West Penn today

[Fredbruhn at aol.com]

I am extremely grateful to Ed for adding to my notes, correcting my mistakes, 
and making things more clear to me on the Brownsville line and Republic area. 
 Also out towards Martin.  It is interesting how you can get off base as I 
did with the Church of the Madonna.  That error crept in after I had taken my 
tour and made my notes on the trip.  I was recalling my observations with a 
railfan from the west and he recalled riding the West Penn in the 40's.  He 
sent me some of his "recollections" and in them was the church mentioned and 
I assumed from his comments it was the 
church in New Salem.  That is what you get when you send a boy to do a mans 
work and I screw things up.  Thank goodness we have Ed.

Before moving on with my trip, let me tell you how I prepared for chasing the 
West Penn.  I sent to Fayette and Westmoreland counties for maps and with 
these spread out and the maps I have available, PERC, PTM, CERA I began to 
plot where I thought the lines went, also using  timetables as a guide.  When 
I finished this, I 
redrew the sections adding every county, township, and state road to where I 
thought the West Penn went.   I had a general idea of some sections from 
photographs in the books from the above organizations, photos from available 
sources (McCarter, Scholls, RR Avenue Enterprises, Bill Gwinn (deceased), and 
packed my albums in the truck (yes, more than half of Ohio vehicles today are 
pick-em-up trucks, or it seems that way) so I could find the same scene today.

I have been most fascinated with the Brownsville line and the Martin line 
probably because they quit earlier and I had so little information on them.  

I started my trip in Brownsville and while I found the north end of the high 
bridge in 1961 on a one day trip,  this time I couldn't and as you have 
learned from Ed it can be found and that is a challenge for my next trip.   
Since Republic is the next fair sized town inbound to Uniontown I headed 
there first and stopped at the local police station.  The girl "policeperson" 
at the desk when I asked if she knew where the West Penn ran responded with  
"I've never heard of it and I'm not from here
I just moved from Tenn."   O.K., so where is the barber shop, they would 
know.  I didn't find that but I did find an old Italian shoe store.  Don't go 
in it if you go to Masontown.  The owner, operator was a great old guy, 82 
years old and I must have been the first person in his store in years.  He 
wasn't going to let me get away without hearing his life story, his 
contribution in WWII, and as to where the West Penn ran, someplace in the 
story he motioned East.  I finally got out of there after 45 minutes, and his 
prices were reasonable but the styles weren't current and the shoes were 
dusty.  I next tried the post office.  Ah, the postmaster (madam) was most 
helpful and was able to tell me about where the West Penn ran.  So I had a 
start.  The problem is that here I am on day 1 of three days and its after 
noon (4.5 hours to Brownsville from my home) and I am just getting started.

West Penn is so fascinating because of the bridges, trestles, grades (wait 
till I tell you about the back line to Connellsville)  and for the most part 
the majority of us don't know about them.  The high bridge in Brownsville, 
the one over 166 in Masontown, the ones over the railroads just north of 
Dunbar, the long Leckrone trestle have been pictured, the Brownsville Jct. 
bridge, the back line  bridge into Uniontown have been in print, but just 
read through Ed's notes from  Republic inbound  and try and picture some of 
these trestles over the railroad spurs, mine spurs that I know nothing about, 
and who knows what else and you begin to realize just how this line was 
constructed.  As Daffy Duck  would say, Sufferin Succotash.   As I stood 
along the road east of Republic  I couldn't visualize how the West Penn 
crossed the "Four Mile Run, but I can now.  With all these notes you too can 
visualize it if you get a chance to run down there.  

I also think you can trace the line through Filbert.  I had suspected the 
line took what is the lower road but was wise enough not to say that because 
I wasn't sure.  But when you go beyond Filbert and and go up one of the side 
streets in Newboro you will come to the right of way which is up on a hill 
away from the road.  Follow that right of way (there is a road that runs 
parallel until I think it dead ends or goes into someones garage)  and you 
will come to the large concrete pier as you look down into Filbert.  You want 
to scream where in the h did the line go from here.  Ed has told us, down a 
trestle to street level in Filbert.  You will see it, and I hope photos 
surface sometime of the trestle because it has got to be a dandy.   

I was helped by an unlikely source in Merrittstown.  As you descend the right 
of 
way/dirt road to the Glencoe concrete bridge, look on your left at one of the 
two or three small "homes".  When you find the one with all the smashed beer 
cans outside in a pile, stop.  Hopefully you can find the owner at home.  
Either he is a coal miner needing a bath, or just needing a bath as his 
occupation seems to be collecting the beer cans for reclaiming at the local 
VFW.  Anyway, he turned out to be a great source of information and I did 
give him a few bucks for his own beer for his help as he told me exactly how 
the line ran up through there and on in towards Republic.
If my truck  wasn't new, I might have invited him for a ride to explore more 
of the line because he was old enough to remember riding it.  As an aside, a 
hobby shop owner from Columbus one time several years ago was interested in 
exploring the Dunbar area.  His approach was to find the first open bar and 
announce that drinks were on him and he would like someone who knows the West 
Penn and rail lines to help him out.  It cost him $5.00 and he got a guided 
tour of Dunbar.  

I can't thank Ed enough for his additional input so far and hope you have a 
chance to visit the WP remains sometime and these notes help you save time 
and maximize what you can observe.

If you have CERA 89 there are a couple of interesting pictures in there on 
what we hae seen.  The church in New Salem which I misidentified is there 
with a car inbound on the Brownsville line, also the Cats Runs trestle and 
running along Harvey Avenue.
The milk can picture on the Martin line with an outbound car (from Uniontown) 
as it crosses the road into McClellandtown is in there, and that scene isn't 
much different today.  The right of way where the 700 is is now a drive to 
three homes that are on the right, then as I mentioned you can drive a good 
distance being your own operator
but its rough as a cob with lots of ruts.  The gas company 4x4's can take it.

>From the end of the line in Martin, you can find your way back to Brownsville 
Jct.   
and into Footedale, or take SR21 from Masontown to County 3023, or it may be 
marked T513, but I think there is a sign to Footedale.  

Don't waste your time asking the farmer where the Jct. was because he will 
stare at you like your from another planet.

It looked to me like the line went just north of the small town of Footedale 
and I don't remember seeing any 7-11's in Footedale either.  There was 
evidence that this was another mining type town and the mobile home industry 
is vibrant in this part of the land.  

You will be on SR3023 with Footedale to your left and the WP just above the 
town.
As you leave town take T509 which turns off to the left.  (If you make a 
mistake and end up on 21 again, turn around).  I next ran into the line not 
far down T509 which looks like the line ran cross country for a short 
distance.  Look for the pole line and you can see where the line goes.  In 
fact, turn right and ride along the WP for awhile.  There are a few houses 
now which I question were there in WP days, maybe they were.

>From what I figured out, the WP ran cross country, up and down, somewhat 
parallel to SR21 (the present road) from T509 to Revere, but maybe a half 
mile away from 21.
You continue on T509 and pass some new homes and drive awhile enjoying the 
scenery until you come to a jct. with T478.  Take T478 (straight while T509) 
turns at this jct.  Watch for a pole line again  and a white fence along the 
road.  I think there is a house here.  You can look towards Footedale and see 
the line going down grade 
through the field, and then look towards Uniontown and see the discent to 
T478 which I think is also called Denny Road.

>From here, continue on T478 to SR21, turn left towards Revere and Uniontown 
and 
drive to Revere.  Remember where we left T509 at that jct., well it comes 
into SR21 right here.  It appears (and we are helped by a side street on the 
south side of SR 21 
that is named "West Penn St." the line was running close to the present SR21 o
utbound from Uniontown and crossed SR21 at this point, cutting behind a store 
and then crossing T509.    The right of way is very evident running between a 
couple of homes as it climbs the hill and starts its cross country run 
towards Footedale.  If you have the time, its not a bad idea to drive out 
T509  to that jct. with T478 to get a flavor of the area the line is running 
through.  I don't remember being able to see it between the crossing of T509 
and the crossing of T478.

It was fun driving down West Penn St. for a few blocks, but we ran out of 
road.
Back to SR 21, it appears the line ran close to present SR21 for a period and 
then
bam, we see a sign "Chestnut Ridge".  I was excited, as my first introduction 
to WP in 1950 was that photo of the car descending Chestnut Ridge into 
Uniontown, with open fields and the town in the far distance.  (Photo in 
2--50 Trains mag, and on back cover of CERA89)  Well, Chestnut Ridge today is 
your typical housing development with enough streets to get you lost.  Not 
only that, on the WP maps they show "Continental" as a stop between Revere 
and Uniontown. That was an experience traveling the back roads outside 
Uniontown to no avail.  If Continental exists, its a deep dark secret.  In 
1960 I remember tracing the line in the brick street out of Uniontown (So. 
Mt. Vernon  Blvd.) and you could see where the line was - although bricks had 
replaced rails - the siding, the crossing with the rail spur, and where it 
turned off the street next to Dixon Blvd.  Well, don't waste your time based 
on my experience.  Dixon Dlvd. is still there, but its wall to wall houses, 
not to mention, which I forgot that Rt. 219 bypasses Uniontown now and cuts 
this area up pretty well with a 4 lane road.  I also could not find the 
bridge piers from the bridge taking the WP out of town over the railroads for 
the back line and Martin/Brownsville line.

What I am saying is that after Revere I lost track of things.  But for this 
portion of the Coke Region I was fairly pleased with what I saw, am helped by 
Ed's notes, and believe you would find the remains worth a trip too.  The 
pole line of WP Power, or its successor, helps a lot, but there are still 
grades, cuts, concrete and tell tail signs of the line to both Brownsville 
and Martin.  As to the MRy and mining, I remember in 1961 seeing some rail 
lines in place, but there are not many, if any in Republic, Merrittstown, 
Filbert, or Allison.  Fast food is available in Uniontown and Brownsville  
so plan ahead, but I didn't venture into any of the towns looking for 
eateries.  Masontown has a pleasant downtown area and I have just purchased 
off ebay two postcards of hotels (2)  in town, so we know it was prosperous 
at one time.

Next time I'll head to Fairchance and then tackle the main line, with some 
good news and some not so good news on my findings.  Oh, I went to Latrobe 
too, but I talked to Bob Rathke after my trip and drove right past the 
Latrobe barn without finding it.  I wanted to see that barn.  He told me 
where it was (or maybe still is).  And Hecla Jct. is still mecca.

Fred Bruhn