Coudersport & Port Allegany 4-6-0 "Ten-Wheeler" Locomotives in the USA

Class 5 (Locobase 13124)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 30, p. 204. Works number was 31127 in June 1907

When the C&PA was established as a narrow-gauge line in the early 1880s, it connected the two cities in the name with 17 miles of track. In 1896, the northwestern Pennsylvania line absorbed the Coudersport & Pine Creek. Turning eastward as well as westward, the line eventually reached Ulysses and measured 40 miles. In addition to harvesting the timber stands in the area, Coudersport took advantage of the natural gas deposits in the area to host several glass-making plants as well as the sawmills that processed the lumber. Both activities were later highlighted in a survey of sanitary conditions in Pennsylvania as contributing to the pollution of the main branch of the Allegheny, especially during low water.

Both industries declined as both timber and gas reserves shrank. The line was bobbed at both ends first by abandonment of the easternmost nine miles to Ulysses and later by a calamitous 1942 flood that washed away the westernmost nine miles. It struggled into the 1960s, was purchased by the Wellsville, Addison & Galeton in 1964, but finally closed in 1970.

A thread on Railnet -- [] -- features several reminiscences and notes that a 1944 Trains article on the line was titled "Pygmy Pennsylvanian".

The 5 served the C&PA until it was scrapped in 1943.