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- The Pithole Valley Railway was an ephemeral short line railroad in Venango County, Pennsylvania, constructed as a result of the Pennsylvania oil rush. The railroad was originally constructed in 1865 between Oil City, Pennsylvania, a local oil transportation hub, and the boomtown of Pithole, Pennsylvania. Constructed under the charter of the Clarion Land and Improvement Company, it was informally known as the Oil City and Pithole Branch Railroad. Although it was generally supported by the broad gauge Atlantic and Great Western Railway, it was built to standard gauge. Conflict with the Warren and Franklin Railway over the right-of-way along the Allegheny River led to a lawsuit which, in 1866, declared that the Oil City and Pithole had no right to operate along the river from to Oil City. That part of the line was sold to the Warren and Franklin, leaving the Oil City and Pithole with a 7-mile (10 km) line running north from Oleopolis to Pithole along Pithole Creek. The loss of the line into Oil City, and economic issues in the Pennsylvania oil fields more generally, rendered the railroad unprofitable: it was sequestered in December 1866, and thereafter run by George V. Forman on behalf of its creditors. Forman worked with Jacob Vandergrift, a major investor in the railroad, to increase the number of oil shipments originating on the railroad by the construction of a pipeline to Pithole and the operation of a tank car line. By 1870, the boom in the immediate vicinity of Pithole was over, and the railroad was sold under foreclosure that year. It was reorganized in the following year as the Pithole Valley Railway. The directors of the reorganized railroad included S. L. M. Barlow, a lawyer closely associated with the Atlantic and Great Western. The new management was also closely connected with the Pennsylvania Petroleum Railroad, chartered in 1872, which would have tapped the oil fields from the north for the benefit of the Atlantic and Great Western. The managers planned to extend the Pithole Valley north through Pleasantville, Pennsylvania, another oil-producing town, to connect with the Pennsylvania Petroleum Railroad's main line. The Atlantic and Great Western sold a large bond issue to cover the construction and extension of these railroads, which was to be paid back from their revenues when completed. However, the money from the bonds was diverted to cover interest on the Atlantic and Great Western's existing mortgage bonds, so no extension of the Pithole Valley ever took place. Still unprofitable to operate, the rails and equipment were removed by 1876 and sold to the , another Atlantic and Great Western affiliate. The Pithole Valley remained in existence as a paper corporation through at least 1885, but was never rebuilt or operated again. (en)
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- The Pithole Valley Railway was an ephemeral short line railroad in Venango County, Pennsylvania, constructed as a result of the Pennsylvania oil rush. The railroad was originally constructed in 1865 between Oil City, Pennsylvania, a local oil transportation hub, and the boomtown of Pithole, Pennsylvania. Constructed under the charter of the Clarion Land and Improvement Company, it was informally known as the Oil City and Pithole Branch Railroad. Although it was generally supported by the broad gauge Atlantic and Great Western Railway, it was built to standard gauge. Conflict with the Warren and Franklin Railway over the right-of-way along the Allegheny River led to a lawsuit which, in 1866, declared that the Oil City and Pithole had no right to operate along the river from to Oil City. Th (en)
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_p109_Oil_Creek,_Allegheny_River,_Map_17.jpg?width=300)
_p109_Oil_Creek,_Allegheny_River,_Map_17.jpg){kind=link}
_pic.192_Captain_J.J._Vandergrieft,_G.V._Forman.jpg){kind=link}
_p109_Oil_Creek,_Allegheny_River,_Map_17.jpg){kind=link}
_pic.192_Captain_J.J._Vandergrieft,_G.V._Forman.jpg){kind=link}