Tuscarora Valley Railroad
| Locale | Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1891–1934 |
| Successor | abandoned |
| Track gauge | 3 ft (914 mm) |
| Headquarters | Port Royal, Pennsylvania |
The Tuscarora Valley Railroad was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge short-line railroad that operated in central Pennsylvania from 1891 to 1934.
The TVRR was chartered in April 1891 to build from a junction with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Port Royal to points south. Concord and Dry Run, in Franklin County, seem to have been the southern termini originally contemplated.
The principal promoters of the new railroad was Thomas S. Moorhead. Moorhead had made a fortune mining phosphate rock in Florida in the late 1880s, and had previously been involved in promoting the Susquehanna and Southwest Railway during the early 1880s. It appears that he intended the railroad as an outlet for phosphate deposits located at Ross Farm, along the Tuscarora Creek. Local financial backing was provided by John M. Blair. His father, John H. Blair, had founded Blairs Mills, high up the Tuscarora Creek. John M. was a storekeeper and a wealthy pillar of the community.
The TVRR was surveyed along the east side of the valley, against the edge of Tuscarora Mountain. Grading began in the summer of 1892 and the railroad was finished from Port Royal to East Waterford on February 1, 1893. Here a temporary halt to construction occurred, possibly due to the straitened financial conditions during the Panic of 1893. The use of narrow gauge may have been a measure of economy, as well; on the other hand, the gauge was a popular one with several nearby short lines, such as the East Broad Top Railroad. The railroad shop was temporarily housed in the basement of a grist mill in East Waterford, and a turntable was built there.
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