Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Wheeling-Pittsburgh Subdivision

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Wheeling–Pittsburgh Subdivision was a railroad line connecting Wheeling, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) Wheeling–Pittsburgh Subdivision was a railroad line connecting Wheeling, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, portions of which have since been abandoned.

History

Wheeling to Washington

The Hempfield Railroad was chartered on May 15, 1850, with plans to construct a 76-mile line connecting Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), to Greensburg, Pennsylvania. ⁴

By 1857, the railroad had been completed from Wheeling to Washington, Pennsylvania, a distance of 32 miles, and was operating under the name Wheeling, Pittsburgh & Baltimore Railroad. ⁴ At that time, the company owned three locomotives, six passenger and freight cars, and eleven coal cars, with its offices located in Washington. ⁵

The line was acquired by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad on May 1, 1871, for $131,000. ⁴ Two days later, on May 3, the B&O reorganized the property as the Wheeling, Pittsburg & Baltimore Railroad (WP&B). ⁶ Following the reorganization, the railroad was intended to connect at Newton, Pennsylvania, with the Pittsburg and Connellsville Railroad, another B&O subsidiary, though this planned connection was never completed.

Washington to Pittsburgh

Coal Hill Coal Railroad

The Coal Hill Coal Railroad was established in 1861 by the Pittsburgh Coal Company to serve the Oak Mine in West Liberty Borough. ¹¹ The short industrial line ran from the north face of Mount Washington through a tunnel and extended roughly 1.5 miles along present-day Warrington Avenue.

Its defining feature was the Mount Washington Coal Tunnel, a 1,741-foot bore that originated as a coal mine begun in 1825 by Jacob Beltzhoover and later driven completely through Coal Hill. ¹¹ The tunnel provided a rare direct rail connection between the South Hills coal fields and Pittsburgh’s riverfront.

Pittsburgh & Castle Shannon Railroad

The Pittsburgh & Castle Shannon Railroad (P&CS) was chartered on September 21, 1871, to construct a 17-mile railroad between Pittsburgh and Finleyville. ^{10 11} Milton D. Hays was named president. Within months, the P&CS acquired the Coal Hill Coal Railroad, including a 40-year lease covering the tunnel, incline facilities, loading docks, and approximately one mile of track along Warrington Avenue. ¹¹

The company also obtained rights to a second Mount Washington tunnel that began near the coal incline on the north face and ran westward beneath Grandview Avenue. ¹¹ This 1,766-foot tunnel was used to transport coal from active mines beneath Mount Washington, but it was abandoned a few years later when those mines ceased operation.

Following the acquisition, the Coal Tunnel was renamed the Pittsburgh & Castle Shannon Tunnel and enlarged from roughly 5.5 feet to 12.5 feet in height to accommodate locomotives and railcars. ¹¹ This improvement allowed both passengers and freight to pass directly through Mount Washington into Pittsburgh, an arrangement that was unusual—and increasingly controversial—for the era.

At the time of purchase, the former Coal Hill line terminated at West Liberty Borough. ¹¹ The P&CS extended the route southward along the Saw Mill Run Valley, upgrading the line from McKinley (Bon Air) to Reflectorville and converting the Oak Mine connection into a spur. The main line continued through the valley, serving multiple mine shafts, and ultimately reached Arlington Station in Castle Shannon. By the early 1870s, the completed railroad extended approximately six miles south of the tunnel.

Although coal traffic remained central, the P&CS also operated as a common carrier. ¹¹ In 1872, it secured options on roughly 2,000 acres in Fairhaven (modern Overbrook) and Castle Shannon, pursuing a combined strategy of mining, passenger service, and suburban real estate development. Promotional materials emphasized a fifteen-minute commute to Pittsburgh, while company-sponsored attractions, including picnic groves, a zoological garden, and a Methodist camp meeting ground, were established along the rural line to stimulate ridership.

Passenger and general freight service through the tunnel ended in 1892 due to safety concerns. ¹¹ An expanded transfer station was constructed at the horseshoe curve along Warrington Avenue, where passengers and freight were transferred to incline cars for passage over Mount Washington. Coal traffic continued through the tunnel until 1912.

The effective end of the P&CS occurred in May 1912, when the company’s long-standing lease on critical infrastructure expired. ¹¹ The lease covered the horseshoe curve and transfer station along Warrington Avenue, the Mount Washington coal tunnel, and the north-face coal incline connecting the South Hills to the Pittsburgh riverfront. Upon expiration of the lease, ownership of these facilities transferred to the Pittsburgh Railways Company, which purchased the parcels for $12,000. This transaction immediately severed the P&CS from its northern terminal and eliminated its ability to operate through Mount Washington.

Formal steam passenger service on the P&CS ended in 1915, though the company maintained a nominal corporate existence for several more years. ¹¹ The final ceremonial train of the Pittsburgh & Castle Shannon Railroad ran in 1919, marking the symbolic close of the line as a steam railroad.

Despite the railroad’s dissolution, the right-of-way through the Saw Mill Run Valley—extending from South Hills Junction through Bon Air, Overbrook, and Castle Shannon—remained intact. ¹¹ Shortly after 1912, this corridor was converted to electric streetcar service operated by Pittsburgh Railways. The existing grades, bridges, and alignment allowed for relatively seamless conversion from steam railroad to trolley operation.

Streetcar operations along the former P&CS alignment were operated by the Pittsburgh Railways Company until March 1964, when the newly created Port Authority of Allegheny County assumed control of Pittsburgh Railways’ transit assets and operations. ¹¹ Trolley service along the Saw Mill Run corridor ended in 1993, after which the line sat dormant for several years. Rather than being abandoned or sold off, the corridor was selected for full reconstruction as part of Pittsburgh’s modern light-rail system. The rebuilt line—extending south from South Hills Junction to Library—returned to service in 2004, once again carrying passengers over a route first established by the P&CS more than 130 years earlier.

Extension South: The Pittsburgh Southern Line

When P&CS directors declined to extend the railroad beyond Castle Shannon, Milton Hays organized the Pittsburgh, Castle Shannon & Washington Railroad in 1876. ¹¹ The company opened between Castle Shannon and Library in December 1877 and reached Finleyville in 1878. Reorganized as the Pittsburgh Southern Railroad, the line was completed to Washington, Pennsylvania, in February 1879.

The entire route was built to a 40-inch narrow gauge. ¹¹ Hays authorized the use of P&CS equipment during construction, a decision that provoked growing conflict with P&CS directors. These tensions erupted in May 1878 during the so-called Castle Shannon Railroad War, when the P&CS refused to honor Pittsburgh Southern tickets and barred its trains from running through Arlington Yard.

To maintain operations, Hays formed an alliance with the Little Saw Mill Run Railroad, constructing a hurried three-mile connection over the hill from Banksville to Arlington. ¹¹ The Pittsburgh Southern altered its track gauge to accommodate available rolling stock and installed a third rail on the Little Saw Mill Run line, asserting its independence from the P&CS.

The dispute culminated in a violent confrontation between rival crews, during which a P&CS locomotive was deliberately derailed and ultimately pushed down an embankment by Hays himself. ¹¹ The incident ended with the Pittsburgh Southern completing its connection and Hays emerging victorious. He resigned as president of the P&CS the following day.

Receivership and Absorption into the B&O

The conflict left the Pittsburgh Southern financially weakened. The company entered receivership from May 1879 to April 1880, liquidating its real estate holdings—including its zoo, picnic grounds, and unsold residential lots—to satisfy mounting debt. ¹¹ The railroad emerged as the Pittsburgh Southern Railway. ^{10 11}

In 1883, the line between Finleyville and Washington was converted from 40-inch narrow gauge to standard gauge, while the remainder of the original narrow-gauge system was abandoned the following year. ¹⁰ In 1884, the completion of the Monongahela River bridge at Glenwood provided a more direct and operationally efficient connection between Finleyville and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad main line north of the river. Construction of the bridge required extensive grading and earthworks to lower the former Pittsburgh Southern alignment through the valley and bring it to the riverbank near Hays Station. With the bridge in service, the route became the principal connection between the B&O at Glenwood Junction and the coal fields of Washington County south of Finleyville.

Before the bridge was built, the river crossing was served by a ferry that connected with the W.B. Hays and Brothers Coal Railroad, which served the mining operations of J. H. Hays in the Streets Run and Glass Run valleys.

These infrastructure improvements coincided with the B&O’s acquisition of a controlling interest in January 1883, followed by full ownership on November 20, 1884. ¹⁰ The line was reorganized as the Baltimore & Ohio Short Line Railroad on February 25, 1885, ⁷ forming a 34-mile route between Glenwood Junction and Washington, Pennsylvania. In 1887, the Short Line was merged into the Wheeling, Pittsburgh & Baltimore Railroad, establishing a continuous rail corridor between Wheeling and Pittsburgh.

Inclines

Safety concerns over passenger traffic through the Coal Tunnel prompted the P&CS to construct two inclines on Mount Washington. ¹¹ Designed by engineer Samuel Diescher, Incline No. 1 (the Front Incline) opened on March 7, 1891. It measured 1,375 feet in length, rose 451 feet from Carson Street, and cost $161,815.

Incline No. 2 (the Back Incline), completed in 1892, extended 2,562 feet along the south face of the mountain and rose nearly 200 feet. ¹¹ With both inclines in service, the Coal Tunnel was thereafter used almost exclusively for coal traffic. The inclines became known as Castle Shannon Incline and Castle Shannon South.

The southern incline was abandoned in 1914 following the railroad’s decline. ¹¹ The northern incline remained in operation under Pittsburgh Railways until June 21, 1964, when it closed as one of the last three working inclines in Pittsburgh.

Tylerdale Connecting Railroad

The WP&B also connected with the Tylerdale Connecting Railroad, which was incorporated on June 8, 1899, and formally organized on June 13 of that year. ¹ The railroad was conceived by William P. Tyler of Tyler Tube Works to provide connections with both the B&O and the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway (later the Pennsylvania Railroad) in order to secure competitive shipping rates. ² The line was later taken over by the B&O.

The initial segment of the Tylerdale Connecting Railroad extended 1.305 miles from Tylerdale Junction to Woodland Avenue in Tylerdale and was constructed between 1899 and 1900. ¹ A second branch, measuring 1.533 miles, was built in 1917 from Sugar Creek Branch Junction to the Lincoln Gas & Coal Company near Lincoln Hill.

Conrail, the ultimate successor to the Pennsylvania Railroad, discontinued operations from its trackage to the Tylerdale Connecting Track on April 30, 1982. The line was redesignated as the Canonsburg Industrial Track, and Conrail began seeking a buyer in 1994 before ultimately severing the connection. The southern terminus with the B&O, however, remained intact.

Improvements

The opening of Tunnel No. 9 (Whitehall) in 1900 further shortened and improved the route. ¹⁰ In 1906, work to rebuild Tunnel No. 6 with brick was completed, and in 1915, the Glenwood Bridge over the Monongahela River was rebuilt to accommodate heavier locomotives.

Decline and Abandonment

For much of the twentieth century, the B&O line running from Glenwood Yard in Pittsburgh south to Washington and west to Benwood Yard at Wheeling was operated as the Wheeling–Pittsburgh Subdivision. The route was considered technically challenging, featuring numerous tunnels, sharp curves, and grades ranging from 3 to 5 percent. Construction improvements undertaken in the late 19th century reduced many of these grades to approximately 2 percent.

The subdivision experienced exceptionally heavy traffic due to the dense concentration of steel mills and coal mines along the route. To improve operating efficiency on this congested line, it became one of the earliest rail corridors to be equipped with centralized traffic control (CTC).

By the 1970s, coal production along the line had declined sharply as many mines closed. During the 1980s, much of the region’s steel industry was idled or permanently shut down. Traffic levels fell accordingly, and operations were reduced to two through trains in each direction per day, supplemented by a local switcher serving industries between Pittsburgh and Washington.

The B&O entered consolidation in 1963, when the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O) purchased a controlling interest, bringing the two companies under common ownership while they continued to operate separately. In 1973, the B&O, C&O, and the Western Maryland Railway were placed under the Chessie System, a corporate holding structure created to unify branding and management, while federal regulations delayed full operational merger. The B&O was formally merged into the C&O in 1987, ending its independent corporate existence. Shortly thereafter, in 1986, Chessie combined with Seaboard System, and by 1987, the consolidated railroad was operating as CSX Transportation.

In November 1985, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad elected to abandon the Wheeling–Pittsburgh Subdivision west of Washington, to Wheeling. ² A short segment between Taylorstown and Washington was retained for railcar storage, while the portion from Washington north to Glenwood Yard continued in daily service.

In 2001, the Allegheny Valley Railroad (AVR) began interchanging with CSX Transportation at Glenwood Yard. Two years later, in December 2003, CSX leased approximately 43 miles of track between Glenwood Junction and Washington to AVR, which operated the route as the W&P Subdivision.

AVR later acquired the property outright. On May 15, 2019, the railroad purchased the W&P Subdivision, Glenwood Yard, the Tylerdale Connecting Track, and the P&W Subdivision from CSX, totaling approximately 47.5 miles of rail line.

Rails to Trails

National Pike Trail

The National Pike Trail originated in 1991 in Claysville, Pennsylvania, as an initiative of the late State Representative Roger Raymond Fischer. ¹² The project was formally incorporated in 2001, and its first completed segment, approximately two miles between Claysville east to Timber Lake Road, included three former railroad tunnels. Plans called for extending the trail west to West Alexander and east toward Taylorstown and Washington through the railbanking of additional railroad right-of-way.

Wheeling Creek Trail

The Wheeling Creek Trail is a 4.03-mile bicycle and pedestrian trail extending between Wheeling and Elm Grove. Completed in 1995, the project was spearheaded by Paul McIntire Sr. and Hydie Friend, with support from community organizations including Friends of Wheeling, which helped acquire key sections of abandoned railroad right-of-way for trail use. ¹³

Parallel efforts were underway at a broader scale. By 1992, Wheeling Heritage, the Heritage Trail Partners, and the City of Wheeling developed a plan to create a 13-mile bicycle and pedestrian network utilizing abandoned railroad corridors. ¹³ Completed in 1995 and opened to the public as the Wheeling Heritage Trail, the system has since expanded incrementally north, south, and later eastward through the city, growing to approximately 18 miles in length.

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Map

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Gallery

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Further Reading

• Wheeling, Pittsburgh & Baltimore Railroad ICC Valuation

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Sources

1. Interstate Commerce Commission. “Tylerdale Connecting Railroad.” Valuation Reports, vol. 42, Apr. 1933, pp. 683-84.
2. “B&O- Wheeling Pittsburgh Sub – The Pike.” Trainorders.com, forum.
3. “A Narrow Gauge War.” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, 13 May 1878, p. 4.
4. Poor’s Manual of the Railroads of the United States, 1887-1878, p. 316.
5. Poor’s Manual of the Railroads of the United States, 1868-1869, p. 255.
6. Poor’s Manual of the Railroads of the United States, 1877-1878, p. 330.
7. “Baltimore and Ohio Short Line.” Poor’s Directory of Railway Officials. New York: Poor’s Railroad Manual, 1887.
8. “The Pittsburgh Southern Narrow Gauge Railroad.” Archy’s Train Page, article.
9. Dixon, Thomas W., Jr. “Baltimore and Ohio.” West Virginia Railroads, TLC Publishing, 2009, pp. 18–48.
10. Brennan, Joseph. “Notes on the Pittsburgh Southern Railroad: A Lost Road.”
11. Burton, Clint. “The Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Railroad (1871-1912).” Brookline Connection.
12. “National Pike Trail Resume.” National Pike Trail.
13. Warren, Alex. “Wheeling Heritage Trail: From Railroad to Walking Trail.” Weelunk, 26 Jun. 2020.