BUFFALO & PITTSBURGH’S NORTHERN SUB
Geeps, Tanks and Trestles
BY DAVID BAER/PHOTOS AS NOTED I
MAGINE A PLACE WHERE THERE ARE NO wide cabs and good old-fashioned standard cabs units are all that can be seen. Imagine a place where six-axle units are prohibited and Geeps rule. Imagine a place where there are no coal or intermodal trains and the main traf- fic is carried in tank cars. Imagine a place a regional railroad has conducted operations a quarter century. Imagine a place where timber trestles are still carrying the load day in and day out. Does such a place exist as the calendar
turns to 2014? The answer is Buffalo & Pittsburgh’s Northern Subdivision out of Butler, Penn. The question is, how much longer can it survive?
History of the Northern Sub The B&P’s Northern Sub is like a step back in time. Since 1988, the B&P has been running a weekday local, in daylight, out of its terminal in Butler. Known as the BT-3, it travels the 15- mile branch to service three chemical plants in the Petrolia area. The high-
light of the branch is the four wooden trestles located around Chicora. The branch was once home to five such tres- tles, but one was lost to fire in 2006. The remaining timber trestles in Chicora are to be replaced soon, so if you want to see them, now is the time. The active part of the Northern Sub was built as the Karns City & Butler Railroad (KC&B) which was completed between those communities in 1874. It was built as three-foot gauge and con- nected at Karns City with the Parker &
OPPOSITE: Buffalo & Pittsburgh train BT-3 passes through North Oakland, Penn., on its way back to the yard at Butler on April 2, 2010. TOP: A mixed bag of Genesee & Wyoming short line power leads BT-3 as it rolls over the wooden trestle in Chicora on October 29, 2013. This trestle is being rebuilt with steel beams and pilings as part of a program to strengthen all the bridges on this line. ROSS JACK PHOTOS
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