Pennsylvania Railroad narrow gauge?

This is interesting and extra info. of our railroading history in America.

Thank you Ace,

Ralph 

An excellent book on the Waynesburg & Washington: "Three Feet on the Panhandle, A History of the Waynesburg and Washington" by Koehler & Gayvert.

 

LWS also produced a kit for one of the 2-6-0's many years ago.  Never seen one assembled.

From my memory of the W&W book, the narrow gauge was mostly shut down around 1928-29.    Probably for the same reasons the OR&W shut down.

 

PRR had a truck converted to rail and ran it once a week to keep the line open and "in use".    I don't remember if the truck was narrow gauge or standard gauge.  

 

I have never heard they ran any interurban on the line or the right of way.  

 

The Monongehela RR used parts of the old right of way I think but as mentioned, the curves and grades did not work for standard gauge.  I think the Monongehela used right of way and or trackage in the Waynesburg area.

 

The W&W book would answer a lot of these questions, I think.

Now you're in my ballpark ...I'm a big fan of the OR&W. There's a Yahoo group with quite a few pictures, maps and other good files on it. You might also like Ed Cass' book Hidden Treasures. Arlie Byers' newspaper article compilation, Bent, Zigzag and Crooked, is out of print but still available through interlibrary loan.

 

As for the Waynie, it was even crookeder than the OR&W (though not in the moonshining or political sense. That's a whole 'nuther story.) There was an effort to use an OR&W locomotive on the line, but it derailed on one of the curves. According to the book, the W&W got freight by rail truck for a while after passenger service ended. You'll have to check on this, but I THINK the small remaining stub of W&W serves Bailey Mine.

 

I'm not as familiar with that area as I am with this end of the OR&W. There are still several landmarks around, including a nicely restored station and a freight shed now doing service as a garage.

 

--Becky

I think one of the locos of the W&W survives still in the that area.  Was the Ligonier Valley a PRR line, too??  Can't remember.

I saw an article on the OR&W where an old coach was resurrected out of a backyard

somewhere on the line, and half of it restored INSIDE a building, I remember as a

real estate office, in one of the towns along the line.

From 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15P7k69-jYA

So cool ! What a treasure, should be under cover. Thanks.

On Thu, Sep 11, 2014 at 8:23 AM, O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum <
alerts@hoop.la> wrote:

Most of the narrow gauge trains in Pennsylvania were used for coal mining or lumber hauling. The smaller gauge was better suited at the time for the Pennsylvania hills.

 

You might want to check out East Broad Top RR as they were only a narrow gauge railroad.

 

Lee Fritz

Two other lesser known class 1 railroad narrow gauge operations were the Milwaukee Roads' 3' line in Iowa (Bellevue & Cascade) and the Chicago & Northwestern's 3' line in southwestern Wisconsin.

Did I see correctly?  Is the center driver blind, no flange on the wheel?

 

Nathan

There were lots of steam locomotive with "blind center drivers", especially those with 10 drivers, such as PRR I-1 2-10-0s.

From 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15P7k69-jYA

 

My, how clever.  Moving pictures of a static display!  IMHO a "slide show" would have worked better.  And what is all that noise in the background? 

Kent, thank you for your interesting video of past RR history.

Ralph

The half coach is the piece Clyde Kennedy recovered from a couple of ruins. It's inside the community room of the Shadyside city building. The mayor tried to get rid of it a few years ago. There's a new mayor now. 

 

This is the link to the group photo page, but you may have to join to view them (free and not a huge hassle

 

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/g...W/photos/photostream

 

Herman Payne's widow had a boxcar and business car #5 on their farm, at least recently, but both cars are tarped and sitting outside. 

It's also worth noting that Robert Richardson's 346 is a sister to OR&W 14. Also, Waynesburg and Washington #4 is a sister to some of the late OR&W engines. That one is in a shed at the Wayne County fairgrounds and is seldom on public display, which is a shame.