The Allegheny Railroad began operations on September 3, 1985.

It operated 147.1 miles (236.7 km) of line between milepost 2.8 located at Erie, Pennsylvania and milepost 149.9 located at Emporium, Pennsylvania.

[1] To create the new railroad, five individual segments were assembled: The first, from Erie to Irvine was purchased from Conrail.

The fifth and final segment, from Johnsonburg to Emporium, was purchased from Conrail.

Hammermill used the line to ship product between its plants in Erie and Lock Haven.