Through a series of further mergers and aquisitions, the Jamestown & Franklin Railroad was eventually aquired by the New York Central. The Central's well-known desire to match the very successful Pennsylvania Railroad in terms of regional trackage and business was a primary motivation for this move. The Central's success on this line continued into the railroad boom of the early twentieth century. However, in the period following World War II, with the decline of the railroads, and the ultimate merger of the New York Central with the Pennsylvania Railroad into the Penn Central, most of this duplicate trackage became redundant and was abandoned. The original Jamestown & Franklin Railroad is no exception.
Even though the rails along the right-of-way of the original Jamestown & Franklin Railroad have long since been removed, the railbed is well-marked along all of it's duration from the Borough of Jamestown where it first enters Mercer County to a location just east of Stoneboro and Sandy Lake, where it exits the county along the banks of Sandy Creek. In Jamestown, which also happens to be the gateway to the Pymatuning Reservoir located in neighboring Crawford County, the railbed crosses over PA 58 by way of an old stone arch viaduct. The arch, which was constructed in 1873, and has become a well-known local landmark, has recently been at the center of a local debate regarding preservation versus destruction.
The railbed proceeds from Jamestown in a southeasterly manner, crossing PA 58 once more at grade, before continuing further toward the village of Osgood. This tiny hamlet is the site of a once legendary occurance in railroad lore: the literal stacking of three different railroads at three different levels of bridges, with both a local road and the Little Shenango River at the very bottom. The Erie Lackawanna, New York Central, and the Bessemer & Lake Erie all passed through this place, with the B&LE routed along a trestle over one thousand feet long. It was truly something to behold. For photos of this area when it was in its heyday, click here! Even though the old New York Central tracks have long since been removed, the other two lines are still being used here: the original Erie-Lackawanna (now owned by Norfolk-Southern) and the two existing branches of the B&LE.
To the east of Osgood, the railbed follows the Little Shenango River, passing through the villages of Leeches Corners and Hadley, then crosses US 19 just north of Camp Perry, continuing toward the village of Clarks Mills, where it proceeds in a southeastward direction toward the Boroughs of Stoneboro and Sandy Lake. The land to the south of Stoneboro, down to the villages of Pardoe, Irishtown, and London, is dotted with coal mines and the old spur railroads that used to serve them. Many of these spurs apparently had connections to the Jamestown & Franklin Railroad (as well as the New Castle & Franklin Railroad coming northward out of Mercer).