 Blanchard had been an early investor in the Bellefonte & Snowshoe, and served as a director of the Tyrone and Lock Haven Railroad.This company was reorganized as the Bald Eagle Valley Railroad, of which he served as treasurer.Blanchard's history with these lines put him on good terms with Pennsylvania Railroad officials, who financed the Bald Eagle Valley and later took control of both that railroad and the Bellefonte & Snowshoe.