Exploring the Stewartstown Railroad & the Abandoned New Park and Fawn Grove Railroad in Pennsylvania
The Stewartstown Railroad is one of Pennsylvania’s most enduring short lines, surviving mostly unchanged from its inception in 1885.
In this video, we explore the full history of the Stewartstown Railroad, from its 19th-century origins serving Southern York County’s farming communities to its survival into the modern era through volunteer preservation and excursion trains.
We begin at the former junction with the Northern Central Railway in New Freedom, tracing the line east through Shrewsbury, Tolna, and into Stewartstown itself. Along the way, we explore surviving stations, industrial sidings, bridges, culverts, and the railroad’s unique town-center wye.
But the story doesn’t stop there. Beyond Stewartstown once lay the New Park and Fawn Grove Railroad — a short-lived but fascinating extension that carried the rails nine more miles into rural Pennsylvania. Although abandoned in 1934, remnants of this forgotten line can still be found today.
Using historic photographs, aerial imagery, and on-location exploration, we follow the lost right-of-way through Wiley Station, New Park, and into Fawn Grove, uncovering station buildings, bridge abutments, and repurposed railroad structures that still survive more than 90 years later.
This video combines railroad history, abandoned infrastructure, and modern exploration to tell the complete story of two interconnected short lines — one still operating today, and one long gone.
📚 Sources:
This video is based in part on two outstanding books covering the history of the Stewartstown Railroad and the New Park & Fawn Grove Railroad. They are referenced at the end of the video and both are available at the Stewartstown Station gift shop, while the New Park & Fawn Grove volume is also available on Amazon.
#history #railway #train #pennsylvania
00:00 Intro
0:28 History of the Stewartstown Railroad
05:25 Exploring the Stewartstown Railroad
14:09 The Railroad IN Stewartstown, PA
20:00 Stewartstown from the air
22:40 Did the railroad continue?
23:58 History of the New Park and Fawn Grove Railroad
25:53 Exploring the New Park and Fawn Grove Railroad
32:09 References