Railroad Depots of Northwest Pennsylvania - Hardcoverby Dan West (Author) From 1860 until the decline of the railroads nearly 100 years later, Pennsylvania led the nation in railroad miles. The zenith came in 1920, when the state boasted 11,500 miles of track. The northwest corner of the state was home to the Pennsylvania oil rush in the late 19th century, coal mines, timber forests, and stone quarries. The landscape was dotted with railroad depots every couple of miles. These depots were waypoints for