and
Western Maryland Railway .]]
The 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 the
Alphabet Route , an independent line between the
Northeastern U.S. and the
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 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 Terminal in downtown
Pittsburgh , destroyed by fire in 1946. The
Wabash Bridge over the
Monongahela River into Pittsburgh was torn down in 1948, and on
December 27 ,
2004 the
Wabash Tunnel just southwest of the bridge opened as a
High Occupancy Vehicle roadway through
Mount Washington .
Around 1900,
George J. Gould was assembling railroads to create 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 .
On
February 1 ,
1901 Gould, along with
George Ramsey, Jr. of the Wabash and others, formed the , 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 , extending the system from Toledo southeast to
Zanesville, Ohio and
Wheeling, West Virginia .
The extension to Pittsburgh was chartered in three parts - the
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 properties of the syndicate (including the W&LE) were transferred. The first train 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 .
In addition to the Pittsburgh extension, Gould also planned a line from Zanesville southeast to
Belington, West Virginia , built by the
Little Kanawha Syndicate . From Belington east to
Tidewater in
Baltimore , the
Fuller Syndicate bought the
West Virginia Central And Pittsburgh Railway and
Western Maryland Railroad . Another part of the plan was the
Philadelphia And Western Railway , a high-quality
Interurban Streetcar line, which would have run from
Philadelphia west to the Western Maryland at
York, Pennsylvania . The lines of the Fuller Syndicate were completed to Baltimore, but the Little Kanawha line was not completed, and thus a connection between the main system and the Fuller Syndicate was not built.
As Gould's plans directly affected the
Pennsylvania Railroad 's business, measures were taken by the PRR to fight back. This included the eviction from PRR property of
Telegraph poles owned by Gould's
Western Union .
The
Panic Of 1907 hit Gould hard, due to the high costs of building the line when all the easy routes had been taken, and 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
May 29 of that year, ending through traffic between Pittsburgh and the W&LE and Wabash system.
After years of operation by its receivers, the company was finally sold at
Foreclosure in August 1916 and reorganized
November as the . 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 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. The P&WV also applied to take over the Western Maryland, but was turned down.
On
February 11 ,
1931 the extension to
Connellsville, Pennsylvania opened, where the Western Maryland continued east, splitting from the West Side Belt at
Pierce . 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) rather than the Wabash, reaching both
St. Louis and
Chicago .
The Nickel Plate leased the Wheeling and Lake Erie on
December 1 ,
1949 . On
October 16 ,
1964 the
Norfolk And Western Railway merged the Nickel Plate and leased the P&WV. On the other hand, the
Western Maryland Railway went to the competing
Baltimore And Ohio Railroad and
Chesapeake And Ohio Railway in 1967.
The was organized in 1967 as a
Real Estate Investment Trust to own the property leased to the N&W.
On
May 17 ,
1990 , several months before the N&W merged with the
Southern Railway to form the
Norfolk Southern Railway , the N&W 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 .
