University Park, Pa. -- The Bellefonte Central Railroad provided a vital economic service in facilitating Penn State's transformation from an obscure agricultural college to one of the nation's elite public universities, say the authors of a newly published book, "Rails to Penn State."
The 19-mile-long rail line was Penn State's primary passenger and freight transportation link to the outside world for several decades, beginning in 1892. At Bellefonte, it connected the campus and the surrounding State College community to the vast Pennsylvania Railroad system. Even with the advent of better highways in the 1930s, the railroad continued to be an important bulk freight carrier for town and campus until 1974.
The book is the culmination of a 20-year research and writing effort by Michael Bezilla and Jack Rudnicki, both alumni of the University. Bezilla is a longtime member of the University Relations staff and author of several books on Penn State history. Rudnicki, a graduate of the Smeal College of Business' supply chain management program, is in sales management for BNSF Railway.
"As a passenger hauler, the Bellefonte Central carried thousands of undergraduates and faculty members, along with such notables as steel magnates Andrew Carnegie and Charles Schwab and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower," Bezilla said. "As a freight railroad, it carried virtually everything that Penn State and State College needed to function and to grow -- bricks, office furniture, food, home appliances, paper, coal, gasoline, even new automobiles for the town's dealerships. Plus mail and express."
The book analyzes how changes in the local transportation marketplace mirrored nationwide trends, causing Penn State and other shippers to prefer truck delivery rather than rail. The Bellefonte Central ended service to State College in 1974 and ceased operations altogether in 1982.
The authors drew extensively on Bellefonte Central corporate records acquired in 2001 by the University Libraries, now consisting of 122 archival boxes inventoried and catalogued in the Special Collections library.
"The BFC corporate archive is one of the most detailed and comprehensive collections of its kind anywhere," Bezilla noted. "It's likely to be a tremendous asset for other researchers interested in the history of railroads, the University, and some of the other customers the BFC served, such as the lime and limestone industry."
In addition to serving the University, the BFC hauled some 14 million tons of Nittany Valley lime and stone, more than any other short-line railroad in the nation.
"Centre County has one of the nation's purest deposits of limestone, and quarrying and lime-making have had an enormous economic impact," said Rudnicki. "We made a special effort to show how the lime and limestone business evolved hand-in-hand with the railroad."
Rudnicki said the book is the first detailed exploration of the relationship between trunk lines and short lines, an important aspect of railroad history. "The BFC was David to the Pennsylvania Railroad's Goliath," he explained. "Each railroad benefited financially from the other, but they were often at each other's throats over things like rates, service quality and car supply."
"Rails to Penn State" also shows the University sometimes had a difficult relationship with the Bellefonte Central. Penn State Presidents George Atherton and Edwin Sparks tried to convince the Pennsylvania Railroad to build a line through State College so their institution would have the prestige of being served by the "Standard Railroad of the World." Meanwhile, BFC management was annoyed with Penn State during the Atherton and Sparks eras because it often fell behind in paying its freight bills.
"Rails to Penn State" is published by Stackpole Books. Visit the authors' Web site http://bellefonte.com/heritage/BCR/BFCRR.html for more information and photos about the Bellefonte Central.