intersection with the Delaware & Hudson's tracks.
This picture was taken 12/06/2006. The culvert crosses Grassy Island Creek.
This picture taken 4/10/2008 shows the face has collapsed.
The stonework lies in the creek, it appears the remaining stone is stable so the culvert hopefully will not collapse further.
This is a map of this section. The culvert's location is marked here.
