Last updated on January 10, 2026
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Wheeling–Pittsburgh Subdivision was a railroad line connecting Wheeling, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Wheeling–Pittsburgh Subdivision was a railroad line connecting Wheeling, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, portions of which have since been abandoned.
History
The Wheeling, Pittsburg & Baltimore Railroad (WP&B) was incorporated on August 5, 1887, as the successor to the Hempfield Railroad and the Baltimore & Ohio Short Line Railroad.
The origins of the WP&B traced back to the incorporation of the Hempfield Railroad on May 15, 1850. 4 The Hempfield was projected to run between Wheeling and Greensburg, Pennsylvania. 5 Construction progressed from Wheeling eastward to Washington, a distance of 32 miles, and was completed by 1857. 4 At that time, the railroad operated three locomotives, six passenger and freight cars, and eleven coal cars. 5
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) acquired the Hempfield on May 1, 1871, 4 and reorganized it as the WP&B on May 3 of that year. 6 The reorganized line was intended to connect with the Pittsburg & Connellsville Railroad at Newton, though this connection was never completed. The Hempfield was sold at foreclosure in February 1857 and subsequently reorganized as the WP&B on January 15, 1872.
The Pittsburgh Southern Railway was formed in March 1879 through the merger of the narrow-gauge Pittsburgh Southern Railroad, the Pittsburgh Railroad, and the Washington Railroad. The line operated between Washington and Castle Shannon, where it connected with the Pittsburgh & Castle Shannon Railroad. An effort to establish an alternate standard-gauge route into Pittsburgh using the Little Saw Mill Run Railroad and dual-gauge track led to the Castle Shannon Railroad War of 1878. 3 8
The Pittsburgh Southern Railway was converted to standard gauge in 1883 and was purchased by the B&O on November 20, 1884. It was subsequently reorganized as the Baltimore & Ohio Short Line Railroad.
The Baltimore & Ohio Short Line Railroad, a B&O subsidiary and successor to the Pittsburgh Southern Railway, was organized on February 25, 1885. 7 The line extended 34 miles from Glenwood Junction to Washington and included the construction of the Whitehall Tunnel. On August 5, 1887, the B&O Short Line was absorbed into the WP&B, formally bringing it into the B&O system.
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.
20th Century
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 B&O elected to abandon the Wheeling–Pittsburgh Subdivision west of Washington to Wheeling. 2 A portion of the line between Taylorstown and Washington was retained for railcar storage, while the segment from Washington north to Glenwood Yard remained in daily service. Following the B&O’s succession, CSX sold the line to the Allegheny Valley Railroad.
Gallery
Further Reading
Sources
- Interstate Commerce Commission. “Tylerdale Connecting Railroad.” Valuation Reports, vol. 42, Apr. 1933, pp. 683-84.
- “B&O- Wheeling Pittsburgh Sub – The Pike.” Trainorders.com, forum.
- “A Narrow Gauge War.” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, 13 May 1878, p. 4.
- Poor’s Manual of the Railroads of the United States, 1887-1878, p. 316.
- Poor’s Manual of the Railroads of the United States, 1868-1869, p. 255.
- Poor’s Manual of the Railroads of the United States, 1877-1878, p. 330.
- “Baltimore and Ohio Short Line.” Poor’s Directory of Railway Officials. New York: Poor’s Railroad Manual, 1887.
- “The Pittsburgh Southern Narrow Gauge Railroad.” Archy’s Train Page, article.
- Dixon, Thomas W., Jr. “Baltimore and Ohio.” West Virginia Railroads, TLC Publishing, 2009, pp. 18–48.
This line is still listed active between Washington, PA and Taylorstown (Crother’s) Station. It has been in disuse since the rest of the line was filed for abandonment. They planned on using the Taylorstown Station rail yard for car storage but stuctural engineers from CSX/AVR deemed the Finney Tunnel to unsafe to risk running cars through it. To update some history on this line, more current events, the portion of the line east of Claysville, PA at Valley View Rd. to just past the McClellan Tunnel (under the National Rd.) is now part of the Claysville National Pike Trail, an unimproved surface walking, biking, community trail. Plans are to extend this trail into Washington, PA on the eastern side and to the PA/WV state line. Property is currently in the process of purchase/easements. Once CSX works out stuff with the National Pike Trails Council, the process of abandonment, railbanking, and repairs can be made to open the trail on the eastern side. Same goes to the property owners on the western side in which we are working with NiSource Energy to obtain a huge chunk of the property. There are some smaller sections we are still trying to contact ownership and one owner that has just recently built next to the line and is selling the property after getting water/sewerage installed. I will keep you updated on the trail process so you can keep this post up to date. Also, a cave in occurred on the western portal of the West Alexander tunnel this past summer during a long period of rain due to drainage issues. The township is working with Tunnel Ridge Mining Co. to either get it fixed before it threatens homes, historical cemetery, and the township building or hand it over to our trail association so we can get the repairs made before it becomes unfixable. We do not want this historic tunnel to be filled with grout and sealed up so nobody can enjoy it’s rich history.