The Erie canal was completed in 1825 and brought a lot of commerce to the New York City region. The Pennsylvania response was to create, by legislation, the Main Line of Public Works in 1826 to link Philadelphia and Pittsburg. This was initaially envisaged as a canal system but surveys showed problems with water provision during the summer months in the section between the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers. The new technology of railroads was then added in 1828 (see Some History page).

The transport link between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh was developed as a State enterprise with sections of railroad and canal use and called the Main Line of Public Works. In 1832 the first horse-drawn carriages used the track from Paoli to Philadelphia. In 1833 the Canal Commissioners, who managed the project, completed the Columbia-Philadelphia Railroad with a double track. The first train of cars using a steam locomotive passed Paoli on Wednesday, the last day of February, 1834. By 1837 there was a regular train service:

In 1857 the Main Line of Public Works was sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad for $7.5 million plus $1.5 million in bonds. This was not without contraversy in some quarters:

Bedford PA Gazette

“The [rail]road was as crooked as a meadow brook” - local historian.

The original design of the railroad assumed a maximum speed of 30 mph. The track was laid down with curves to minimize the elevation changes. In the 1870s the Pennsylvania Railroad initiate a series of upgrades to the track and stations in the Upper Mainline. The railbed was straightened, with the addition of cuttings and embankments, and expanded to 4 tracks. The private stations of the Paoli Inn and Eagle were replaced by PRR stations at Paoli, Daylesford, Berwyn, Devon, and Strafford. The land for these changes was partially acquired through the process of eminent domain. There is no record of these land purchases when the land owner and the PRR agreed to the price of these tracts. When there was disagreement on price the case went to the courts, and was documented. Some of the land for stations was purchased by normal deeds. The tract for the Paoli station was given by the Paoli Heights Land Company to the Pennsylvania railroad!?

The following tables shows when stations appeared in the PRR schedules:

Berwyn was called Reeseville in 1875. It was probably a flag stop between 1878 and 1881. [27]

September 16, 1880 Emigrant Travel Westward on the Pennsylvania Railroad. – Last week was one of the heaviest for the past ten years in the way of emigrant travel over the Pennsylvania railroad, the number passing over the main line from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, from Monday to Saturday, nearly five thousand men, women and children, not counting those who stopped at different points along the line to engage in labor on railroads, at iron works and for farm hands. It was as heavy a week of emigrant travel as passed over this road in ten years previous.

Daily Local News

June 22, 1881 Travel. – The emigrant travel on the Pennsylvania Railroad has increased so enormously of late that the officials have been compelled to put on two sections every night for the purpose of conveying these new comers to their destinations.

Daily Local News

September 6, 1883 Traffic on the P.R.R. – For the past few months at least 150 freight trains have daily passed over the main line of the P.R.R. between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, which goes to prove that freight traffic in increasing at a rapid rate. Over 35 through passenger trains also pass over that line daily, hence the officials who manage the running of trains are kept quite busy.

Daily Local News (West Chester)