West Penn Railways

----Infobox rail
railroad_name = West Penn Railways
logo_filename = west-penn-railways-logo-a.jpg
logo_size = 100
locale = Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia
start_year = 1904
end_year = 1952
predecessor_line = Brownsville Street Railway Co., Greensburg and Southern Electric Street Railway Co, Latrobe Street Railway Co., and others
successor_line = None (Exception: Co-operative Transit Company was the successor of Wheeling area lines.)
gauge = 5 ft 2½ in (Exception: Kittanning area lines were 4 ft 8½ in.)
length = 339 miles
hq_city = Greensburg, Pennsylvania

West Penn Railways, also known as the West Penn System, was an interurban electric railway headquartered in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. It was part of the region's power generation utility. West Penn Railways consisted of 339 miles of railway at its peak. Some of its predecessor companies had operated as early as 1889 in the Greensburg area and 1863 in the Wheeling area. West Penn Railways Company, as a distinct corporate entity, was chartered on February 18, 1904. It operated until August 9, 1952, when its last car ran from Uniontown to Greensburg. Because much of its business was to take residents of outlying areas into the nearby towns for shopping and entertainment, its business declined with the construction of better roads and increased car ownership and use. There was evening business after the mines let out with residents going to town to attend movies. It is said that once television reached this part of Pennsylvania, that West Penn's management facing increasing loss of riders decided to abandon railway operations.

Like most interurbans, West Penn's traction equipment was powered by overhead electric lines, and the vehicles resembled trolleys. They were larger and heavier than the typical city street car and were painted bright orange. West Penn's broad gauge single track was laid in streets in towns, but in countryside the track often ran on a right-of-way separate from roads. At some points, the West Penn's single track would reenter a road in order to use a road bridge and run not in the center but on one side, and motorists had the unusual problem of having to face a trolley approaching them head on in their lane. In the country there were passing sidings at various points and a crude but effective block signal system. West Penn had some very substantial bridges crossing ravines and valleys. Also, as was typical for interurbans, stops were more frequent than for a conventional railroad, curves were tighter, and gradients (slopes) were steeper. Although interurbans such as West Penn Railways were a short-lived phenomenon, they played a key role in rural passenger transportation in the pre-automobile poor road era.

Very little of the company infrastructure remains. However, the depot and headquarters building, built in 1927, still stands in Greensburg at 416 South Main Street, now used as Greensburg City Hall. The Freight Station in Greensburg, slightly to the west of City Hall, is being used as the Greensburg Volunteer Fire Department Museum. In Connellsville, the former West Penn depot is a three story structure now used as an office building. In Uniontown, the former depot (11 East Penn Street), built in 1930, is used as a school.

Coke Region Lines

The bulk of West Penn Railways' trackage formed a network in Allegheny, Westmoreland, and Fayette counties of Pennsylvania, comprising 158 miles in 1917, with headquarters in Greensburg. The main line ran from Greensburg, through Hecla (now known as Southwest), Mount Pleasant, Scottdale, Connellsville, and Uniontown, a distance of 31 miles. This trip took 2 hours 25 minutes, with single car trains (actually trolley-like vehicles) every half hour. ["West Penn Railways" (no author, no ISBN), Pennsylvania Railway Association, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa., 1973, page 6.] The speed averaged approximately 13 miles per hour, including stops. Service ended on August 9, 1952.

The phrase "Coke Region" is based on the area's fame for producing coke (fuel) from coal.

Branches and minor lines were as follows. ["West Penn Railways" (no author, no ISBN), Pennsylvania Railway Association, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa., 1973, page 18.] (Date of last rail service is in parentheses.)

* McKeesport - Wilmerding (1904)
* McKeesport - Lincoln Way (1924)
* Locust Street, McKeesport (1925)
* Jerome Street, McKeesport (1928)
* Scottdate - Meadow Mill (1931)
* Boston - Scott Haven (1932)
* Greensburg - Bunker Hill (1934)
* Tarr - Mount Pleasant (1936)
* Irwin - McKeesport (1938)
* Greensburg - Hunker - Scottdale (1939)
* Larimer - Trafford (1942)
* Irwin - Larimer (1948)
* Uniontown - Brownsville (1950)
* Uniontown - Martin (1950)
* Uniontown - Fairchance (1950)
* Connellsville - Dickerson Run (1951)
* Connellsville - Phillips - Uniontown (parallel to the main line but separate) (1951)
* Irwin - Greensburg (1952)
* Latrobe - Hecla (now Southwest) (1952)
* Connellsville - South Connellsville (1952)

Noncontiguous Lines

There were five other components of West Penn Railways which did not connect to each other or to the main network of "Coke Region" tracks:

* "Allegheny Valley Street Railway:" This line ran parallel to the Allegheny River northeast of Pittsburgh, running from Aspinwall to Natrona. A branch crossed the river to serve New Kensington, Parnassus, and Arnold. Service began in 1906 and ended in 1937.

* "Apollo - Leechburg:" Operated 1906-1936 along the north bank of the Kiskiminetas River.

* "Kittanning:" A line ran from Cowanshannock to Kittanning to Lenape Park (1899-1936). Lenape Park was an amusement park built and operated by the company. This line was built to a 4 foot 8½ inch gauge, the only element of West Penn Railways not built to a 5 feet 2½ inch gauge.

* "Oakdale - McDonald Street Railway:" This line connected these two small communities west of Pittsburgh, operating 1907-1927.

* "Wheeling Traction Company (Wheeling, West Virginia):" Service operated from Wheeling south to Moundsville, and from Wheeling north to Weirton. Another line ran on the opposite (western) bank of the Ohio River, from Shadyside to Rayland, with a branch to Barton, and a connection by bridge to Wheeling. Another branch connected Brilliant and Steubenville to the Wheeling-Weirton line. Track length in 1917 was 102 miles. Wheeling's earliest trolley service consisted of horse-drawn trolleys in 1863 and electric trolleys in 1890, although this was prior to West Penn Railways acquiring control in 1906. Control by West Penn Railways ended in 1931, after which an employee-owned cooperative, Co-operative Transit Company, conducted operations on the Wheeling-Barton and Wheeling-Shadyside routes until 1948 when river flooding caused irreparable damage.

See also

* Interurban

Notes

References

* cite book
title = The Electric Interurban Railways in America
author = Hilton, George W. & Due, John F.
publisher = Stanford University Press
id = ISBN 0-8047-4014-3
year = 1960, 2000
location = Stanford, California

* cite book
title = West Penn Railways
author = (No author shown)
publisher = Pennsylvania Railway Museum Association, Inc.
id = No ISBN
year = 1973
location = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

* cite book
title = West Penn Traction (Bulletin #B-110)
author = Canfield, Joseph M. (Editor)
publisher = Central Electric Railfans Association
id = No ISBN
year = 1968
location = Chicago, Illinois

External links

* [http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.com/westpenn.html Map of West Penn Railways] Accessed March 9, 2008.