West Shore

Company History: This shortline started up in 1984 to resume operation on a 12 mile former Pennsylvania Railroad line in the West Milton - Mifflinberg, Pennsylvania area that had been abandoned by Conrail two years before. The company acquired a pair of coaches and a caboose and initiated tourist train service to augment the meager freight revenues. Later, they added an adjacent 9 mile branch to Winfield. Power was provided by an SW1 of PRR ancestry that received a PRR influenced paint scheme but with West Shore lettering, and a GP30, also of PRR ancestry that was fully restored to PRR colors. In 1988, they picked up the ex-Reading Winfield Branch but subcontracted the operation of that line to the North Shore Railroad shortly after. West Shore closed in 1997..

Text Courtesy of Craig Ross of Bluford Shops

Successor/Parent History: Pioneer Railcorp is a railroad holding company that owns short line railroads and several other railroad related businesses including a railroad equipment company and a contract switching services company. Railroad transportation is provided by the Company’s wholly-owned short line railroad subsidiaries ("Pioneer Lines".) Pioneer Lines rail system is primarily devoted to carrying freight and currently consists of 23 rail operations in 13 states with over 600 miles of track serving over 100 customers. .

Customers know Pioneer Lines and its dedication to providing reliable and dependable rail services through its North American railroad subsidiaries. Pioneer’s customers include some of the most successful corporations in America. The commodities moved by Pioneer Lines are primary products needed for the economy in good times and bad. Examples of these commodities are agricultural products such as cottonseed, corn, fertilizer, meal, peanuts, soybeans, and wheat, along with other products such as alcohol, baby food, charcoal, chemicals, flooring materials, frozen foods, heavy equipment, lumber, paper products, plastics, scrap metal, steel (finished,) and wood products (finished.)

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.