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57-537: Conceived in the late 1800s, the tunnel was built in 1903 for Gould's Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway venture into Pittsburgh, which failed financially in 1908. It carried passenger trains into the city until 1931, and freight trains until 1946. After the end of train service, the tunnel sat empty for many years. The tunnel was once connected to the Wabash Bridge across the Monongahela River , but

114-490: 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 132 mi (212 km) of the road on 223 mi (359 km) of the track; that year it reported 439 million net ton-miles of revenue freight. Around 1900, George J. Gould

171-642: A connection with the B&;O in 1892 with the opening of the Potomac Valley Railroad, controlled by WM, between Williamsport and Big Pool, Maryland . This connection brought a major increase in through-freight traffic. Construction of an extension from Hagerstown to Cumberland began in 1903 and completed in 1906. This became the West Subdivision. To service the expanded system, the WM built

228-740: A giant, the Connellsville subdivision of WM handled through-midwest fast freight traffic and coal from company-owned mines near Fairmont and Somerset, Pennsylvania . WM opened a passenger station in Cumberland and one in Hagerstown in 1913. The Cumberland station contained the offices for the Western Division. The building, which is called Canal Place , is operated by the National Park Service and includes

285-902: A high-speed third rail electric interurban line, which would have run from Philadelphia west to the Western Maryland at York, 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 the Pennsylvania Railroad 's business, PRR took measures to fight back. This included evicting telegraph poles owned by Gould's Western Union from PRR property. The Panic of 1907 hit Gould hard due to

342-609: A major shop complex at Hagerstown in 1909, with a roundhouse , machine shops and related facilities. Rail yards at Hagerstown were also expanded. The WVC&P established the Coal and Iron Railway (C&I) in 1899 to reach logging operations and a connection with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O). The route left Elkins and the Tygart Valley River drainage by way of a tunnel under Cheat Mountain , followed

399-542: A rail line from Baltimore west to Washington County, Maryland . The Maryland General Assembly changed the name of the company to the Western Maryland Rail Road Company in 1853, and construction began from Owings Mills in 1857. An existing Northern Central Railway branch line terminating at Owings Mills was used to connect into Baltimore. The railroad was completed to Westminster in 1861 and Union Bridge in 1862. Further expansion

456-689: A three day a week mixed train between Elkins and Durbin, West Virginia , ended in 1959. In 1964, the C&;O and the B&O jointly filed for permission to acquire control of the Western Maryland Railway with the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). The ICC approved the acquisition in 1968. In 1973, as part of the Chessie System, Western Maryland ownership went to C&O and it was operated by

513-894: Is now a subsidiary of Power 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

570-476: The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (B&P) for the remaining two miles of the route eastward to Calvert Street Station (Later replaced by Union Station (which still later was called Penn Station)). It built a branch east of Union Station to Hillen Station, which opened in 1876 and became the company headquarters. The WM built a connection from Hagerstown to Williamsport , in order to access coal traffic from

627-636: The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal . Under the leadership of company president John Mifflin Hood , the railway made its first extension into Pennsylvania by leasing a line from Edgemont, Maryland , to Waynesboro and Shippensburg . This line became the Lurgan Subdivision and was leased from the Baltimore and Cumberland Valley Railroad in 1881, and was connected to the Harrisburg and Potomac Railroad in 1886. A second route into Pennsylvania ,

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684-541: The Hanover Subdivision , was acquired by the WM when it gained control of the Baltimore and Hanover Railroad , and the Gettysburg Railroad , in late 1886. This line connected to the WM main at Emory Grove, proceeded north to Hanover and Gettysburg , then southwest to connect again to the WM at Highfield, Maryland , near the Pennsylvania border. A branch from Porters to York, Pennsylvania

741-759: The Maryland Midland Railway (MMID), Western Maryland Scenic Railroad , Pennsylvania & Southern Railway and York Railway . A portion of the former WM roadbed in Baltimore is now used by the Baltimore Metro Subway going northwest from downtown to Owings Mills, Maryland in Baltimore County . Other portions are now rail trails . These include the Western Maryland Rail Trail in Maryland;

798-659: The Midwest . It was leased by the Norfolk 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 spinoff Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway in 1990, just months before the N&W was merged into the Norfolk Southern Railway . The original Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway built several massive engineering works, including

855-515: The Patapsco River in Baltimore , to support the Gould organization's expansion plans. The terminal facilities included coal, grain and merchandise piers, overhead cranes, eleven rail yards, warehouses, a roundhouse, a turntable and a machine shop. During the 1920s, rotary dumpers for coal and coke were installed, and a large grain elevator. Construction to Durbin was complete by 1903. With

912-644: The Shavers Fork river upstream and then the West Fork Greenbrier River down from its headwaters to Durbin in Pocahontas County , where it connected with the C&O Greenbrier Division. The Fuller Syndicate , led by George Gould , purchased a controlling interest in the WM in 1902 and made plans for westward expansion of the system. In 1904, the WM completed construction of a large marine terminal at Port Covington , on

969-713: The Wabash 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, and Kansas City . In addition to

1026-553: The Wabash Terminal in downtown Pittsburgh, damaged by two fires in 1946 and demolished in 1953. The Wabash Bridge over the Monongahela River into Pittsburgh was torn down in 1948. On December 27, 2004, the Wabash Tunnel just southwest of the bridge opened as a high occupancy vehicle roadway through Mount Washington . As of May 2024 the two piers of the long-gone Wabash Bridge remain standing. The line included

1083-572: The B&O. The B&O itself merged with the C&O in 1987, which itself became part of CSX Transportation. Much of the original WM west of Big Pool has been abandoned including the 2,375-foot (724 m) summit of the Allegheny Mountains and the Eastern Continental Divide near Deal, Pennsylvania . In addition to CSX, portions of the former WM are now operated by Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad ,

1140-919: The Blackwater Canyon Trail and Allegheny Highlands Trail in West Virginia, and the Great Allegheny Passage in Maryland and Pennsylvania. In Allegany County, Maryland , the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park includes the Western Maryland Railroad Right-of-Way, Milepost 126 to Milepost 160 , listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, and the Western Maryland Railway Station in Cumberland which provides tourist orientation and historical exhibits. A former WM warehouse

1197-552: The Connellsville Extension was built west from Cumberland to Connellsville, Pennsylvania , beginning in 1910, and it was completed in 1912. At Connellsville the WM connected with the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad (P&LE). In 1915, the WM obtained trackage rights on a B&O line from Bowest Junction, 2 miles south of Connellsville, to Chiefton, West Virginia, which provided access to coal mines in

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1254-453: 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. The Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railroad was organized in 1967 as a real estate investment trust to own the property leased to the N&W. The railroad

1311-675: The P&WV's plan to acquire the West Side Belt in December 1928. In 1929, the Pennsylvania Railroad incorporated the Pennroad Corporation as an investment and holding company. This allowed the PRR to indirectly invest in other transportation companies without ICC regulation. Among the initial purchases, 72% of the P&WV was acquired. On February 11, 1931, the extension to Connellsville, Pennsylvania, opened, where

1368-405: The P&WV. On the other hand, the Western Maryland Railway eventually went to the competing Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and Chesapeake 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

1425-593: The PRR. Today the P&WV is leased by the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway . The major rail yards on the WM were Jamison Yard at Hagerstown, capacity 3,000 cars, mainly for west-bound traffic; and Knobmount Yard, capacity 1,600 cars, south of Ridgeley, West Virginia , mainly for east-bound traffic. The WM began using diesel locomotives in 1941 for yard operations, and for regular line use in 1949. It discontinued use of steam locomotives in 1954, despite receiving new ones as late as 1947 with its J-1 class 4-8-4s ,

1482-838: The Pittsburgh extension, Gould planned a line from Zanesville southeast to Belington, West Virginia , which was built by the Little Kanawha Syndicate . From Belington east to tidewater in Baltimore , the Fuller Syndicate bought the West Virginia Central and Pittsburg Railway and a controlling interest in the Western Maryland Railroad in 1902. Another part of the plan was the Philadelphia and Western Railway ,

1539-414: The W&LE/P&WV and the Western Maryland, never filled by the Little Kanawha Syndicate . The existing West 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 to Clairton on the Monongahela River. After an initial denial, the Interstate Commerce Commission approved

1596-409: The WM also used them for coal operations. The Fuller Syndicate attempted to assemble its own transcontinental railroad system beginning around 1902, by acquiring various rail lines. It faced stiff competition from the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), the B&O and others, and became financially overextended in its expansion plans. As a result, the WM entered receivership in 1908. A new corporation,

1653-713: The Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway, a Pittsburgh extension of George J. Gould 's Wabash Railroad , the venture entered receivership in 1908, and the line was cut loose. An extension completed in 1931 connected it to the Western Maryland Railway at Connellsville, Pennsylvania , forming part of the Alphabet Route , a coalition of independent lines between the Northeastern United States and

1710-571: The Wabash Railroad, the Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railroad acquired it along with most of the ex-Wabash-Railroad property in 1917. The tunnel was sold in 1931 to Allegheny County for US$ 3 million (US$ 60.1 million today). The county intended to convert it to a road and use it to relieve the traffic congestion in the Liberty Tunnels , and in 1933 commissioned a $ 5000 study to investigate this concept. As of April 2006,

1767-578: The Wabash Tunnel as a roadway to compensate for an upcoming closure of the Fort Pitt Tunnel . As part of the conversion to a roadway, the guideways for the Skybus system were removed and replaced with new paving and drainage. When awarded in 1994, the contract for this work was worth US$ 3.2 million (US$ 6.6 million today). However, in 1995, PAT declined to build a new road bridge (estimated at $ US25.8 million, or US$ 51.6 million today) to connect

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1824-606: The Wabash and others, formed the Pittsburgh-Toledo Syndicate , a syndicate intending to extend the system to Pittsburgh. The next month, the syndicate bought the Pittsburgh and Mansfield Railroad , an unbuilt line with a charter to build into downtown Pittsburgh. By May 1 the syndicate gained control of the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad , extending the system from Toledo southeast to Zanesville, Ohio , and Wheeling, West Virginia. The extension to Pittsburgh

1881-508: The Western Maryland Railway Company, was formed and purchased the WM assets in 1909, and the receivership ended in 1910. In 1931, the Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway (P&WV) reached Connellsville to connect with the WM. The connection enabled the formation of the Alphabet Route , a partnership involving the WM, P&WV and six other railroads that provided competition with larger railroads including

1938-616: The Western Maryland continued east, splitting from the West Side Belt at Pierce . This formed what came to be known as the Alphabet Route, following roughly the same plan as Gould's system but using the Nickel Plate Road rather than the Wabash to reach both St. Louis and Chicago. The P&WV and Western Maryland never physically connected in Connellsville—a short section of Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad trackage

1995-694: The Western Maryland's success until its eventual abandonment in the 1970s. In 1927, the WM purchased the Greenbrier, Cheat and Elk Railroad , which ran from Cheat Junction, on the Durbin sub, to Bergoo . This line became the GC&;E Subdivision. In 1929, WM's purchase of a line from the West Virginia Midland Railway extended the GC&E sub southward to Webster Springs . While these lines were originally built as logging railroads,

2052-703: The acquisition of the WVC&;P in 1905, the C&I became part of WM and this line became the Durbin Subdivision. In 1907, the syndicate acquired several railroad companies, including the George's Creek and Cumberland Railroad (GC&C), which had built a line west through the Cumberland Narrows , and then south to Lonaconing, Maryland . Using the portion of the line through the Narrows,

2109-412: The area west of Fairmont, West Virginia . The GC&C line provided the WM with access to mines in the Georges Creek Valley . In 1927, the WM abandoned some of the GC&C track and accessed additional mines in the area through trackage rights on the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad (C&P). In 1944 the WM purchased the C&P, and formally merged the operations in 1953. Although never

2166-414: The bridge was demolished in 1948, and was not replaced. Its two stone support piers remain in the river. In the early 1970s Pittsburgh Regional Transit , then known as Port Authority, or PAT, spent US$ 6 million (US$ 45.1 million today) rebuilding the tunnel for the never-to-be-operational Skybus people mover system. The project was also to include a new Monongahela River bridge. During this period,

2223-411: The company was finally sold at foreclosure in August 1916 and reorganized November as the Pittsburgh 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, the Pennsylvania Railroad , New York Central Railroad , Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and Erie Railroad —but there was still the issue of the gap between

2280-399: The high costs of building the line when all the easy routes had been taken. The Western Maryland Railroad was the first of his properties to fail, entering receivership 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,

2337-593: The last new design of the wheel arrangement to be developed. Passenger service on the WM began in 1859. The WM's original Hillen Street Station in downtown Baltimore was demolished in 1954. A smaller replacement Baltimore station was briefly used between 1954-1957. Revenue passenger-miles declined from 26 million in 1925 to 2 million in 1956. The WM ended its passenger service on its Baltimore-Owings Mills-Thurmont-Hagerstown mainline route in 1957. Service on its Cumberland-to-Elkins line ended between 1957 and 1958. Passenger service on its final remaining line,

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2394-442: 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

2451-424: 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 acquired trackage rights over CSX Transportation lines from Connellsville East to Hagerstown, Maryland . Western Maryland Railway The Western Maryland Railway ( reporting mark WM )

2508-480: The station for the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad and a visitors center for the C&O Canal National Historic Park . It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The Hagerstown station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. In the large valley near the mouth of Leading Creek and the Tygart Valley River , the WVC&P constructed the city of Elkins, West Virginia . Named after investor Stephen Benton Elkins , Elkins

2565-474: The tunnel was operated and maintained for PAT by Bruce & Merrilees , at an annual cost of $ 780,000. The tunnel's north portal was severely damaged in a 1925 landslide. The tunnel was temporarily closed due to fallen trees on July 19, 2012. Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway The Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway ( reporting mark PWV ) was a railroad in the Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , and Wheeling, West Virginia , areas. Originally built as

2622-404: The tunnel was used to hold up to 87 of PAT's disused 1950s-era transit buses in reserve. The tunnel portals were reinforced to deter vandals, to the satisfaction of PAT's insurers. Despite this, in 1980, vandals gained access and smashed hundreds of windows and headlights on the two rows of buses parked inside. By 1992, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) was considering using

2679-467: The tunnel with downtown Pittsburgh. On July 23, 2003 PAT approved contracts for US$ 10.9 million (US$ 18.1 million today) to build high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) ramps and modernized the tunnel, as well as provide a 172-space park-and-ride lot along Woodruff Street. The little-used HOV lane was opened on December 27, 2004, running from West Carson Street on the South Side and through the tunnel to Woodruff Street in Mt. Washington. The Fort Pitt Tunnel to

2736-461: The west and the Liberty Tunnels https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Tunnel to the east carry nearly all of the vehicular traffic heading downtown. On November 6, 2013 the Federal Transit Administration lifted the car pool requirements to provide an alternate route for drivers, due to the two-year closure of outbound West Carson Street. On February 24, 2017 PAT announced that the HOV restrictions had been waived permanently. Originally built for

2793-470: Was an American Class I railroad (1852–1983) that operated in Maryland , West Virginia , and Pennsylvania . It was primarily a coal hauling and freight railroad, with a small passenger train operation. The WM became a property of the Chessie System holding company in 1973, although it continued independent operations until May 1975 after which its lines were abandoned in favor of parallel Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) lines. In 1983, it

2850-410: Was assembling railroads to create a transcontinental system . The Western Pacific Railway , Denver and Rio Grande Railroad and Missouri Pacific Railroad formed the line from the Pacific Ocean at San Francisco to the Mississippi River at St. Louis (completed in 1909). Past St. Louis, Gould acquired the Wabash Railroad to Toledo . On February 1, 1901, Gould, along with Joseph Ramsey, Jr., of

2907-415: Was chartered in three parts—the Cross Creek Railroad April 23, 1900, in Ohio , Pittsburgh, Toledo and Western Railroad April 3, 1901, in West Virginia , and Pittsburgh, Carnegie and Western Railroad July 17, 1901, in Pennsylvania. Work on the line, branching off the P&WV's line to Wheeling at Pittsburgh Junction, Ohio , began June 14, 1901. On May 7, 1904, the three companies were consolidated into

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2964-447: Was completed in 1893; this became the York Subdivision. The West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway (WVC&P) began as a narrow gauge line in 1880, its name and gauge changed in 1881 and in the ensuing years it opened a huge swath of timber and coal territory in the Allegheny Highlands of West Virginia. The railroad was directly responsible for the creation of such towns as Davis , Thomas , and Parsons . The WM established

3021-405: Was delayed because of the Civil War . Westward construction resumed in 1868 under Chief Engineer Joseph S. Gitt , and the line was completed to Hagerstown in 1872. This section became the East Subdivision. The company's first major car shops were established at Union Bridge. In 1873, the WM built its own line from Owings Mills to Fulton Junction in Baltimore, and obtained trackage rights from

3078-413: Was fully merged into the B&O, which later was also merged with the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway into the Chessie System in 1987, which then merged with the Seaboard System to form CSX Transportation . The railroad was headquartered in Baltimore , Maryland . The original main line began with the chartering of the Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick Railroad in 1852, with the intent of building

3135-486: Was home to a large rail yard for the railroad and served as the hub of Western Maryland and Chessie System operations in the region well into the 1980s. The WVC&P was sold to the Fuller Syndicate in 1902 and was merged into the Western Maryland in 1905. Known as the Thomas Subdivision, the line connected to the Western Maryland mainline at Maryland Junction, south of Cumberland. This line, famous for its Black Water Grade in Blackwater Canyon , became an important part of

3192-493: 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

3249-408: 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. In 1962, the Norfolk & 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

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