Clinton County
Two yards of the same name, a quarter of a mile apart, under two carriers
The North American Rail Network maintained by the Federal Railroad Administration and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics lists a rail yard 0.99 miles from the Census centre, operated by the Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad, a short line. So far so ordinary.
What is not ordinary is that the same rail network data lists a second yard of the same name 0.27 miles away under a different carrier, Norfolk Southern.
A valley with one quarry and a long way between the rest
Those two yards are the dense part; the rest of the valley is thin. The Salona Plant works limestone 3.6 miles off with 13 people, an army reserve centre sits 4.7 miles away at McElhattan, and a yard 7.6 miles out at Avis.
After that the gaps open up. A flour mill sits 9.2 miles off at Mill Hall, a quarry 10.7 miles away at Jersey Shore, a sandstone pit 15.8 miles out in Jefferson County and a limestone operation 16.0 miles away at Aaronsburg in Centre County.
Dumps off the stone, flatbeds and day cabs off the yards, rollbacks, box trucks, straight trucks, service bodies and pickups.
Work here runs the length of a valley rather than round a ring, so between the Salona Plant 3.6 miles off and Aaronsburg 16.0 miles away the miles are genuine. A high reading on a truck from here is not the warning it would be on a short-lane truck.
Two carriers within a quarter of a mile means contracts that move between them, and a truck spec’d for one lane does not always suit the next.
The rest is the usual, from McElhattan 4.7 miles off to Mill Hall 9.2 miles away — a retirement, an estate, or a truck standing since the last contract ended.