Mystery railroad grade in Washington PA area

dyardmaster1 wrote:The ROW in question is the remains of the Ohio & Baltimore Short Line. A full explaination of the line and it's history is in the book 'Sand Patch, Clash of the Titans' by Roberts.
If you look all the way to Connellsville, you will see the piers of the original bridge at Green Jct head towards Dunbar, and not Pittsburgh. There are the remains of an elaborate stone arch bridge at Wheeler that took the line over the PRR's Southwest Branch and Dunbar Creek. The line went as far as Leisenring #1. It would have continued through Fayette County, coming out on the Monongahela River near California. In fact there is a pier on the east side of the Mon River, across from Coal Center. But the bulk of the line was built inWashington County. From Marianna towards Eighty Four. The grade is quite visible, along with numerous bridge abutments.

The pier in Coal center, do you mean at about 40.0683°N, 79.8971°W, because that sure looks strange on the topographic maps. I had never noticed that before, I'd have to wonder where on earth it could have gone east from there?

I found a passage in a book that has to be the answer:

The Chartires Southern Railway Company was organized by the PRR in 1906 for the purpose of extending the line into Washington and Greene Counties from a connection with the Chartiers Southern Railway (Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louuis), one half mile northeast of Van Emman to a connection with the Ten Mile Run Branch of the PRR one half mile north of West Zollarville.

In 1913, the PRR sold a portion of their interest in the line from Van Emman southward to Eighty-four, one third each to the P&LE and the B&O. Grading, masonary and tunneling between Eighty-four and Marianna, 10.22 miles were completed at the expense of $901,975.10. The work was suspended in January, 1915. In 1917, the CSRy was authorized to acquire a right-of-way from Marianna to Besco and from Clarksville to a connection in Waynesburg with the Waynesburg and Washington Railroad.

The lease the CSRy had with the PRR covering lines from Millsboro to Besco, 1.78 miles, and from Millsboro to Crucible, 5.19 miles, was transfered to the MRy in 1927.

From page 87 of "The Monongahela Railway, Its history and operation 1903-1993" by David E. Gratz and Terry E. Arbogast.

I took a picture of a map on page 92 of the same book that indicates a projected line to Marianna from Clarksville. I think it would be too big to post inline, and scaling it down would make it unreadable so I uploaded to imageshack, it can be found here: http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/4896/1000284xj0.jpg

I remember seeing the remnants of that old railroad when I was kid and I believe some of them are still there. There are bridge abutements where the Chartiers Southern Railway, if that is what it was, crossed over Chartiers Creek, kind of near where it crossed over Mc Murray Road (it actually crosses a creek right near the corner of McMurray Raod and Oakwood, my sister drove our car into it) and where it crossed over old route 19. Where the "bridge" over Chartiers Creek was, was pretty big and clearly branched off the exisitng railroad there. There was not a bridge there, just all the stone work. Also, for those looking for old tunnels, near there the old Montour Railroad crosses over Chartiers Creek and goes through an old tunnel.

Hello All!
I can answer most any questions on this particular railway as I own the "exposed ROW" and Bridge #2 on Route 519 in Eighty Four PA. The piece of railway ROW has been on our farm (and in my family) for more than 100 years. I also have the original paperwork (signed by my great-grandfather) for the sale of the ROW. A great article was written in a PRR journal by Doug Mahrer on the topic that should also answer all your queries. Oh, and it is "walkable" except for it being private property, but I'm always able to host a guest interested in our history. The farm it is on is on the National Register of Historic PLaces

Charsouthernowner wrote:Hello All!
I can answer most any questions on this particular railway as I own the "exposed ROW" and Bridge #2 on Route 519 in Eighty Four PA. The piece of railway ROW has been on our farm (and in my family) for more than 100 years. I also have the original paperwork (signed by my great-grandfather) for the sale of the ROW. A great article was written in a PRR journal by Doug Mahrer on the topic that should also answer all your queries. Oh, and it is "walkable" except for it being private property, but I'm always able to host a guest interested in our history. The farm it is on is on the National Register of Historic PLaces

Thanks for posting here! Having grown up in WashPA, I was always fascinated by this ROW around and on your property. The fact that they went as far as building a tunnel makes it even more fascinating to me. Very neat that you still have the original paperwork for the transaction too. Good to know that there's an article written somewhere on it, and thanks again for sharing!

I been working on helping a gentlemen in finding a close to abandon railroad to operate his Steam locomotive on . In my researching I came across this historical info.
On Jan. 12, 1915 Grading of Chartiers Southern Railway completed between
Eighty-Four and Marianna, Pa. (10.22 miles); all further work
suspended and never completed.

Hope that helps.

Len.

Schuylkill Valley wrote:I been working on helping a gentlemen in finding a close to abandon railroad to operate his Steam locomotive on . In my researching I came across this historical info.
On Jan. 12, 1915 Grading of Chartiers Southern Railway completed between
Eighty-Four and Marianna, Pa. (10.22 miles); all further work
suspended and never completed.

Len.

That's exactly what I wrote above, Len.

Are you really working with Glenn and the 643? Is the W&P clear enough for that beast?

Hi Jr.,
Yes I am working with Glenn, to help find him a railroad to operate his 2-10-4 # 643 . So far he has looked at 5 good possible lines and now Glenn is going to be checking out another one with in the 50 miles range of where 643 is sitting . This railroad is 23.34 miles long with a Wye track at one end and old 100' table pit . and a round house foundation . But on a good note the Water tank still stands. There are also a few tunnels on this line too.

That's all I can say at this time.

Len.