The B & O/Penn Central Clearfield Interchange
The B&O (ex-Buffalo Rochester & Pittsburgh) reached Clearfield over its Clearfield & Mahoning Branch. Penn Central used the C&M for 6.4 miles between Clearfield and CB Jct. to reach its own Cherry Tree Branch, which in turn tapped coal fields in western Clearfield and parts of Indiana and Cambria counties. In the PC era, the C&M hosted a single Monday through Saturday daytime local based at the B&O's Riker Yard in Punxsutawney. In contrast, PC operated several trains in each each direction over B&O rails. At left, the C&M local brings a substantial cut of loaded hoppers in Clearfield Yard in July 1972. The train is within a few feet of crossing the official divide between B&O and Penn Central territory.
The photo at left, from April 1971, was taken at the same location as above but looks toward the yard. Again, coal constitutes much of the tonnage. NYC moved a lot of B&O-originated coal east to Newberry Jct. for interchange with the Reading Company, but this traffic largely dried up with Penn Central re-routings. The track at extreme right leads from the NYC yard to a connection with PRR rails near the two railroads' downtown freight stations.The two scenes below show the C&M local between Clearfield and CB Jct. Lower left is outbound from Clearfield and lower right is inbound. The pictures testify to the fact that the B&O usually brought more tonnage into Clearfield than it took away.

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