Keim and Dr. George N. Eckert from Berks County, and Henry W. Conrad and William Hoch from Pine Grove, Pennsylvania were authorized to build "a single or double railroad, from the northern end of the Union canal company's railroad, up Lorberry Creek, on lands of Ley and Hawk, to points most suitable in the heart of the coal region, in the county of Schuylkill.
The railroad was originally laid with wooden strap rail and operated by horses.
The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad obtained most of the company's stock in August 1862 and took over its operation.
Under Reading control, the line became the Lorberry Branch, and an extension known as the Kalmia Branch would bring the rails west from Lorberry and down a switchback to Kalmia Colliery, on the north face of Broad Mountain.
In addition, a switchback at Lorberry would lift the line to its terminus at the Lincoln Colliery (opened 1869).