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The Cambria and Indiana Railroad

 

 

 

      Welcome! This site is dedicated to preserving the history and memory of the Cambria and Indiana Railroad, a short line known primarily for hauling coal which operated in western Cambria and eastern Indiana counties in Pennsylvania.

      The C&I had its humble beginnings as a lumber railroad heading north out of the tiny village of Rexis, PA, in southeastern Indiana County. In 1904, owner Vinton Lumber Company had the line incorporated as a common carrier, operating under the name Blacklick and Yellow Creek Railroad. A few years later, the line was purchased by Coleman and Weaver, who held mineral rights and coal interests in the area. In 1911, its name was changed to the Cambria and Indiana Railroad, reflecting the names of the counties it would serve.

 

               Click on a link below to begin exploring this site.              

C&I History

Photos

Maps

Scans of timetables and other printed materials

Some stories of those who worked on the line

Book about the C&I! Click here to order it from Amazon.

 

Updates, etc.:

3/20/22 - The "History" page has a dead link to the diary of S.H. Jencks. I have copied the content to one long page here.

5/9/2020 - video of the last run to Colver and back to Revloc in 1994. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al5ybUq6xrE This is the link to part one of a four-part series posted to YouTube by Jon Kennedy, who used to maintain the Nanty Glo Homepage. (All four parts can be seen on YouTube.) I have to add this comment: when the train approaches the bridge over US 422 at Belsano, they start to talk about the train robbery in the 1920's - the robbery did not happen here, it happened north of Belsano just west of where the C&I crossed modern-day PA 271 at Concrete Bridge Crossing. I have a DVD of this trip given to me by Jack Hill, but I was never able to post it here.

3/14/18 - added some odds and ends.

3/8/18 - fixed or deleted some dead or broken links.

3/6/18 - added some steam era pix to the photos page.

 

3/15/14 - Here's a link to C&I stuff available on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=cambria+indiana&_osacat=220&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313&_nkw=cambria+indiana&_sacat=0

A lot of model RR stuff, mostly HO and N scale, as well as photos, slides, and other ephemera.

 

More recent additions:

A hopper comes home to Rexis - an old C&I hopper sat along a siding of the Knox & Kane RR for years. When the K&K's stuff was auctioned off, the hopper was bought and returned to Rexis where it would be repainted and eventually re-lettered. Denise Weber kindly sent some pictures, which are found on the page. 2/20/10 - Added some more photos courtesy of Keith Burkey. Updated again on 8/13/11 with some pix I shot of the car with its new lettering.

Some C&I odds and ends - a collection of things found on the web that I don't think I've used in any other pages on this site. Please forgive any duplications. :) Also includes a few non-C&I transportation-related things. There are some photos on this site that I found on usenet newsgroups which did not include any attributions; if you see one and know where it came from, let me know and I'll add it.

 

Some more photos from Jack Hill - click here.

 

 

Click the above herald to hear a Hancock Air Whistle, which the C&I used on its diesel locomotives. 

 

I donated my HO scale model railroad of the C&I (because I had to move) to the Alto Model Train Museum Association in Altoona, PA. (There are a few pictures of the original layout in my basement here.) I did keep some of my locos and rolling stock in case I decide to build another one someday...

 

 This is an "unofficial" site, constructed by a rail fan/model railroader.

 

c.2022 by David Lewis (I can't believe it's been this long! Thanks to Trainweb for keeping it up!)