Pittsburgh & West Virginia Article

Classic Trains General Discussion
1

I really enjoyed the P&WV article in the Summer 2011 issue. It is a fine example of why I’ve been a ferroequinologist for nearly 70 years: I learned a lot of new things about a familiar subject.

And I am somewhat familiar with the P&WV, having been born and raised just 2.4 miles from the Monongahela River bridge in the photograph on page 74. A bit more detail about that scene for anyone interested:

  • The two tracks in the foreground beneath the bridge are PRR’s Monongahela Branch.
  • The area below the near end of the bridge is the borough of Speers, PA. Charleroi, PA is just down the river (to the left of the picture). Belle Vernon is on the other side of the river just to the right (south) and Monessen is on the other side of the river about 3 miles north. (Yes, the Monongahela flows from south to north.)
  • As mentioned in the caption, the Monessen Southwestern never used the lower level of this bridge. There was, however, a trestle ramp from the MSW’s yard up to the far (east) end of the bridge. Local lore had it that this crossing was to have been used to connect Pittsburgh Steel’s Monessen and Allenport mills. Allenport is further south on the near side of the river and served by PRR.
  • Pittsburgh & Lake Erie’s McKeesport-Brownsville Jct. line passes beneath the far end of the bridge.

Incidentally, this bridge is mentioned on page 48 of Paul Mallery’s Bridge and Trestle Handbook Fourth Edition (Carstens).

2

This was also territory well served by interurban trolley cars. Pittsburgh Railways had an interurban line that now is the suburban line to South Hills Village and Library, but used to go to Roscoe, a few miles beyond Carleroi (with the cars signed Charleroi) and to Washington PA, and there still is the junction at the stop called Washington Junction! South from Greensburg, the main line of the West Penn interurban ran through Connolsville to Uniontown, with branches to Brownsville, Mason City, and Farichance. Several local streetcar lines connected Pittsburgh with Mckeesport, and before WWII one could continue from there through Trafford, Irving, Jenette to Greensburg. Trafford continued until well after WWII, but the connection between Irving and Trafford was broken on the basis that the steel was needed for the war effort and the PRR local main line passenger service was sufficient, one of the very few electric lines scrapped during WWII.