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 The P&WV formed a connection between theWheeling and Lake Erie Railway andWestern Maryland Railway. | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Greentree, PA |
| Reporting mark | PWV |
| Locale | Connellsville, Pennsylvania toPittsburgh Junction, Ohio |
| Dates of operation | July 2, 1904–October 16, 1964 |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge |
ThePittsburgh and West Virginia Railway (reporting markPWV) was arailroad in thePittsburgh,Pennsylvania, andWheeling, West Virginia, areas. Originally built as the Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway, a Pittsburgh extension ofGeorge J. Gould'sWabash Railroad, the venture enteredreceivership in 1908, and the line was cut loose. An extension completed in 1931 connected it to theWestern Maryland Railway atConnellsville, Pennsylvania, forming part of theAlphabet Route, a coalition of independent lines between theNortheastern United States and theMidwest. It was leased by theNorfolk and Western Railway in 1964 in conjunction with the N&W acquiring several other sections of the former Alphabet Route but was leased to the new spinoffWheeling and Lake Erie Railway in 1990, just months before the N&W was merged into theNorfolk Southern Railway.
The original Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway built several massive engineering works, including theWabash Terminal in downtown Pittsburgh, damaged by two fires in 1946 and demolished in 1953. TheWabash Bridge over theMonongahela River into Pittsburgh was torn down in 1948. On December 27, 2004, theWabash Tunnel just southwest of the bridge opened as ahigh occupancy vehicle roadway throughMount Washington. As of May 2024 the two piers of the long-gone Wabash Bridge remain standing.
The line included a branch to West End, Pennsylvania, abandoned in 2011, and a branch to West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, known as the Mifflin Branch. It also had a small industrial branch located near Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania.
At the end of 1960, P&WV operated 223 mi (359 km) of track, on 132 mi (212 km) of road; that year it reported 439 million net ton-miles of revenue freight.
Around 1900, George J. Gould was assembling railroads to createa transcontinental system. TheWestern Pacific Railway,Denver and Rio Grande Railroad andMissouri Pacific Railroad formed the line from thePacific Ocean atSan Francisco to theMississippi River atSt. Louis (completed in 1909). Past St. Louis, Gould acquired the Wabash Railroad toToledo.
On February 1, 1901, Gould, along with Joseph Ramsey, Jr., of the Wabash and others, formed thePittsburgh-Toledo Syndicate, asyndicate intending to extend the system to Pittsburgh. The next month, the syndicate bought thePittsburgh and Mansfield Railroad, an unbuilt line with a charter to build into downtown Pittsburgh. By May 1 the syndicate gained control of theWheeling and Lake Erie Railroad, extending the system from Toledo southeast toZanesville, Ohio, and Wheeling, West Virginia.
The extension to Pittsburgh was chartered in three parts—theCross Creek Railroad April 23, 1900, inOhio,Pittsburgh, Toledo and Western Railroad April 3, 1901, inWest Virginia, andPittsburgh, Carnegie and Western Railroad July 17, 1901, in Pennsylvania. Work on the line, branching off the P&WV's line to Wheeling atPittsburgh Junction, Ohio, began June 14, 1901. On May 7, 1904, the three companies were consolidated into theWabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway, to which all the syndicate properties (including the W&LE) were transferred. The first train passed through the Wabash Tunnel. It crossed the Wabash Bridge over the Monongahela River into Pittsburgh on June 1, and passenger service into the new Wabash Terminal began July 2, with through service over the W&LE and Wabash to Toledo,Chicago, St. Louis, andKansas City.
In addition to the Pittsburgh extension, Gould planned a line from Zanesville southeast toBelington, West Virginia, which was built by theLittle Kanawha Syndicate. From Belington east totidewater inBaltimore, theFuller Syndicate bought theWest Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway and a controlling interest in theWestern Maryland Railroad in 1902.[1]: 43–43 Another part of the plan was thePhiladelphia and Western Railway, a high-speed third rail electricinterurban line, which would have run fromPhiladelphia west to the Western Maryland atYork, Pennsylvania. The lines of the Fuller Syndicate were completed in Baltimore, but the Little Kanawha line was not completed, and a connection between the main system and the Fuller Syndicate was not built.
As Gould's plans affected thePennsylvania Railroad's business, PRR took measures to fight back. This included evictingtelegraph poles owned by Gould'sWestern Union from PRR property.
ThePanic of 1907 hit Gould hard due to the high costs of building the line when all the easy routes had been taken. TheWestern Maryland Railroad was the first of his properties to fail, enteringreceivership on March 5, 1908. The Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway entered receivership on May 29 of that year, ending through traffic between Pittsburgh and the W&LE and Wabash systems.
After years of operation by its receivers, the company was finally sold atforeclosure in August 1916 and reorganized November as thePittsburgh and West Virginia Railway. The line was again being considered for part of a major system—the "Fifth System" to supplement the four major players, thePennsylvania Railroad,New York Central Railroad,Baltimore and Ohio Railroad andErie Railroad—but there was still the issue of the gap between the W&LE/P&WV and the Western Maryland, never filled by theLittle Kanawha Syndicate.
The existingWest Side Belt Railroad provided for the beginning of this extension, crossing the P&WV at the southwest portal of the Wabash Tunnel under Mount Washington and running southeast and east toClairton on the Monongahela River. After an initial denial, theInterstate Commerce Commission approved the P&WV's plan to acquire the West Side Belt in December 1928.
In 1929, thePennsylvania Railroad incorporated thePennroad Corporation as an investment and holding company. This allowed the PRR to indirectly invest in other transportation companies withoutICC regulation. Among the initial purchases, 72% of the P&WV was acquired.[2][3]
On February 11, 1931, the extension to Connellsville, Pennsylvania, opened, where the Western Maryland continued east, splitting from the West Side Belt atPierce[citation needed]. This formed what came to be known as the Alphabet Route, following roughly the same plan as Gould's system but using theNickel Plate Road rather than the Wabash to reach bothSt. Louis and Chicago. The P&WV and Western Maryland never physically connected in Connellsville—a short section of Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad trackage was used to connect the P&WV to the WM.
The Nickel Plate leased the Wheeling and Lake Erie on December 1, 1949. In March 1950, the Pennroad announced plans to lease the P&WV to the Nickel Plate.[4] In 1962, theNorfolk & Western Railway filed to include the P&WV in the upcoming merger of the Nickel Plate. On October 16, 1964, the Norfolk and Western acquired the Nickel Plate. They leased the P&WV.[5] On the other hand, the Western Maryland Railway eventually went to the competingBaltimore and Ohio Railroad andChesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1967. Following the abandonment of the Western Maryland Railway mainline from Connellsville to Cumberland, Maryland, in 1975, a connection was established between the P&WV and the B&O at a location near Connellsville called Sodom, and the P&WV's connection to the P&LE and WM was abandoned at this same time. This enabled a semblance of the old Alphabet Route to continue under the Chessie System, although on B&O lines east from Connellsville instead of WM lines.
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ThePittsburgh and West Virginia Railroad was organized in 1967 as areal estate investment trust to own the property leased to the N&W. The railroad is now a subsidiary ofPower REIT, a real estate investment trust that is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol "PW". The leased properties consist of a railroad line 112 miles in length, extending from Connellsville, Washington, and Allegheny counties in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Brooke County in West Virginia, and Jefferson and Harrison counties in Ohio. There are also branch lines total 20 miles in length located in Washington County, Allegheny County in Pennsylvania, and Brooke County, West Virginia. The railroad was leased in 1964 to NSC, formerly Norfolk and Western Railway Company, by the company’s predecessor for 99 years with the right of unlimited renewal for an additional 99-year period under the same terms and conditions, including annual rent payments.
The lease provides that NSC, at its own expense and without deduction from the rent, will maintain, manage, and operate the leased property and make such improvements thereto as it considers desirable. Such improvements made by NSC become the property of the Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railroad, and the cost thereof constitutes a recorded indebtedness of the company to NSC.
The company’s business consists solely of owning the properties subject to the lease and collecting rent thereon. Upon termination of the lease, all properties covered by the lease would be returned to Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railroad, together with sufficient cash and other assets to permit the railroad's operation for one year.
On May 17, 1990, Norfolk Southern spun off most of the former W&LE as a new Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway. The P&WV lease was transferred to the new W&LE, which has also acquiredtrackage rights overCSX Transportation lines from Connellsville East toHagerstown, Maryland.
