The Beech Creek Railroad, a New York Central affiliate, reached the Clearfield and Centre county coal fields in the 1880s by way of a line up the Allegheny Front that paralled the serpentine course of Beech Creek and its tributaries. This line lost its importance as a through-route, however, after the completion of the WBV Branch, which had no significant grades. But Beech Creek trackage continued to serve as an important coal-gathering network. Left: a Clearfield-bound coal train on the Snow Shoe Secondary passes the NYC station (no longer used by the railroad) at Bigler in August 1973. Below, a hundred empties are about to cross U.S. Rt. 322 between Bigler and Wallaceton in March 1976, less than a month before PC gave way to Conrail.
Penn Central Clearfield-area map
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