Whitehall Branch

The Whitehall Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The line ran from Monongahela Branch near the 30th Street yard to a connection with the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad and the Allegheny and South Side Railway at 21st Street Yard in the South Side of Pittsburgh. The line is abandoned and removed.

History

After encouraging the development of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad (P&LE) east of downtown Pittsburgh to give competition for traffic from his Oliver Iron and Steel Company, Henry W. Oliver set about arranging for direct competition for the P&LE, looking back to the Pennsylvania Railroad to provide that. Under a charter sufficient for any railroad purpose but with the stated purpose of building a passenger line to the future suburb of Whitehall, a line was constructed parallel to and across sidings of the P&LE serving industries from South 3rd St. to South 21st St., then in the center of South 21st Street to Mary St. and parallel to the Monongahela Branch until it joined it near 30th St. yard. The entire line was known as the Pittsburgh and Whitehall Railroad; Later the PRR would own the entire line and lease back the stretch parallel to the P&LE to Oliver Iron and Steel's captive Allegheny and South Side Railway.

The line in South 21st St had originally been part of a line which continued into the hollow to Quarry St and connected to a coal incline leading to a Keeling Coal Company mine near St. Patrick Street. The railroad continued to the river. At the time, that part of the South Side was the independent community of East Birmingham and the street was known as Railroad St.

Industries served included U.S. Glass, Gimbel Brothers (formerly Kaufman and Baer) and John Eichleay, near the P&LE railroad at S. 21st St, the Duquesne Brewing Company at South 21st and Mary Streets and the J&L Steel warehouse between South 26th and South 27th Streets.

References

*cite book| author=Evans, Henry Oliver| url=http://books.google.com/books?id=J7QgAAAAMAAJ&pgis=1| title=Iron Pioneer: Henry W. Oliver. 1840-1904| year=1942| publisher=E.P. Dutton & Company|