The Titusville area, about 2 hours from Pittsburgh, will take you back to the start of the US petroleum industry in 1860’s. The Oil Creek & Titusville Railroad rides through the oil country, now Oil Creek State Park. You can bike the trail along the train tracks through the park then stay overnight in a real caboose car at the Caboose Motel. This is a place to climb aboard a history tour of where the oil rush started in America.
Reflection
Railroad
The Oil Creek & Titusville Railroad is a gem with its restored
1930 Pullman passenger cars each named after someone influential in the area's oil industry.
Before boarding at the Perry Street
Station, you can browse the museum and find original relics from the railroad era.
There are lanterns, a weighing scale and safe that looks just like the ones in
old western movies.
The 3-hour train ride careens through the valley along the river
and passes the remains of drilling wells. The ride is supplemented with tales of
the oil rush and the men that “changed the world.” You will learn that The Seneca Oil Company hired
Edwin Drake to drill for oil. In 1859, the oil found on the Smith farm produced some
of the first instant US millionaires. The oil rush brought a population boom
from 250 to 10,000 in 5 years and with it, a little debauchery to the area. It was a surprise
that in 20 years, the Pennsylvania oil, that at one time supplied 58% of United States, was gone.
The train runs from June to mid-October on Saturdays and Sundays. At a speed of 10 miles an hour, you can walk through the cars to an open gondola car for a 360-degree view of the green landscape. The railroad boasts of a fall foliage run that provides a picturesque orange, yellow, and red ride through the valley (October 1-15, Wed through Friday at 11 AM and Saturday and Sunday 10am and 3pm.).
Oil Creek Bike Trail
Pennsylvania is unique with a variety of rails to trails
bike paths. The Oil Creek Bike Trail is a 9.7-mile relatively flat paved
trail. You can start at Titusville or in the park at Petroleum Center. There
are places along the trail to read about the oil rush history. You pass oil
wells, an oil barge, and access the Drake Well Museum.
The thick trees along the trail provide shade and give the feeling of riding through the woods. My curiosity about the black bear pictured on all the trail maps was answered when turning a bend, I saw a baby black bear crossing the bike trail. It was my first encounter with a bear in the wild. I was scared (you insert the adjective) as I slowly moved my bike backward looking around for the mama. I can now say that this Oil Creek bike ride was a beautiful encounter with nature with a dose of history.
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| Oil wells viewed from train and bike trail |
Caboose Motel
I have always loved the little red caboose at the end of trains.
My bag was packed when I found out that you can sleep in a real caboose at the
The Caboose Motel (open from April -Oct 29). There are 21 brightly colored train cars,
each one named after a railroad line. We had an orange, Illinois Central car.
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| You get your own caboose, one of 21 cars |
The rooms are very spacious, complete with a bathroom and cable TV but could use some updates. There is something special about sleeping in your own cozy car complete with an original train metal door.
Titusville, where America's oil industry started, is a great
place to climb aboard. The railroad will give you a nostalgic ride through oil
country or you can bike on The Oil Creek Bicycle Trail enjoying the natural beauty
with a dose of history. The Caboose Motel is a unique opportunity to live the
history in a train car all to yourself. I
can just hear the conductor shout “all aboard”’ in Titusville, Pennsylvania.
Other Sources
https://visitcrawford.org/regions/titusville/
https://octrr.org/the-caboose-motel/
https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/FindAPark/OilCreekStatePark/Pages/default.aspx