West Penn Railways today - Main Line Connellsville to Greensburg

[Fredbruhn at aol.com]

This portion of my search for West Penn today was the most rewarding in what 
I found.   We will start at Connellsville and head to Greensburg.  I don't 
remember now how many times I ran up and down US Rt. 119 before I got serious 
but on one of those jaunts near dusk I bumped into some activity at the 
Youngwood railroad station.

There is a group of fans who are attempting to preserve the station and the 
railroad era around Youngwood.  This evening they were having a bean soup 
supper as a fund raiser and the station was open.  I found a very nice 
painting of West Penn 733 
at night picking up  passengers at the Youngwood stop with the railroad 
station in the background.  The interior of the car is illuminated with a 
parent helping a child up the steps into the car.  There is a full moon on a 
very dark background with the lights of Youngwood up the hill.  The prints 
(numbered) were/are available in two sizes, 
regular and giant (about 18 x 25) size.   I bought the large one and the cost 
wasn't that much, about $25.00, but the framing was another $100.  For a true 
West Penn fan I can recommend it.  Sorry I don't have there address, but if 
there is a Chamber of Commerce in Youngwood you can probably get a contact.

While there I began to question an older gentleman who obviously was an 
"expert".
But he did tell me some things to look for on the West Penn which proved to 
be accurate and said there isn't much to see between Connellsville and 
Everson today.
You can find some areas if your an "expert" (which I such as heck wasn't).  
He mentioned highway construction and relocation, etc, etc, which made sense 
and I decided after driving it a couple of times (before I ran into him) that 
he was right.
I have a couple of photos that I think are North of Connellsville with cars 
crossing what I assume is US119.  The Blue Ridge Restaurant is in the 
background of one shot with a car crossing the highway and the next shows the 
car heading  away with the highway beside it.  Both the road and car line are 
running on a fairly flat area, but you can see the hills on both sides of 
this area.  With my lack of knowledge I couldn't put it together where this 
was.

Also, I know there were a couple of sidings as shown in the wonderful Chuck 
Siebert photo from a calendar scene at Buttermore siding  (I think this was 
also in that Interurban Classics book - Vol. II, Steel Cars which I sold at a 
time when demand was more than supply which is still a sound economic 
theory).  This is the one with the used car lot in the background.  I also 
have a photo from Bill Gwinn at Murphy's siding  which is captioned as being 
North of Connellsville.  In this scene the rail line is above, but parallel 
to the road.   

When you leave the terminal and turn right onto E. Crawford you get the full 
impact of how steep the street is.  There are good shots of passing siding on 
E. Crawford, with one showing 709 on the last southbound trip at night.  This 
is PA711, and may have been 119 also in West Penn days, I don't know.  711 
turns off and you continue straight and out beyond Buttermore Street (your 
still on E. Crawford) you eventually merge into the present day 119 which has 
taken a outter loop approach around 
Connellsville, sort of their outter belt highway.

I exited on 1029 from US119 to head into Everson.  On page 16 of the orange 
book it shows 726 moving to the side of the road heading south towards 
Connellsville.  As you come into Everson there is a gas station on your right 
and if you look the house pictured next to 726 is still there and looks about 
the same.  There is a corregated building on your left just before the house 
and you can see the Everson corporation sign on your right too.  I pulled off 
into the gas station parking area to take a comparison shot thinking the gas 
station was out of business.  Well it wasn't and if you stop the three guys 
inside are not mannequins, they just don't do much.  I wanted to stick around 
and see if had opinions on the Presidential candidates but I had work to do.

The West Penn continued on the street to the neat bridge that is pictured 
several places in the publications and in Rohrbecks VHS film.  It was there 
in 1961, but it isn't today.  You take a modern structure over the remaining 
railroad tracks into 
Scottdale.  At the bridge location they have eased the curve onto the bridge 
a lot from West Penn days.

I didn't have my calendar photo of 735 loading passengers along Pittsburgh 
St. but I'll  bet you can make a good comparison shot today if you take it 
along.  

Continue on this street which is or becomes Broadway and go until you see 
Loucks
Avenue.  There is a great calendar photo by Ed Miller of passengers loading 
here.
The main line turned right (as you are driving north)  while the old Hunker 
to Huff
line (until 1939) continued on straight.  (In 1958 when three of us 
accompanied Bob Scanlon to tar the roof of 722 in Fairchance, Bob took us 
along this Hunker line and it was amazing how well preserved it was, ballast 
and all).  I did not try and follow the old Hunker line, but may the next 
time I go back.

There is a pizza shop I believe being build (gosh I hope its done by now) on 
the sight where the West Penn left the road to head to Mt. Pleasant.  Don't 
panic on what you don't see, just drive a bit further and turn down the road 
to the right.  You may see a steam locomotive and some passenger cars there 
which must be a tourist operation.
As I remember the police station is to your right just after the tracks.  Get 
out of your car, don't look  conspicuous if there is a cop around but walk up 
to the railroad track and look up and you will see a pier where the trestle 
was anchored.  As I remember but didn't capture on film there is another pier 
close to the ground.  I have one photo of this trestle,  but not at hand at 
the moment, that shows the line crossing the railroad and dropping right down 
to street level.  

The road you turned onto is Mt. Pleasant St. and by watching the pole line 
you can follow the right of way out of town.  There are some athletic fields 
and where the road begins to turn left there is a road that turns sto the 
right.  I took this road to get
on the right of way and took one shot looking towards Iron Bridge.   It was 
dusk and as I look at the shot today it stinks.  But the car line heads into 
the woods and my excitement about being on Mt. Pleasant St. was short lived 
as it sort of turned to dust and dead ended.  

There are several stops identified on the West Penn map on the timetables 
that I need more time to find.  Swedetown, N. Scottdale, Iron Bridge, and 
Hammondville
I did not find.  I know there was a siding at Swedetown as I have a photo (if 
it is captioned correctly) and I have an iron bridge photo from Bill Gwinn.  
His photo shows a trestle similiar to the ones at Dunbar where the line 
climbs, turns almost 90 degrees over the railroad and drops  down the other 
side.  On this shot taken from the front window there is turnout to the right 
just at the base of where the rails begin to climb which doesn't look at a 
siding.  However, just at the left edge of the photo is a cover for the 
signal  trip levers.   That would lead me to believe there may be a siding 
behind the car.  

I drove up and down PA819 several times and if you do when you reach the 
railroad tracks don't lose a muffler.  They are rough.  There is a nice scene 
in Rohrbecks tape of a car on a low long trestle along Iron Bridge and 
Swedetown with a big corregated building in the background.    I was sure I 
would find the piers or that building, but it amazing how you can blow an 
hour so I heading into Mt. Pleasant.

I think it is Rohrbecks tape, or perhaps my movie copy that shows a car 
coming into Mt. Pleasant taking a jog from off street onto a street and 
crossing Main St. with another jog at the Union Drug Co. store.  I had to 
find this.  I'm happy to report
I can save you a lot of time and get you there quickly and it is still there. 
 So in essence what I'm doing is starting in Mt. Pleasant and working 
backwards to 
Scottdale.

Take a right hand turn from PA819 onto PA31 (east) and drive several blocks 
to the corner of Cherry St. and Main.  The brick building that was the Union 
Drug is a different business but it has a permanent awning type extension 
below the second story windows with brown shingles.  The building on the SE 
corner is three story 
with some columns (southern type) by the front door and an exposed fire 
escape on 
the side.  I pulled into Cherry St. and parked.  I walked across to the north 
side of the street and looked into Cherry St looking towards Scottdale and it 
became very clear.  The fire department sits very high and  the front looks 
right at you.  Cherry St. has a very steep hill to climb beside the fire 
department.  You can see where the West Penn left the street to the left and 
below the fire department.  You can also see that Cherry St. is off set where 
it comes to Main St., hence the need for the rail line to take jog as it 
proceeded north.  

Hop and your car and head down Cherry St. following the right of way. It is a 
one way street going the way you are and you are either on the old right of 
way or just beside it.  You can drive several city blocks with trees beyond 
the right of way to your left and houses to your right.  You are in their 
back yard, so to speak.  This doesn't 
last forever so don't get your controller notched up too high.  You will drop 
down a slight grade and where the road runs out there is a ball field and you 
can see where the car line made a big sweeping curve to the left along a 
present days woods and 
then swung right out of sight on the side of a hill with the same woods on 
the right of the right of way.

You have to get back to Main St. via the next street up which I think is one 
way north.  When to get to Main St. (PA31) turn right and go until you see 
Bridgeport St. or CR2001  Turn right and head towards Bridgeport.  Keep 
looking to your right and you will see the car line running along the 
hillside beyond where we lost it at the ball field.  There was some junk 
construction equipment in the field between the road and this hill.  CR2001 
and 2003 sort of come together in Bridgeport and don't look for a commercial 
district either in this burg.  Turn right and I think you cross the railroad.
Then take the first street to the right and it climbs up a bit with a house 
here and there.  It looks like a county road more than a city street.  Watch 
on your right and after you pass a wooded area there is a home set back from 
the road .  You will see a cut with the pole line where the car line came 
down to cross this rural road.  This cut is on the edge of the property.  
Look left and you will see it continue to drop down grade and is visible 
between a couple of houses that are fairly far apart.  The line disappears 
into some trees.  Now turn around and go back to where you left
2001 (2003).  Don't cross the RR again, but turn right and start out of town. 
 Very shortly you will see a house set in the woods on your right with a 
decent fill behind it
and that sure looked liked the right of way that we lost into the trees just 
a minute
ago.  I'm sure things have changed in 50 years,  but the line follows the 
side of this raod for a short distance and takes a sharp left acrosss this 
road and appears to head down into some woods which would take it along the 
railroad.  I continued on this county road which dead ended into good old 
SR819 again.  So someplace beween here where I lost the line and the line 
leaving Mt. Pleasant St. in Scottdale are Swedetown, Iron Bridge, etc. etc.   
I was told by the man in Youngwood that you can see the right of way beside 
the railroad at some point so there is an incentive for you.

I went back into Mt. Pleasant and back to Cherry St. to follow the line north 
out of town towards Hecla.  Cherry St. after it crosses Main doesn't go very 
far, but it sure looked like there was a turnout to the left at one of the 
cross streets at one time, but it may have been my imagination.  It looks 
like the line just ran off the end of Cherry St. and continued north on 
private right of way.  I had to go over to 819 and north a block or two to 
find CR2007.  Take this to the right and you should almost at once see the 
pole line coming in to cross the road.  If you don't take your calendar photo 
by Dave Cope of 728 at Standard you will miss the comparison of a lifetime.  
Let me quote from the photo:  "The view is difficult to imagine today--a new 
railroad crosses overhead, and the entire gob pile is gone, as it contained 
enough salable coal to allow profitable reclamation.  You stand at this 
crossing and the pole line is sitting
above ground by about 6 feet.  What.  Yep, they have removed the dirt around 
the poles and beside the road leaving the lines with little islands of dirt 
around them.  I assume this is the same scene as referenced in the photo.  
Continue to drive on 2007, but I lost track of the West Penn for a bit.  2007 
takes you to Mecca, er Hecla.
I drove every side road I could find around the turnpike and found nothing.  
The car line comes in from your right at Hecla and there was a passing siding 
just south of the wye.  It appeared  that heading south from Hecla towards 
Standard before it crossed the PA turnpike as it was leaving the side of the 
road it started to climb pretty quickly.  But I didn't walk it.

Hecla is much the same.  No question where the bridge to Latrobe was, and its 
a must stop.  At Hecla you pick up 2010 and be sure to have with you the 
calendar photo of Ara Mesrobian at Hecla and you can see the changes today.  
The gob pile is gone and the buildings are changed a bit.  The line is easy 
to follow  as it will be below you on the right away from the road.  There 
are some rolling estates beside the road today but for some distance its fun 
to imagine the West Penn rolling along.
The highway takes a turn or two and right of way moves away for a bit but 
comes back in where you dead end into McLinder Road.   2010 turns left here 
and as you look back to your right you can see about where the line came in.  
There are a couple of new homes here which probably are on the old line.  As 
you look in front of you the line crosses McLinder and sweeps left behind a 
hill which is beyond your road.  This is pretty rugged countryside although 
not heavily wooded.  You turn
left and will shortly come to a stop of PA819 again.  Turn right and hold on 
as you wind and drop down sharply to the town of Armburst.  At the bottom of 
the hill, CR2012 crosses 819 and 819 starts back upgrade almost at once.  
There is a post office on one corner a crossing of a creek (819 goes over it) 
and a store on another corner.  That is downtown Armburst.  2012 going to 
your left starts upgrade almost at once too.  So where was the West Penn?

Turn around and head back up SR819 a bit until you  see a cape cod style home 
on your left with a detached garage behind it. Just next to their drive turn 
left into a dirt
drive with a watch children sign.  There is another drive to the left just 
beyond the one you are turning into.  You are on the right of way as it is 
coming into Armburst, which is about half way up the 819 hill from where it 
bottoms out.  The WP crossed 819 I presume  (and if it was there in 1951 I 
bet this was a lou-lou of a crossing for the 
motormen).  It will help a bit if I cheat and tell you where the line went as 
it will save you some time.

The line started out on a very long trestle that went over open ground, a 
railroad or two, a stream, ER2012 going towards Youngwood, and ended up about 
half way up the other hillside beyond 2012.  This I would like to see photos 
of.
You can see some remains by going back to 819, turning left and right away 
looking to your right for a narrow street that comes down from the hill at 
the darnest angle.
Take this street, sharp sharp right which goes up, past some homes and down a 
hill to a trailer park.  Actually looking from 819 west towards this trestle 
and then back looking towards Hecla when you get onto this street you can see 
the line was on a flat next to 819 and then a gentle fill as it curved right 
before it entered the trestle.
The piers at both ends are visible as is either a center pier or a pier for 
one of the railroad spurs which it looks like might have been crossing the 
creek at the same place as the West Penn.  Modelers take note, a great 
opportunity.  Now that you have the lay of the land, reverse your route out 
of the trailer park , look like your  
on official business, and head back out to 819.  Take the left, down the 
hill, and turn left on 2012.  This road twists and climbs right from the get 
go so keep you eye on the road.  You can probably tell where the WP crossed 
by catching the center pier I talked about which you might see.  About half 
way up 2012 I saw an access road to the right and turned in to the locked 
gate.   There is no side of the road parking on this road, and if you want to 
gaulk going up or down you will initiate road rage for sure.  Get out and you 
can walk to the right of way which is obviously climbing at this point.  

Back out to 2012 carefully and go to the top of the hill.  The road swings 
right allowing the car line to cross.  The view opens up as we are on top of 
a wide area which now has a school, buildings, a union hall, and homes.  I 
mention the union
hall because the line goes right beside it and disppears in the distance 
starting downgrade again.  

The best bet is to continue on to find Wilkinson road and turn left.  This 
will drop you down to Youngwood in 2 miles and as I remember it was a fairly 
good drop.  I have a photo captioned Baker Siding near Youngwood but have no 
idea where it fits in the picture.  It shows pretty rugged wooded country 
behind the car.

Where Wilkinson Road comes out is at the Youngwood railroad station.  As I 
was told by the "expert"  the car line dropped down from 2012 at the top and 
through some rather swampy area in a big sweeping curve to come in at the 
railroad station on the east side of the railroad.  I.E.  it was the WP, the 
RR, the station, the town
going from east to west.

The stop was identified as being at this road.  From this point north we are 
adjacent to the present US119 again.  It sort of goes through Youngwood as 
one way streets.
We get a helping hand as there is a street that parallels 119 called "street 
car street"
Helpful hun.   It is actually  an access road for an industrial park with a 
lot of industry being built up there.  It looks like the pole line runs down 
between the street car street and the railroad.  It was flat along here for 
probably a half mile or so and one photo I have (maybe Scholes) shows a car 
at "Youngwood" running beside the railroad with open fields beyond, then 
hills.  This could well be the industral park today.

At the north end (Greensburg end) of the "street car street" it turns and 
merges with 
US119.  As you walk to the right of way just beyond there is a pier standing 
that looks like the line  crossed a stream, but on the other side is a nice 
hill coming down, so where do we go from here.  Until next time.

Fred Bruhn