Interviewed by Lindsay Huff & Ngoc Ho
The Danville, Hazleton, and Wilkes-Barre railroads, and later the Sunbury railroad, started operating on the east side of Catawissa Creek during the 19th century. The railroad continued operating into the 20th century. The line was rebuilt, including a trestle bridge over the Catawissa Creek, south of Mainville. The railroads allowed Mainville to become a prosperous village. Along with houses and farms, the village included a furnace, two mills, a forge, three stores and two hotels. The growth was partially due to the building of the Catawissa Railroad. The tunnel, or culvert and the underpass were built in 1927 at the top of the hill. The underpass was torn down about 10 years ago when they took out the railroad tracks.
Between 1832 and 1835 Myron Longenberger, Jean’s father and Charlotte’s grand father, was a time keeper. He walked the railroads to watch for cave-ins. He kept track of the times when trains came through and made sure everything was all right with the tracks. Charlotte, a historian, took part in the restoration of Mainville, and Jean has lived in Mainville her whole life.
PATCHWORK: What year did they build the first wooden trestle?
BANKES: We can’t determine when it was first built; there is no written record about it.
THOMAS: The first trestle burned down. This happened because near the corner of Marlene Brown’s house was a barn, and steam engines would haves sparks fly, and the trestle, being made of wood, went up in flames along with the barn. So they got tired of it and decided to go with a steel one so it was a couple of years after 1938 when it was rebuilt.
PATCHWORK : Did they build the first wooden trestle at the same time they built the railroad?
THOMAS: Yes, they would have had to because that was the only way they would have gotten across the big span.
PATCHWORK : In some information that we found, it said that the flood of 1908 knocked down a railroad bridge in Mainville. Is that true?
BANKES: That had to be the Pennsylvania Railroad. That had to be the other bridge on the other mountain if there was a flood that knocked it down.
THOMAS: Unless they just rebuilt it, the flood could have had a lot to do with it, but yes the creek would have gone to that side.
PATCHWORK : When they built the first bridge, was there was any fill?
BANKES: No, there was no fill. It was standing by itself without fill.
THOMAS: The only fill was on both ends by the piers. Now it’s all just fill, and no bridge.
PATCHWORK : When they built the trestle, did they employ people from around Mainville or did they bring in their own workers?
THOMAS: I think the people came from around here because in those times everybody needed the work. It gave a lot of people jobs.
PATCHWORK : Why did they leave the stone piers up on both sides?
BANKES: There was a lot of controversy there when they were taken down. They had a man from Pottsville who came and signed a contract to take the stones away and he cheated a lot of people out of money so they wouldn’t let him take any more away. I remember my mother telling me that that’s why the stones are still there. He wasn’t allowed to take anymore.
THOMAS: Yes, I am sure that if someone could get in there now and take them, they could make pretty good money selling them.
BANKES: I know the man hauled a lot away but I can’t remember his name.
PATCHWORK : Why did they tear down the second trestle?
THOMAS: Well, when the railroads stopped running they took out the railroad tracks and used the tracks elsewhere. So there was no need for a trestle.
BANKES: The Reading Railroad went bankrupt, and they took the tracks and everything to make as much money as they could.
PATCHWORK : Did Mainville have its own railroad station?
BANKES AND THOMAS: Yes.
THOMAS: When all the trains would come through, they would stop up at that train station. David Shuman Rittenhouse remembers, as a small boy, that when he would come up from Reading to visit his grandmother, he would remember them saying, “Next stop, Mainville.” And the whistle would blow.
PATCHWORK - Was there any significance of the bridge?
BANKES: There certainly was a lot of significance to the bridge. They used it during the 2nd World War; they hauled machinery, tanks and all army equipment on the trains. At that time when the 2nd World War started they had to transport tanks on the railroad. That’s when they had what you would call “iron policemen,” who would ride on the train to make sure there was no sabotage done to destroy the trains. They would go to Tamaqua and Pottsville and then they would be loaded on trucks to go to the different parts of the country.
PATCHWORK : Did your dad help to take down the bridge?
BANKES: Yes.
PATCHWORK: Did he ever tell you any stories?
BANKES: No, I am sorry. He didn’t.
THOMAS: I know after the depression (the 1930s) that there were excursions that even Jean remembers.
BANKES: Yes.
THOMAS: People would get on the trains and stop out here at the fill and get out and take pictures.
BANKES: They were usually brought here from Philadelphia and they would mostly come in the spring or in the fall.
PATCHWORK: It was like tourism?
BANKES: Yes, it was really neat to see them. You’d look forward to seeing those trains coming.
PATCHWORK: Do you have any stories about the bridge?
THOMAS: I know that one time in the early 1900s there was a runaway horse that was up on the bridge that fell through.
BANKES: The water tower was used for the steam engines before the diesels came on because they had to stop there as they came through from Catawissa. They stopped there and filled the tanks up with water, which came off of the Catawissa Mountain. It was called the Reading Dam. They piped water down in big pipes and it went into the tank. A big pipe extended onto the top of the train to fill the engine so that it could continue on its journey. That was the only way they had to go to get water.
THOMAS: That was located across from the Mainville station.
BANKES: There was also a coal breaker over on the other side, up towards the hill, which would be behind our shed. My dad ran the coal breaker, as a matter of fact.
PATCHWORK: What did the coal breaker do?
BANKES: Well, it broke up the coal, that’s why it was called a coal breaker. They took the coal out of the fill and broke it up and they were able to sell it or use it. There were things you used to break it up because then it came out like a chute. So you could put it into the trucks.
PATCHWORK: So your house has been here as long as the bridge?
BANKES: Yes.
THOMAS: So has your house, Lindsay. Yours might have been here after Jean’s, but it’s been here for a while.
THOMAS: I remember when Angie, my daughter, was 8-years-old when the trains would still come out there and she would always cry every night because she was afraid that the trains would come down over the bank and come into our house. So she was very glad when they took the railroad tracks out.
PATCHWORK: Did the tracks cross the road up above your house?
THOMAS: Yes, up above where the culvert is located, where it connected right up over top the road.
BANKES: There were steps on either side that went up. It was really neat.
PATCHWORK: Was the culvert originally put in with the trestle and underpass?
BANKES: When the trestle was there it just ran freely. Once they put in the fill, they filled it in and put in the culvert. They built the culvert in 1927.
THOMAS: They brought in the culvert consisting of cement pieces, and then they just filled in around it.
PATCHWORK: Approximately how many train companies used the trestles?
THOMAS: Only the Reading and the Philadelphia Railroads.
BANKES: Yes.
THOMAS: On the opposite side of the creek was the Pennsylvania Railroad.
PATCHWORK: Was Mainville known as a town for the railroads, and did the railroads have major significance toward Mainville?
THOMAS: I don’t think it was known for the railroads. Catawissa was really the main railroad town. Mainville was more like a stop for the railroads, but it still provided lots of jobs.
BANKES: I think Mainville was primarily a farming area.
THOMAS: Arnold Michael remembers walking up and seeing the stack from the furnace.
PATCHWORK: Has Arnold lived in Mainville his entire life?
THOMAS: Yes, Slim (Arnold) has always worked on the railroad. He is a very good railroad guy to talk to, he knows a lot of stuff.
BANKES: He used to work on the tracks. He used to go on this little cart, and he would pump it up the tracks and see if the trains needed repairs or not. He always worked there and his father did, too.
BANKES: We figured that the trestle was still there and they put the fill in behind it.
THOMAS: So they probably kept running the railroad tracks until they got the solid ground one put in.
PATCHWORK: Did they have a lot of piers up through the middle of the bridge?
THOMAS: There was quite a few because I think the cement slabs are still over there.
BANKES: Oh yes, there must have been four at least.
THOMAS: I am guarding that pier over there. If they ever try to sell it, I am going to contact someone to block the removal of it. It’s part of Mainville’s history.
PATCHWORK: Thank you for sharing your information with us.