Wheatland Railroad Bridge (Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad)

The Wheatland Bridge formerly carried the Pennsylvania Railroad across the Shenango River near Wheatland, Pennsylvania.

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The Wheatland Bridge formerly carried the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) across the Shenango River near Wheatland, Pennsylvania. The structure was a Pratt through truss located on the PRR’s Erie & Pittsburgh Division mainline.

History

The Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad (E&P), begun in 1860, ³ was completed between Erie and New Castle on June 15, 1864, ⁴ and opened for service on August 1 of that year. ⁶ In April 1870, the line was leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad, becoming the PRR Erie & Pittsburgh Branch. ^{2 4} The branch extended from Lawrence Junction, south of New Castle—where it connected with the Pittsburgh, Youngstown & Ashtabula Railroad—northward to Erie. ⁶

The original Shenango River crossing near Wheatland consisted of a wooden bridge, which was replaced in November 1899 by a steel structure. ¹

For much of its operating life, the Erie & Pittsburgh line hauled coal from regions south of Pittsburgh to the Lake Erie docks, while also serving steel mills and other heavy industries in New Castle and the surrounding Wheatland, Farrell, and Sharon areas. ⁴ Following the formation of Penn Central, the segment north of Jamestown was abandoned after a new connection allowed trains to reach Ashtabula via the former New York Central Stoneboro Branch. After Conrail was created in 1976, the line between New Castle and Wheatland was placed out of service and subsequently abandoned in 1982, along with much of the route from Sharpsville to Jamestown. ⁷

The former Wheatland Bridge and its surrounding right-of-way are currently being studied for potential inclusion in a rail-to-trail project along the Shenango River. ⁷ The proposed study corridor extends approximately 10½ miles, from the Shenango Dam and Reservoir to the Borough of West Middlesex, and includes the abandoned railroad segment between West Middlesex and Wheatland.

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Gallery

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Sources

1. “New E&P Bridge Finished.” Pittsburgh Daily Post, 17 Nov. 1899, p. 10.
2. “New Castle, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, September 1920, new and additional maps.” PennState University Libraries, map.
3. “Insurance maps of New Castle, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, Oct. 1888.” PennState University Libraries, map.
4. Jordak, Jerry W., editor. “Erie & Pittsburgh Branch.” Keystone Crossings, article.
5. “History of New Castle Depicted in Essay by Franklin School Pupil.” New Castle Herald, 1 Mar. 1923, p. 8.
6. Netzlof, Robert T. “Corporate Genealogy Erie & Pittsburgh.” 22 Jun. 2014, article.
7. Mercer County MPO Bicycle/Pedestrian Action Plan. Gannett Fleming, Sept. 2001.
8. Gannett, S.S., and D.H. Baldwin. “Mercer, Neshannock, and Youngstown quadrangles.” Results of Spirit Leveling in Pennsylvania for the Years 1899 to 1905, Washington, United States Geological Survey, 1906, p. 48.