Weekend on the Southwest Pa. RR
May 2010
Photos by J. David Ingles
| On Friday, May 21, I caught up with the end of Bart Jennings' week's
worth of short-line excursion trips, under his Southern Appalachia
Railroad Museum (Tenn.) auspices, across southern New York State and
western Pennsylvania, by riding the short Kiski Junction Railroad
tourist line on an ex-PRR branch at Schenley, Pa., an hour northeast
of Pittsburgh. Regular power is ex-Wisconsin & Southern GP7 752, with
an ex-Army Alco S2 as backup power. On Saturday and Sunday, May 22-23, a genuine B&O RDC1, 9113 (original 1903), on loan from the B&O Museum in Baltimore to the Southwest Pennsylvania RR and its Fayette Central tourist line operation, was filled to capacity with the usual crowd of mileage collectors for two trips. SWP runs ex-B&O lines south of Connellsville, Pa., plus one ex- PRR spur in Uniontown; these began our Saturday outing out of Uniontown. Midday, while SWP Geeps moved the car across Connellsville on the CSX main, we bused back south to our cars in Uniontown and drove north to Scottdale, where the rest of the excursions originated. We covered the remainder of SWP's ex-B&O lines on Saturday, and Sunday we covered SWP's ex-PRR trackage north of Connellsville, with a lunch stop in Greensburg. Sunday evening Rick Moser, I, John Arbuckle, and Mike Rose drove from Scottdale to Columbus, Ohio, for the night, then on Monday on to St. Louis to begin the Southern Explorers trip, which has its own section of photos on the Web site. Here are a few shots from the SW Pa. weekend. |
| Kiski Jct. RR |
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| On the return from Bagdad, we were a mixed train, with 5 loaded gons for Norfolk Southern interchange. |
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| Saturday began out of Uniontown, Pa., on SWP's ex-B&O lines. |
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| First Saturday photo stop, at Fairchance. |
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| End of track on the ex-PRR spur in Uniontown. |
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| Four blocks of street-running on ex-PRR in Uniontown, a "walk-by" in the rain for photos. |
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| At Connellsville, two SWP Geeps wait while we pose for photos (for those who wanted to walk in the rain down to the riverbank). We then returned to Dunbar and unloaded into two buses to go back to our cars in Uniontown; the Geeps followed, then took our RDC to Scottdale. We drove up, arrived about the same time, had a quick lunch, and resumed the excursions. |
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| Following our morning south of Connellsville, we resumed our Southwest Pa. RR tour in the afternoon at Scottdale, covering the ex- B&O line from Connellsville up to the old VW plant at Westmoreland. But first, the SWP Geeps were in a good position. |
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| The crew called this "railfan tailgating." |
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| The depot is a replica erected by the former tourist line here, before SW Pa's Fayette Central, which has been leasing the B&O RDC. |
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| First we went south to the switch onto the CSX (B&O) main in the west end of Connellsville, and had some fun with the relettered block sign (west side only; east side said "Sodom") |
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| Our fearless leader, Bart Jennings, a college professor and professional rail consultant (can you believe it?). |
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| Back in Uniontown before dinner, we photographed, thru a fence, the privately owned "B&O" S2 that, with the cabooses, had posed next to the RDC on Sat. morning, but in the rain. Still soaked from walking down the street trackage in the rain, I skipped that photo stop. |
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| The local university has offices in the old West Penn interurban station in downtown Uniontown. |
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| Probably a replica sign, but still nice; the "umbrella shed" is real. |
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| A bit of sun to begin things Sunday. |
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| Sarah Jennings, Bart's wife and the "power behind the throne" on
these outings.
She "takes attendance" each morning. |
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| This is the south end of the ex-PRR branch into the north end of Connellsville proper, totally anonymous. |
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| The RDC's interior is vintage; the man at left in the orange shirt is also "RDC," Richard D. Copeland, a big PRR fan and mileage-collector; he's happy, we're on ex-PRR here! |
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| This is Radebaugh, on the NS (Conrail/PC/PRR) main just west of Greensburg; we have been alerted than an NS westbound is close. Sure enough! |
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| Right in Greensburg, end of track where the line used to connect; an NS stacker went west, just beyond the trees at left, during our stop. |
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| Most folks walked a block west (to the right here) for fast-food lunches; I stayed on, having brought a sandwich; this is track we have already traversed, and would do so again ... slowly! |
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| Rick Moser on old mileage. |
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| At Youngwood, a "Harley-Davidson" GE 25-tonner, and an ex-PRR depot |
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| Leaving Scottdale after the trips' completion, a quick stop to shoot the home of a collector! |
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| Heading for Columbus for overnight, then St. Louis, all on I-70, we stop for supper in Zanesville, Ohio: John Arbuckle, driver Rick Moser, Mike Rose, and Dave Ingles. The manager obliges with my camera. |
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