Pennsylvania Railroad General Order 1313 1962 Cumberland Valley Branch For Sale

A General Order issued by The Pennsylvania Railroad, dated September 14, 1962, from the Philadelphia Region headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, documents a critical operational change for the railroad’s Cumberland Valley Branch. Designated as General Order No. 1313, this official directive was issued by W. G. Dorwart, Superintendent Transportation, and became effective at 12:01 A.M. on Friday, September 21, 1962. The order specifically applies in Zone E and annuls a previous temporary speed restriction of thirty miles per hour on the Main track between Mile Post 32 and Mile Post 38, covering the section of the branch line between Newville and Shippensburg, both towns located in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. This annulment indicates that the condition requiring reduced speed—likely track maintenance, bridge work, or another temporary hazard—had been resolved, thereby permitting trains to resume normal operating speeds along that stretch of the Cumberland Valley Branch. The document is printed in black ink on a single sheet of paper, with the recto bearing all printed text, while the verso is intentionally blank except for minor bleed-through from the front, which is typical for such ephemeral operational records. The paper exhibits significant age-related toning, a prominent horizontal crease, and a torn upper left corner with minor material loss and associated creasing, all consistent with a document that has been folded, filed, and stored for decades. As a piece of railroadiana, this General Order offers tangible insight into the day-to-day administrative and safety protocols of the Pennsylvania Railroad during the early 1960s, a period when the PRR remained one of the most powerful railroads in the United States before its eventual merger into Penn Central in 1968. The specific reference to mile posts, branch lines, and zone designations reflects the meticulous record-keeping and hierarchical communication structure essential to managing a vast rail network. Collectors of railroad ephemera, transportation history, and mid-century business documents will find this order a compelling artifact of operational command and industrial print culture.

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