[Author's Note: I first published this on the OGR Forum in July 2005.]
I saw the ghost of the Panhandle today.
My father and I followed part of the Pennsy Panhandle Division from Steubenville, OH to Burgettstown, PA as it crossed its namesake – the northern panhandle of West Virginia.
From the Steubenville station (if it were still standing) the track runs north (upriver) and then curves to the east, preparing to cross the Ohio River. Photo 1 shows a short, ancient masonry bridge (really a culvert I guess) where the track crosses N. Sixth Avenue in Steubenville.
Photo 2 (taken from the deck of the Veterans Memorial Bridge and looking southwest from the WV side of the river) displays the PRR bridge between Steubenville and Weirton. A towboat with a string of barges conveniently pushes up river.
We ignore Weirton Junction, its signal tower long gone and the transformed terrain around the Route 22 bypass. The Panhandle moves northeastward along Harmon Creek at the base of McKims Ridge. Eventually, both landform and railroad turn east and then east south east just north of the Hancock County – Brooke County border. Again, both road (Colliers Road) and the railroad bend south following Harmon Creek and then southeast. The Panhandle begins a slight but steady climb after crossing the Ohio.
Here in Photo 3 we see the PRR Signal Bridge that once stood astride 4 mainline tracks. Where once mighty J’s, Mountains, Decapods, and Pacifics once thundered on their routes we may see a solitary jogger, perhaps unaware of the path he travels.
Just west of Colliers, WV, Freedom Road intersects Colliers Way, which spans the Panhandle mainline. I took Photo 4 (looking westward) from this bridge.
Photo 5 (looking eastward) shows the roadbed of the mainline from this bridge.
We drove through Colliers, WV (unincorporated) following the Panhandle mainline. The roadbed is broad and flat here, a straight unyielding superhighway down the middle of the valley floor. Our run through Colliers is straight, paralleling the roadbed, but immediately east of town, the road ducks under the mainline, which rests on bridge 36. As can be seen in Photo 6, the piers of this bridge are large cut stone blocks. We are at the intersection of Hall’s Road and Harmon Creek Road. To the left (west) of this photo are markers on the roadbed proclaiming the Panhandle Trail.
Once north of the mainline the road curves, climbs, plunges, zigging and zagging its way through the wild WV terrain, but the mainline makes level, broad sweeping curves, following Harmon Creek in a more gradual manner. Several hundred yards beyond this point, we cross into Pennsylvania. Paved Harmon Creek Road becomes the unmarked, macadamed Bartleyville Road. At this point, the mainline disappears from MapQuest’s charts of the area.
The dirt and gravel road climbs high above the mainline. We keep looking through the ever denser foliage, wondering where the roadbed is headed. Has the road veered completely away from the Panhandle? No, through a break in the trees, we get a glimpse of the mainline in Photo 7.
Bartleyville Road graduates back to pavement and “T”s with Hanlin Station Road. A short jog southward and we will make a left turn (east) onto Francis State Mine Road. Just beyond the intersection, we can see down Hanlin Station Road, the contents of Photo 8. Yes, that’s the mainline roadbed with a backhoe parked on it.
After Hanlin Station Road, the mainline climbs again, while Francis State Mine Road declines slightly in elevation. Further east, we will climb up to the height of the mainline as we enter Burgettstown, PA. Below is Photo 9.
Photo 10 is taken just east of Burghettstown, PA.
The last photo shows my father (left) and me. I think I got my wanderlust from my father. He is 88 years old, and I think he enjoyed this little expedition as much as I did.
[My father was 88 years old when we did this. As of October, he is now 97. This thread is dedicated to him.]
George
Most noted 1916, World War1, a lot of communities did not have electricity. Most rural roads in Pennsylvania were still mud, Many people with cars did not buy a licenses for more than 1/2 year. Winter/spring roads could not be used. 