I am a fan of short-lines...the Great Western and the Colorado & Southern division of the CB&Q. But often l hear of other lesser known roads, and wonder...where did it run, from where to where, what was it's big steamers, what did its stations and cabooses look like?..and so it is with the P&WV, which l know nothing about. Except, it was not alone as a lesser known among the mines and mills of Pittsburgh. What is its brief story?
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I think it might have been part of Jay Gould's "Alphabet Route". When that collapsed it was taken over by the B&O-I THINK !! Someone will probably know more.
Google "Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railway"'. Lots on it. It was part of the Alphabet Route from Connellsville, pa. to Wheeling. Started in 1917 they said.
P&WV was taken over by N&W in 1964, later became part of NS and then Wheeling & Lake Erie in 1990.
The P&WV started out as a Gould scheme to connect the Western Maryland railroad with another Gould route (forget which one). This road was known as the Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railroad, the last railroad to build into Pittsburgh. The piers that the Wabash built for its suspension bridge into downtown are still sunk in the Monongahela River. The tunnel the road built is now used for HOV traffic.
Anyway, at some point after the WBPT went bankrupt, it became the P&WV. I don't know much beyond that, but I know the road hauled a lot of coal, and was famous for its large roster of attractive-looking FM switchers and road-switchers. They also used a lot of big steam power. At some point in the 60s, I believe, N&W's Dereco Corporation bought the line out. Sometime in the 90s, Norfolk Southern, the successor to the N&W, sold the road to a revived Wheeling and Lake Erie railroad. The Wheeling still runs the route today, primarily hauling frac gas and the materials needed for that, with some through freight and unit trains of coal and ore.
Any boy or girl raised in or around Connellsville, Pa in its former days of countless coke ovens would know of the P&WV. Connellsville is a mere shadow of what it once was, but those memories of the B&O, WM, PLE, PRR, and the P&WV live on every time I enjoy my O and S gauge toy trains.
Yes, a lot of rail traffic funneled through Connellsville "back in the day". I saw a website for a P&WV group but didn't click on it. And Mr. Frick got his start there.
You can still experience the right of way for some of this. P&LE from Pittsburgh to Connellsville, where you switch to Western Maryland RR. to Cumberland, Md. Enjoy the ride. Uphill grade to just before Frostburg Md. Great Allegheny Passage bike trail. The WM Pinkerton Tunnel has been recently refurbished, and the small detour eliminated. Click for a slideshow. Boston Bridge, McKeesport, PA to just before Cumberland Md.
We had a guy at San Bernardino, who had been NKP Fireman at Canton Ohio. He ran over the former Wheeling & Lake Erie and former P&WV to Pittsburgh. He said the P&WV portion was a good railroad that ran through the hilly territory above the valleys and below the mountain tops, with a number of tunnels and very substantial bridges. He thought it interesting that we had a walkway and railing on the side of almost every bridge, whereas the P&WV bridges were long and tall, and had no walkways.
There are at least 5 MAJOR viaducts on the P&WV. I have hirailed over them at least twice that I recall. They are all in the 200' to 300' high range. Nearly got caught in a midsummer thunderstorm out on the bridge at Belle Vernon above I-70. Sudan and Mingo Creek Viaducts are the two big ones. They were all built for a second main that never materialized. Whereas most railroads were built to follow rivers, this one followed the tops of the mountains and had to cross many major waterways including the Youghigeny, Ohio and Monongahela Rivers way up high.
Rob Gardner
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