Driftwood, Pennsylvania was at one time an important junction for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Located on the former Philadephia & Erie, which carried traffic from Lake Erie at Erie, Pennsylvania to a junction with the Northern Central, another Pennsylvania subsidiary providing connections to Harrisburg and Baltimore, Maryland, it also connected with a number of other secondary lines along the way, gathering traffic as it went.
One of these was at Driftwood (located southeast of Emporium), where it met a line running to DuBois, connecting with yet another subsidiary (Allegheny Valley), and forming what become known as the Low Grade Secondary Track. The intention was to create an additional east-west line with low grades for traffic between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. Ultimately it failed to live up to its potential and much of it (including the stretch from Driftwood to DuBois) has been abandoned.
This view looks south from the Pennsylvania Route 555 grade crossing, down the former Philadelphia & Erie towards the junction. The running track is fourth from the left, with the other tracks plugged by work cars and other rolling stock. Red-eye stop signals for the junction with the DuBois line can be seen in the distance.
