Tunnel No. 6

Last updated on January 13, 2026

Tunnel No. 6 is located west of Washington, Pennsylvania, along the abandoned Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Wheeling–Pittsburgh Subdivision.

Tunnel No. 6 is located west of Washington, Pennsylvania, along the abandoned Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) Wheeling–Pittsburgh Subdivision.

Tunnel No. 6 was constructed as part of the rail corridor that later became the Wheeling, Pittsburgh & Baltimore Railroad (WP&B), a company incorporated on August 5, 1887, through the consolidation of the Hempfield Railroad and the Baltimore & Ohio Short Line. The WP&B represented a critical link in the B&O’s effort to establish a direct, company-controlled route between Wheeling and Pittsburgh.

The origins of the line trace back to the Hempfield Railroad, chartered on May 15, 1850, with the intention of building a railroad between Wheeling and Greensburg. ^{2 3} Construction progressed eastward from Wheeling, and by 1857, the railroad had reached Washington, completing approximately 32 miles of track. ² Along this segment, several tunnels were required to negotiate the rolling terrain of western Pennsylvania, including Tunnel No. 6, located roughly 3.5 miles west of Washington.

Under later B&O control, Tunnel No. 6 formed part of the Wheeling–Pittsburgh Subdivision, a line that for decades carried coal, steel, and general freight between the Ohio Valley and Pittsburgh. By the 1970s, however, declining coal production in Washington County and surrounding areas had sharply reduced traffic. The subsequent collapse of the regional steel industry in the 1980s further eroded freight volumes. By that period, operations through the tunnel had dwindled to two through trains in each direction per day, supplemented by a local switcher serving industries between Pittsburgh and Washington.

In November 1985, the B&O elected to abandon the Wheeling–Pittsburgh Subdivision west of Washington to Wheeling. ¹ A short segment between Taylorstown and Washington was retained for railcar storage, while the line from Washington north to Glenwood Yard remained in daily service. Ownership later passed to CSX Transportation, the B&O’s successor, which ultimately sold the remaining line to the Allegheny Valley Railroad.