Trains and Trolleys In and Out of Carlisle

Editor's Note: The late George M . Diffenderfer in 1972 '"womped' together for his own amazement, " as he wrote (and for his friends' amusement, one might add), a 126-page "compilation of nostaligia" that he titled “I Believe in Yesterday." Notes and vignettes of persons, places, and events, principally in Carlisle, that he remembered from his boyhood before World War I, the manuscript is remarkably detailed, personal, impressionistic, and often gossipy. The author's nostaligia for “yesterday" is often mixed with a humorous contempt.

From the many subjects Diffenderfer wrote about church suppers, parades, vacations, sports and pastimes, automobiling, town characters, and a score of topics "praising- practically nothing"- the sections on the trains and trolleys that ran in and out of Carlisle have been edited for presentation here.

Steam Cars

The Cumberland Valley Railroad's steam cars came into town from Harrisburg on an elevated trestle which started in the proximity of Spring Garden Street (between Louther and Main Streets) near the long-gone Carlisle Gas and Water's gas works, spanning the Letort spring and East Street and finally ending a bit east of the intersection of Bedford and Main Streets.

 From there the track ran up the center of Main, past the passenger station on the northwest corner of Pitt and Main, to a point beyond West Street where it veered to the north side of Main and paralleled the curb by the Dickinson College campus. It continued on westward past the freight station at Main and Cherry and the roundhouse, crossing what is now known as Orange Street on an overpass, where it proceeded on toward the eleven-mile distant Newville.

A bit east of this overpass, a freight line curved off to the northeast, joining the main line at a place called Gettysburg Junction where the CVRR (Cumberland Valley Railroad) joined the G&H (Gettysburg and Harrisburg) branch of the P&R (Philadelphia and Reading Railroad).

The freight yard tracks were protected from straying cattle and citizenry by an iron picket fence along Main Street Extended, starting at Cherry and continuing on to the overpass. This fence was removed at the beginning of World War II to provide metal for the war effort. Incidentally, freight cars parked along this fence provided bleacher seats for the town's freeloading fans as they watched Dickinson athletic contests held back of a high board fence surrounding Biddle Field.

Mentioned above was the Cumberland Valley Railroad's roundhouse. Actually it was but half round, having accommodations for but three "iron horses" with a turntable for reversing the direction of an engine. This turntable was an engineering marvel. The locomotive would be run onto the table and then the engineer, aided by his fireman and hostler, would alight and push (by main strength and a great deal of awkwardness) against wooden bars attached at opposite ends of the table. These three men could turn that engine around 360 degrees and head it in an opposite direction.

In the early 1900's there were 24 passenger trains in and out of Carlisle in a 24-hour period, some of which were locals, meaning they were made up in Carlisle and ran principally to Harrisburg to accommodate the commuters.

Taking off from and paralleling the main track a bit east of Cherry Street was a siding running down Main almost to West. It was on this siding that extra open vestibule passenger cars were stored until needed. These cars would be pulled westward into the yard, the turnaround engine hooked onto the front, and this made-up train would then proceed to the passenger station for the trip eastward.

Read the entire article