West Penn Railways today - Main Line Connellsville to Greensburg

[Edward H. Lybarger]

The Fred used The Adjective only ten times in the document below.

The painting purporting to be at Youngwood circa 1930 is very nice, except
that the destination sign destinations are incorrect and the color is wrong,
and he depicted a one-man car (with weird steps and a razor-point pilot)
which didn't happen until 1933.  I settled for the 3x5 inch version, myself.

Crawford Avenue was indeed old 119, and as Derrick has noted the line came
out through the Poplar Grove neighborhood on Buttermore Road.  It crossed
the road and crossed the creek (have a photo; crossing was protected with a
wigwag signal) before coming past the lovely rock cliff at Coal Brook (have
a photo).  There was a major realignment of the highway here before the war
and microfilms of photos exist in the PUC file.  Road was widened to four
lanes in the '50s.  The West Penn alignment ("alignment" is the noun) makes
more sense if you view it in relation to the old road; that sharp-angled
crossing at Moyer didn't exist until the state "improved" things.

The line did not always run on a straight line into Everson.  Originally it
came out of Valley Siding and up Painter Street to Hill, where it turned
left, went the block down to Brown, then turned right onto the familiar
route.  The bridge into Scottdale was owned by the company and was sold to
the Department of Highways on abandonment.  Thanks to Ed Mitchell, we have
some dazzling views of it nearly complete in June 1903.  The track
connection from the bridge into Scottdale was done in the rain in the middle
of the night -- something about the company's disinclination to pay the
tribute being demanded by the city fathers in Scottdale.

We have recently come across pictures of both a freight car and an open car
on Broadway in Scottdale.  The switch taking the line to Iron Bridge, etc.
was known as Swedetown Jct., Swedetown being the little community on the
other side of the bridge.  The track was relocated from the street to behind
the houses as a flood control measure -- refer to the April 00 calendar view
of 204 for this location.  In Scottdale, the Hunker route came into town on
the street one block west of Broadway, then turned east on Loucks Avenue to
a wye just south of Swedetown Jct.  A recent visit with a metal detector
allowed that there was something metal still under there.  This also would
have allowed for an off-street turnback for Scottdale-only trips in the
earlier days.  Northbound Hunker route cars stayed on Broadway.  Where
progress has not occurred, the Hunker R/w is amazingly intact, including the
beautiful masonry span that carries the former PRR's Southwest Branch over
the trolley near Ruffs Dale.

But back to Swedetown...West Penn left the highway about where it crosses
the former RR R/W and went straight ahead (past the community of North
Scottdale to the left) to McClure Station, which is about where the road
begins to lop back on itself.  Originally the car line began a loop to the
south here, through the Painter Mine property, then followed close along the
railroad (B&O) north to Iron Bridge.  In 1911 there was a realignment that
bore left at McClure Station, thence across the bridge at "McClure's" that
Ed Miller photographed on the last days and intercepting the old alignment
about a thousand feet or so short of the Iron Bridge road crossing (also
once relocated itself due to a new Iron (I'll bet it was steel) Bridge.

To get to Iron Bridge, you have to go up through North Scottdale to West
Overton and take PA 819 over to the other road.  Turn right and go to the
bottom of the hill where the railroad crosses.  This area has built up a lot
in the last decade.  There's a new junk yard where you used to be able to
wander in; I haven't tried that lately.  West Penn Power still maintains a
substation here, and there was once grading for a wye where the Emma -
Morewood branch either connected or would have connected.  It is reported to
have been built, never used, then torn out, but I have not verified this.
You have to use your imagination to imagine most of this, though the former
B&ORR is where it always was.  The car house still stands and is used for
making oak pallets.  A few bits of hardware still adorn the interior walls,
as noted on a visit one cold, cold Sunday a few years ago when several of us
were invited in for a tour.  To get there, go back up the hill to the plant
entrance (it may or may not be abandoned), turn right, turn right again and
it's on the right.

The Fred missed the easy way to Buckeye and Bridgeport.  Come back out of
the factory driveway, turn right, then right again at the drive-in theater
sign.  Where the road goes hard left, the trolley comes in from the right
and crosses.  This was Hammondville Stop.  The R/w goes off to the left when
the road makes a hard right, but didn't always.  Until 1910 it paralleled
the road and curved around the hillside along "the first street to the
right" that Fred identified coming out if Bridgeport.  Then it was
straightened, and can be seen from Buckeye-Tram Road a few hundred feet from
the "main" road.  Buckeye Siding lay just south of here.

Fred refers to a number of "county roads" or "CRs" which are not county
roads at all.  The actual designation is "SR" which stands for "State
Route."  The numbering, though, is repeated within each county, with the
1000s in the NE quadrant of the county, the 2000s in the SE, and so on
around with the 4000s up in the NW.  This system replaced a "legislative
route" (LR) numbering system in which each county was assigned a 2-digit
number (Westmoreland's was 64, I believe) and the roads were all prefixed
with that (64023, for example).  The problem with it lay in the fact that
the state wanted a uniform county numbering system, and since Philadelphia
County didn't have any of these roads, it was originally omitted and all the
counties alphabetically after Philadelphia were off by one number.

But back to Buckeye-Bridgeport...I have driven (FWS, were you with me?) the
R/W between the dead-end road and Mt. Pleasant; along it lies one of the
more interesting assemblages of garbage and trash I have seen anywhere in
the Coke Region.  If one weren't too picky, one might find an acceptable
sofa here, for example!  It is now blocked by a gate at the south end; I've
not tried from the north.  It may be the private preserve of the trash
hauler, for all we know.

Bridgeport Street comes out on Main Street (PA 31) in Mount Pleasant.  Turn
left, cross the tracks and park at the first light.  This is Cherry Street;
the building on the SE corner that houses the R&R Restaurant is the one that
the streetcar hit in January 1936.  If you go inside, you can see the print
of that accident that I made for the owner (who loaned me her original, I
should add; she knows to display copies).  You can also get a great meal for
a very nominal fee (dieters, be advised that this place isn't for you), and
if you tell Sherry that I sent you she'll favor you with a tour of the other
interesting photos in the place.

Cherry Street is still a dead end for autos, but the car line went on out
here and drifted down the hill into Mullen Siding, where, the last time I
looked, there stood a wonderful old four-holer adaptively reused as a tool
shed.  I guess it's had time to air out.  From Mullen, follow 819 a
half-mile or so to the site of the described photo of 728.  That's the
Milton J. Shapp memorial railroad overhead, the one we taxpayers are still
amortizing, the one that was built for Chrysler, the third owner ago of a
plant 3 or 4 miles north.  Sony makes TV picture tubes in it now, and the
parking lot is full of trailers, more than I've ever before seen at one
spot.

But I digress again.  Continue on through Standard Shaft (road goes hard
right and trolley went straight ahead) and go straight through the
intersection at Middle Church.  You will cross the R/W about 1000 feet
farther on, just after St. John's Church.  Now you'll go down to the bridge
over the Turnpike.  Look to the right for the earth fill leading to the
former trolley bridge (we have a photo of it under construction, with
trolleys on the shoo-fly).  Continue north 1/4 mile or so and you'll see the
erroneously captioned "near Scottdale" picture from our 1970s booklet.
Another quarter mile down the hill will take you under the former trolley
bridge and down into Hecla.  For all that's been made of the place, it's
really no big deal!  That store had to be incredibly tiny to fit the
property; it was a basic wye and occupied no more land than needed (yes,
they paid taxes on that!).  One could get photos of 2- or 3-car meets here,
but one could do that easier in Uniontown at the terminal.  The Union Supply
store burned a few years ago, and they continue to reclaim the gob pile.  So
much for life in the small part of Hecla that's still extant.

North of Hecla, where the road bears to the left and the trolley goes
straight ahead, was a relocation project of the 1920s.  The car line used to
cross the highway at the entrance to that curve and then cross back after
crossing the stream.  A bridge pier is still there next to the highway
bridge.

Next is Armbrust (not "Armburst").  Fred is way too far (at least 600 feet)
up the hill in his ID of the car line.  The crossing was nearly at the
bottom of the hill and is clearly identifiable today (there is this
photo...).  From there it rose up to the trestle to cross the RR, the creek
and the road.  Photos are extant here, as well.  I've driven in to this
area, too, on the road Fred thought was the R/W.  (Tip:  always look at the
topo map to be sure the grade makes sense.  In this case it would have been
difficult to get there from the east.)

The line paralleled the former PRR's former yard on present-day Trolley Line
Avenue or whatever and continued in the woods to Baker Siding, just short of
the cross street where the King's Restaurant sits.  Then it went up the LEFT
side of the street (yes, I know the poles are on the right) to Sand House
Siding and cross-country for another quarter mile before coming out onto the
main drag in South Greensburg.  From here north, it's street running
entirely.  The route north of Mt. Pleasant Street was abandoned with the
local lines, and a new connector installed to get over to Main Street.  This
route was never on the streets in Youngwood.

Time to go to work.

Ed
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
[mailto:owner-pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org]On Behalf Of
Fredbruhn at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2000 12:15 PM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: West Penn Railways today - Main Line Connellsville to
Greensburg


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