West Penn Photos

Scattered, here in one place. Add any you have, please. and I hope to have more.

At and near Hecla, between Greensboro and Connellsville

North of Uniontown

The steeply graded unusual single=track on-street terminal in Brownsville:

The surviving Alleghany-Division Cincinnati lightweight on the Connellsville - South Connellsville local line (Bill Vigrass photo) and much more recent, photos by Richard Allman, at Arden, PA.

Sister car 639 (Wheeling WV West Penn affiliated system) on the move last Thursday March 11.

https://www.facebook.com/neerhs/videos/120201496722602

832 has the nicer paint scheme, but 639 the nicer and classic body design. Both cars are beautiful to my eyes. But Seashore needs a flange-oiler on the outside rail of the loop to double or triple the life of both rail and car wheels.

Actually, someone with the right grease on a wood stick could solve the problem. The screech may be authentic and nostalgic, but it representes real wear.

Please, please, pass on this advice to where it will get some action!

It also represents the first car in the loop in 2021. The loop gets greased daily in regular operation. Temp at the time was about 40, after an overnight temp of about 15. Most of the contact is with the high guard on the inside rail of the curve.

Yeah, that screech on the loop is a bit ominous, get the grease guys ready!

Beautiful car though! And what’s the symbol on the side? It looks an awful lot like the old Public Service of New Jersey logo.

639’s trucks are from a Boston type 5 (I think 5777, but I could be wrong) since the car came to Seashore without trucks. Snow was covering the loop until last weekend.

Wheeling Public Service was controlled by West Penn from 1912 to 1931. Both Standard Gauge and Penn Gauge lines were operated, with 39 (639) originally Penn (5’2.5") gauge.

West Penn 832 in service on the Connellsville - S. Connellsville Line

Ancor Glass was a glass factory located in South Connellsville

And a view of Connellsville-Uniontown)via Juniata (“back-road”) car at Connellsville Station:

West Penn had two routes between Connellsville and Uniontown. The “Back Road” was further west than the main Greensburg - Connellsville - Uniontown “main line.” Here is a car on that more western route:

Why the car had no headlights?

Most interurban lines, including the North Shore (except for the Electroliners) used portable headlights that were placed on a bracker, with a heafty cable plugged into a socket. Often, a spare headlight was carried in case the incandescent bulb or arc failed enroute. A lot qucker replacement than unlatching the glass cover, unscrewing the old bulb, and then reversing the process. A few streetcar companies did the same.

Note the photo you copied has has some further repair work.

The Alleghany Division of West Penn was bussed before WWII. The surviving Divisioh was called officially the Coke Division, and the photo below shows the reason. One of many locations of coke manufacuring, and a beautiifiul sight at night with the red flames of the coke ovens.

Correct spelling of Connellsville, Pa.

Thanks Done

Note caption correction to the earlier Connellsville Station photo. Some more photos of 704 on the Connellsville - Uniontown via Juniata Line; track going west from the swich is the branch to Dawson.:

I think this bridge is on the Uniontown-Mason City or Uniontown-Brownsville line; correction, line to Fairchancr:

And a view ahead:

Connellsville still has too few 'l’s in the correction. There are four, not three.

You mean “Ls” not “Ts” but thanks and I’ll make the corrections.

And here are two more West Penns. The car that alternated with Cincinnati Lighrtweight 854 on South Connellsville, Ancor Glass. in 1949. Was this second-hand?

And the spur in one of the 704 "back-road"pictures was for a little-known branch to Dawson. Here is the terminal there:

Back to Connellsville. Approaching the station, Cincinnati Curve-side 832 from S. Connellsville is followed by 733 from Uniontown, running through to Greensburg.

Two main-line (Uniontown-Greensburg) cars pass on the double-track on Connelsville’s main street north of the West Penn Station. Double-track was rare on West Penn, but traffic probably forced the issue on this street. The main line, along with the Hacla Junction - Latrobe Brach lasted until the end of all West Penn trolley service, in 1955.

June, 1949, saw the start of the conversion to buses or complete abondment of specific lines, with the three lines south from Uniontown , to Brownsville, Fairchance, and Mason City the first to go. This view is in Fairchance:

Street scenes in Connellsville and Uniontown:

Another street sxcene, probably Collensville: