I've been informed via e-mail that there's a NARCOA (track speeder owners) group gathering in north-central Penna. this weekend, to ride over the Lycoming Valley lines in the Williamsport area today and down the former Reading main from White Deer/New Columbia to Winfield, with a detour out the former PRR/Conrail/West Shore RR line from Lewisburg to Mifflinburg, probably in mid-day/afternoon.

The e-mail stated that there was heavy speculation that the moribund West Shore trackage (which hasn't seen a full fledged train of any sort, freight or passenger, in perhaps ten years) *may* be torn up for scrap soon, making this POSSIBLY the final rail movement of any sort over this line.........

For your history, the line was part of the original Lewisburg and Tyrone of 1879, then absorbed by the PRR; it ceased to be a through track when the section between Mifflinburg and Coburn was abandoned in 1970. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania bought the Montandon-Mifflinburg line in late 1983 and then leased to WTSE for excursions and occasional freight traffic (the co-op mill in Mifflinburg was a shareholder) beginning Feb. 1984. Montandon-Lewisburg was abandoned 1988 when they secured the ex-Reading from Winfield to West Milton and installed a formal connection. Upon the passing of railfan founder Richard Sanders around 1990 or so, the excursions shut down and freight was assumed by the local "Robey Empire" short-line empire, which later ended up acquiring most, if not all, of the West Shore's passenger stock (Lackawanna MU cars) as a "business train" for public relations purposes. Pennsy GP30 2233 was donated to the RR Museum of Pa., to be repainted from its authentic-but-Spartan PRR dip black to Conrail blue.........