Pittsburgh, Westmoreland and Somerset Railroad
The Pittsburgh, Westmoreland and Somerset Railroad (PW&S) was an American railroad company in Pennsylvania . The company existed from 1899 to 1916 and mainly served to transport timber from Laurel Hill in the Allegheny Mountains .
history
The forest company Byers-Allen Lumber Company began construction in May 1899 with the construction of a 40.3 kilometer standard gauge railway line from Legonier to Somerset . On July 20, 1899, the Pittsburgh, Westmoreland and Somerset Railroad was founded with a share capital of $ 220,000. In addition to the two landowners Charles Nelson Byers and Lauros H. Allen, the Mellon Bank and the Pennsylvania Railroad were involved in the financing .
The railway line should therefore not only serve to transport the felled wood, but also offer public goods and passenger transport.
In June 1900 the route reached the crest of Laurel Hill after 20.1 kilometers. From the summer of 1901 a return to and from Rector (now Mechanicsburg) and Bluestone were offered. The completion of the line to Somerset, however, lasted until 1906. It turned out to be advantageous that one could use the route of the unfinished Southern Pennsylvania Railroad , including the Quemahoning Tunnel , on the last kilometers to Somerset . On April 28, 1906, the train service was finally taken up to Somerset. There was a train every morning from Ligonier to Somerset and back in the afternoon. The train took 90 minutes from Ligonier to Somerset and 100 minutes in the opposite direction.
From 1909, the wood deposits along the railway line were exhausted. The logging camps and sawmills therefore had to be shut down. However, the remaining traffic did not provide sufficient income. The route was therefore closed on September 23, 1916. The line was dismantled the following year.
Remnants of the route can still be seen in Linn Run State Park . In the eastern part of the route, the Pennsylvania Turnpike was built over the route .
business
In Ligonier the line had a connection to the line of the Ligonier Valley Railroad and in Somerset to the route network of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad . On the crest of Laurel Hill there was still a connection to the Blair Luber Company forest railway from 1908.
The route from Legonier to Rector was relatively flat. Then the ascent to the mountain ridge began. This could only be achieved by steep gradients and the construction of curves. On the eastern side of the mountain, there were also major slopes to be overcome in the upper part between Laurel Summit and Allenvale. To protect trains traveling down the valley, safety points with a counter slope were built. The subsequent subgrade of the Southern Pennsylvania Railroad Project had lower gradients.
A pavilion for dance events was set up at the Laurel Summit.
In addition to the main route, the Byers-Allen Lumber Company built routes with a length of around 16 kilometers to the individual lumberjack camps. In individual cases, these had gradients of up to 12%.
In addition to the felled wood and passenger traffic, stones, coal and other goods were also transported. The operation of the steam locomotives caused severe forest fires several times.
vehicles
In 1900 two locomotives and two boxcars and 24 flat cars were available for operation. In 1901 a passenger car was purchased.
The Shay locomotives No. 3 from 1905 and No. 395 from 1892, manufactured by Lima Locomotive Works , were in use on the line . Both locomotives were sold after 1909.
The company also had conventional steam locomotives that were purchased from the Pennsylvania Railroad .
Web links
- The Ligonier Valley Rail Road Association: The Pittsburgh, Westmoreland and Somerset Railroad
- Topographic map of the region from 1913
