Williamsport and North Branch Railroad
However, residents of Muncy feared the railroad would compete with an existing plank road to Hughesville and refused it permission to enter the town.
The track from Halls to Hughesville was rebuilt to make up for the deferred maintenance of previous years, and in late 1883, construction north and east began again.
[3] The new line followed a different route from the unsuccessful wooden-railed extension, following the west side of Muncy Creek through Tivoli up to Glen Mawr, which was reached in 1884.
There was a picnic grove at Tivoli which was the destination of summer excursions, and a stage connection to the resort of Eagles Mere, then called Lewis Lake.
At Glen Mawr, the railroad crossed Muncy Creek and followed its east bank up to Sonestown, which it reached in 1885, and Nordmont, where it ended in October 1886.
However, the PRR's interest in the W&NB quickly waned, especially after the Bloomsburg & Sullivan's construction halted in Jamison City, never to reach Bernice.
The line from Ringdale to the summit between Loyalsock and Muncy creeks was built on a 1% grade to facilitate handling heavy coal trains from Bernice.
At Ringdale, the line crossed the Loyalsock on a high trestle, 476 feet (145 m) long, and ran up Birch Creek.
Construction of a depot at Satterfield began in October, but a dispute with the Lehigh Valley over property ownership resulted in its demolition, and it was relocated in November.
Several hotels around Highland Lake were connected by stage to the railroad's station at Chamouni (later renamed Essick and Tivoli).
[10] The opening of the narrow gauge Eagles Mere Railroad on July 1, 1892 provided additional passenger traffic.
[12] The narrow gauge interchanged with the W&NB at Sonestown, providing passenger service to the many hotels at the resort of Eagles Mere.
The owners decided to sell out to a group of New York financiers and local businesspeople, and B. Harvey Welch, a native of Hughesville, became president.
[15] This proved to be a fortunate decision, for in that same year, Union Tanning decided to log large tracts of forest to the north and west of the line.
[15] About this time, the Northern Anthracite Company built its Murray coal breaker two miles west of Bernice.
The company laid a standard gauge rail a short distance on the Eagles Mere Railroad, and then turned up Big Run to collect timber.
[20] The W&NB went into receivership in 1917 due to its inability to pay off its bonded interest, and the lease of the Eagles Mere Railroad was canceled in 1920.
The Eagles Mere Railroad had been abandoned in 1926 after flood damage, but it no longer supplied any significant traffic for the W&NB.
After 1930, the logging and wood products industry had essentially shut down, leaving only the coal mines as regular generators of freight traffic north of Picture Rocks.
