It was my privilege to make a presentation to the Bridgeville Area Historical Society last Sunday; my subject was the impact of three early railroads on this area in the early days – The Chartiers Valley Railroad; The Pittsburgh, Chartiers, and Youghiogheny Railway; and the Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway.
In 1830, at a time there were only four railroads in the world (three in England and the 23 miles long Baltimore and Ohio in North America), a group of prescient businessmen in Washington, Pa., led by John Ewing, concluded that a railroad connecting their fair city with Pittsburgh would be a wise investment. They hired an engineer, Charles DeHass, to survey a possible route and produce a feasibility study.
DeHass was highly qualified for this assignment. He was born in 1792 in Somerset County, the son of a Revolutionary War veteran and grandson of Major General John Philip DeHass, a hero of Forbes’ Campaign, Bouquet’s Campaign, and the Revolutionary War. Charles served in the War of 1812, raised a regiment in the Mexican War, and at the age of 69 helped plan the defense of the Capital in the early days of the Civil War. In peace-time he managed to learn engineering while working on the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal. In addition to his work on the Chartiers Valley Railroad, he helped survey the Horseshoe Curve route for the Pennsylvania Railroad and, at the age of 79, laid out a B&O route through Belle Vernon.
DeHass’ route for the CVRR generally followed Chartiers Creek from Washington to the Ohio River. It had a maximum grade of 1.5 % and minimum radius of 385 feet. He based his estimate on actual canal construction costs; it amounted to $148,500 for thirty-two miles. He also predicted an annual revenue of $15,000 from salt, flour, grain, pork, whiskey, wool, coal, lumber, mail, and general merchandise.
Ewing and his partners immediately incorporated the Washington and Pittsburgh Railroad Company in 1831. Failure to sell sufficient stock voided the charter. Similar attempts in 1837 and 1846 also failed. In 1853 they finally were successful. By 1857 they had spent $162,000, acquired right-of-way, and accomplished a significant amount of construction. The Panic of 1857 and the Civil War, however, forced them into bankruptcy.
In 1866 the Pennsylvania Railroad purchased the CVRR assets for $45,100, primarily to acquire the right-of-way from Mansfield (Carnegie) into Pittsburgh. Realizing the potential of the route from Mansfield to Washington, they completed it and began running passenger trains from Pittsburgh to Washington on May 18, 1871. The combination of freight and passenger traffic was an instant success.
The Bridgeville and McDonald branch was constructed in 1890 to service coal mines in the Millers Run valley, and extended to Bishop in 1892. The entire route from Carnegie to Washington was double-tracked in 1902 to accommodate the rapidly increasing industrial and residential development along it. By 1918 there were nine passenger trains each way every day.
Competition from bus lines and private automobiles ultimately doomed the passenger business; the last passenger train through Bridgeville was on July 30, 1952. Shortly thereafter the route was single-tracked. By 1968 things were so bad that the bankrupt Pennsylvania and New York Central Railroads merged into the ill-fated Penn Central Railroad. It died in 1976 and was acquired by Conrail.
In 1996 RailTex bought the branch from Conrail and established the Pittsburgh Industrial Railroad (PIR). Genesee and Wyoming acquired the PIR in 2000, and is currently operating it as the Pittsburgh and Ohio Central Railroad. They currently operate a small freight run through Bridgeville, to Arden, two times a week.
If it weren’t for the Chartiers Valley Railroad, my favorite line would surely be the Pittsburgh, Chartiers, and Youghiogheny Railway. In 1880 another group of ambitious entrepreneurs had a vision – a railroad from McKees Rocks up the Chartiers Valley to Bridgeville, then east via a tunnel under Fryer’s Hill, then up McLaughlin Run to Library, then on to Elizabeth where it would cross the Monongahela, and eventually all the way to Latrobe. They were serious enough about this plan that it shows up on several maps of that era.
They began by chartering the Chartiers and Mansfield Valley Railway Company in 1880 and the McLaughlin’s and Saw Mill Run Railway Company in 1881, then
combining them to form the Pittsburgh, Chartiers, and Youghiogheny Railway Company on October 26, 1881. They then constructed a line from McKees Rocks up the Chartiers Valley to Mansfield, where they met the CVRR. They shared right-of-way to Woodville, then spun off to the east.
Their main line crossed the Washington Pike, eventually following Thoms Run to Presto, then up the “hollow” to Federal, Hickman, and the Beechmont mine. A separate branch paralleled the Pike to Bower Hill, where it crossed Vanadium Road on an overpass, cut through the site that would later be Universal Cyclops Steel, and crossed Chartiers Creek. From this point it followed Bower Hill Road to the Essen Tunnel, then Painter’s Run to the Beadling mine.
Although this line primarily serviced coal mines, they also ran passenger trains. It is interesting to realize that a passenger could board a train at the foot of Robb Hollow Road and be in Carnegie sixteen minutes later. Every time I drive through the Painter’s Run hollow I try to imagine a passenger train racing along beside me. Visualizing a railroad climbing up alongside Thoms Run Road requires an equally vivid imagination.
Both Beechmont and Beadling branches were commercial successes, although not sufficient to finance the original extension to the east. Too bad, it would have been neat to watch trains go by Pine Bridge Mall. By 1893 the PC&Y was too good to pass up; it was acquired jointly by the P&LE and Pennsylvania Railroads in 1893 and operated cooperatively for many years. I remember the Beadling branch being dismantled during World War II to provide scrap for the war effort.
The third local railroad was the direct consequence of George Gould’s grand plan to create a transcontinental network of railroads. Once he had acquired control of the Western Pacific, the Denver and Rio Grande, the Missouri Pacific, the Wabash, the Wheeling and Lake Erie, and the Western Maryland railways, he lacked only a route between Pittsburgh Junction, Ohio, and Connellsville, Pennsylvania. His solution was to invent the Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway.
Locally it came down the Miller’s Run valley from Avella, passed through Bridgeville, and entered a classification yard at Rook, on the side of Greentree Hill above Carnegie. A tunnel through Greentree Hill led to another through Mt. Washington, a magnificent cantilever bridge over the Monongahela, and ultimately to an impressive terminal at the corner of Liberty Avenue and Stanwix Street. The route east to Connellsville returned through the Mt. Washington tunnel, then followed the Saw Mill Run valley to Library, then southeast toward Charleroi.
The biggest local excitement was Mr. Gould’s plan to build a major railroad facility near Bridgeville, with shops to equal those of the Pennsylvania at Altoona. To confirm his resolve he purchased the Ewing and MacKown farms and laid out “The City of Gould”. On June 6, 1903, excursion trains from Pittsburgh brought speculators to Bridgeville; four hundred building lots were sold at an average price of four hundred and fifty dollars. A year later passenger service was initiated on the new railroad with a special train to the St. Louis World’s Fair.
The Panic of 1907 destroyed a number of magnates who were over-extended, including George Gould. The Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway went bankrupt; receivers would operate it until 1916 when it was reorganized as the Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway. The P&WV operated successfully through 1950 when it was leased by the Nickel Plate. In 1964 The Norfolk and Western took over the Nickel Plate; in 1982 they merged with the Southern Railway to form the Norfolk Southern Railway. They were happy to spin off the remnants of the W&LE and P&WV railroads to a new group of investors, who promptly resurrected the W&LE name for the resulting railroad.
Today’s Wheeling and Lake Erie is a successful middle-sized railroad. They move about four hundred carloads per day, probably four through trains. They appear to have prospered from the local Marcellus Shale industry, evidenced by the branch they constructed from Cecil to the Marathon facility at Westland. My home is about halfway between their line at Heidelberg and the one at Castle Shannon; I am always happy to hear their diesel horns in the night.
Railroading has been an important part of Bridgeville’s heritage for over one hundred and fifty years; we hope it will continue on into the future.
The next Historical Society program meeting is scheduled for 1:30 pm, Sunday, February 26, 2023, at the Chartiers Room of the Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Department. Georganne Abood Henson will reprise “Bridgeville WWII POWs: Abood, Calabro, and Shady”.