View source for Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway

{{Short description|Company and former railroad in the United States}}
{{more footnotes|date=January 2013}}
{{Infobox rail | gauge={{Track gauge|ussg|allk=on}}
|railroad_name=Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway
|logo_filename=P&WV logo.gif
|logo_size=100px
|system_map=P&WV map.svg
|map_size=300px
|map_caption=The P&WV formed a connection between the [[Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway (1916-1988)|Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway]] and [[Western Maryland Railway]].
|marks=PWV
|locale=[[Connellsville, Pennsylvania]] to [[Pittsburgh Junction, Ohio]]
|start_year=July 2, 1904
|end_year=October 16, 1964
|old_gauge=
|hq_city=[[Green Tree, Pennsylvania|Greentree, PA]]
}}
The '''Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway''' {{reporting mark|PWV}} was a [[railroad]] in the [[Pittsburgh]], [[Pennsylvania]], and [[Wheeling, West Virginia]], areas. Originally built as 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 the [[Midwestern United States|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 (1990)|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 the [[Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal|Wabash Terminal]] in downtown Pittsburgh, damaged by two fires in 1946 and demolished in 1953. The [[Wabash Bridge (Pittsburgh)|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, Pittsburgh (mountain)|Mount 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 {{convert|132|mi|km|abbr=on}} of the road on {{convert|223|mi|km|abbr=on}} of the track; that year it reported 439 million net ton-miles of revenue freight.
==History==
===Gould system: 1901 to 1908===
Around 1900, George J. Gould was assembling railroads to create [[Gould transcontinental system|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, Ohio|Toledo]].
On February 1, 1901, Gould, along with Joseph Ramsey, Jr., of 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 (1899-1916)|Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad]], extending the system from Toledo southeast to [[Zanesville, Ohio]], and Wheeling, West Virginia.
The extension to Pittsburgh 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 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, Missouri|Kansas City]].
In addition to 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 [[Tidelands|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.<ref name="Cook">{{Cook-Western Maryland}}</ref>{{rp|43-43}} Another part of the plan was the [[Philadelphia and Western Railway]], 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 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.
===Independence: 1908 to 1929===
After years of operation by its receivers, 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 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, Pennsylvania|Clairton]] on the Monongahela River. After an initial denial, the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]] approved the P&WV's plan to acquire the West Side Belt in December 1928.
===Pennsylvania Railroad influence: 1929 to 1964===
In 1929, the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] incorporated the [[Pennroad|Pennroad Corporation]] as an investment and holding company. This allowed the PRR to indirectly invest in other transportation companies without [[Interstate Commerce Commission|ICC]] regulation. Among the initial purchases, 72% of the P&WV was acquired.<ref>Baer, Christopher T., [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1929%20Jul%2004.wd.pdf PRR Chronology 1929]</ref><ref>[http://www.alphabetroute.com/pwv/history.php Alphabet Route] Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railway</ref>
On February 11, 1931, the extension to Connellsville, Pennsylvania, opened, where the Western Maryland continued east, splitting from the West Side Belt at [[Pierce, Pennsylvania|Pierce]]{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}. This formed what came to be known as the Alphabet Route, following roughly the same plan as Gould's system but using the [[New York, Chicago, and St. Louis Railroad|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 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.<ref>Baer, Christopher T., [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1950%20Dec%2004.pdf PRR Chronology 1950] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510133907/http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1950%20Dec%2004.pdf |date=2013-05-10 }}</ref> 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 the P&WV.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lennon |first=J |title =Establishing Trails on Rights-of-Way |publisher =[[United States Department of the Interior]] |location =[[Washington, D.C.]] |page =51 }}</ref> 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 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.
===Norfolk and Western: 1964 to 1990===
{{Expand section|date=May 2008}}
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 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 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.
===Wheeling and Lake Erie: 1990 to present===
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]].
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* Baer, Christopher T. [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR_hagley_intro.htm "PRR Chronology"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131222235728/http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR_hagley_intro.htm |date=2013-12-22 }} Excerpted from "A General Chronology of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company Predecessors and Successors and Its Historical Context". Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society. Accessed 2009-12-14.
* Earlpleasants.com. [https://web.archive.org/web/20151104155926/http://www.earlpleasants.com/search_1.asp "Railroad History Database"]
{{refend}}
==External links==
{{commonscat}}
{{Portal|Railways}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060131044757/http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/d8279.htm Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway Company Drawings, 1948-1950] Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
*[http://thepwvhiline.com/ The P&WV Hi-Line] Historic photos, past company newsletters and documents, maps and discussion board
*[http://www.alphabetroute.com/pwv/history.php Alphabet Route - Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railway] History
{{Former Class I}}
{{Pennsylvania railroads}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pittsburgh West Virginia Railway}}
[[Category:Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway| ]]
[[Category:Predecessors of the Norfolk and Western Railway]]
[[Category:Railway companies established in 1916]]
[[Category:Railway companies disestablished in 1967]]
[[Category:Defunct Ohio railroads]]
[[Category:Defunct Pennsylvania railroads]]
[[Category:Defunct West Virginia railroads]]
[[Category:Wabash Railroad]]
[[Category:Former Class I railroads in the United States]]
[[Category:Transportation in Pittsburgh]]
[[Category:American companies established in 1893]]
[[Category:Railway companies established in 1893]]
[[Category:American companies disestablished in 1967]]