Overview | |
---|---|
Headquarters | Oakmont, Pennsylvania |
Reporting mark | AVR |
Locale | Western Pennsylvania |
Dates of operation | 1992– |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
Other | |
Website | carloadexpress.com |
The Allegheny Valley Railroad( reporting mark AVR) is a class III railroad that operates in Western Pennsylvania, and is owned by Carload Express, Inc.
AVR acts as a feeder line connecting its many and varied customers to Class I railroads such as CSX Transportation (CSX) and Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), and regional lines such as the Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad (B&P) and the modern Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway (WE). The AVR's mainline travels northward through Pittsburgh from an intersection with Norfolk Southern near Panther Hollow, before splitting in the Lawrenceville neighborhood. The AVR uses the P&W Subdivision segment of the line to cross the Allegheny River on the 33rd Street Railroad Bridge to interchange with the B&P in Bakerstown and/or Evans City. The other segment serves industries along the railroad's namesake valley between Pittsburgh and Arnold. The Glenwood B&O Railroad Bridge is utilized by it as part of its W&P Subdivision branchline from the city to Washington, Pennsylvania. A short spur line is the newest addition to the AVR's portfolio; it links the Allegheny Valley line with Sharpsburg via the Brilliant Branch Railroad Bridge. Before this section opened in 2003, the bridge and stretch of track had sat unused since 1976.
The AVR owns the Glenwood Yard in the Hazelwood neighborhood of Pittsburgh. They operate two GP11 engines, five SD40 engines (SD45 Carbodys), five GP40 engines, and now six SD60M (CLXX). AVR has also begun to conduct transloading operations within Glenwood Yard itself, handling limestone unit trains and also sand for fracking.
The current company, established in 1992, is a separate entity from the original Allegheny Valley Railroad, which was established in the 1850s. That line, affiliated with the Pennsylvania Railroad system, followed the present company's tracks to Arnold and continued beyond, along the right upstream (southeastern) bank of the river to Oil City.
The original Allegheny Valley Railroad transported oil from the vicinity of Oil Creek and Titusville. On February 20, 1861, The Pittsburgh Post printed "The Allegheny Valley Railroad (Extracts from the Eighth Annual Report, which is important for the light thrown on the transportation of oil)." On February 5, 1862, The Pittsburgh Gazette and Commercial Journal published "Allegheny Valley Railroad—Annual Meeting of Stockholders." [1]
In October 1995, the Allegheny Valley Railroad began operations when Trimax (now Carload Express) acquired Conrail’s Valley Cluster in the Pittsburgh area. The railroad began interchanging with CSX at the Glenwood Yard in Pittsburgh in 2001. In December 2003, the Allegheny Valley Railroad expanded by leasing and operating 43 miles (69 km) of track from CSX, consisting of the P&W Subdivision and the W&P Subdivision. In 2004, Hurricane Ivan caused $3.2 million in damage to a 7-mile (11 km) section of the P&W Subdivision, which the railroad repaired and restored. In 2006, the Allegheny Valley Railroad restored and began interchanging with the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway in Bruceton. The railroad began a $10 million renovation of switching operations at Glenwood Yard in 2008. Positive train control began being implemented along the railroad in 2014. [2]
On May 15, 2019, the Allegheny Valley Railroad acquired 47.5 miles (76.4 km) of track from CSX that it had leased and operated since 2003. Under this acquisition, the Allegheny Valley Railroad gained ownership of the Glenwood Yard, the W&P Subdivision, the Tylerdale connecting track, and the P&W Subdivision. [3] [4]
The Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad was a class II railroad that operates in northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio.
The Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, also known as the "Little Giant", was formed on May 11, 1875. Company headquarters were located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The line connected Pittsburgh in the east with Youngstown, Ohio, in the Haselton neighborhood in the west and Connellsville, Pennsylvania, to the east. It did not reach Lake Erie until the formation of Conrail in 1976. The P&LE was known as the "Little Giant" since the tonnage that it moved was out of proportion to its route mileage. While it operated around one tenth of one percent of the nation's railroad miles, it hauled around one percent of its tonnage. This was largely because the P&LE served the steel mills of the greater Pittsburgh area, which consumed and shipped vast amounts of materials. It was a specialized railroad, deriving much of its revenue from coal, coke, iron ore, limestone, and steel. The eventual closure of the steel mills led to the end of the P&LE as an independent line in 1992.
The Western Maryland Railway was an American Class I railroad (1852–1983) that operated in Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. It was primarily a coal hauling and freight railroad, with a small passenger train operation.
The Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad is a shortline railroad that operates in southwestern Pennsylvania. The SWP uses rail branches that were acquired from CSX Transportation and Conrail. All of the track used by the SWP is in either Fayette or Westmoreland counties. SWP provides local service to many customers in the area, connecting them to the outside world via interchanges with Norfolk Southern, Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad, and CSX. SWP has been vital in the location of several new industries to Fayette and Westmoreland Counties in recent years.
The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway is a Class II regional railroad that provides freight service, mainly in the areas of Northern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. It took its name from the former Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway, most of which it bought from the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1990.
The Cleveland Short Line Railway is a freight bypass around southern Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. A quasi-independent railroad organized by major shareholders of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, the shortline was intended to allow the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern to bypass the congested railroads in downtown Cleveland. The Cleveland Short Line has had a succession of owners, and is currently part of CSX Transportation.
The Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad is a Class II railroad operating in New York and Pennsylvania.
The Glenwood B&O Railroad Bridge is a truss bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which carries Allegheny Valley Railroad's W&P Subdivision over the Monongahela River.
A large metropolitan area that is surrounded by rivers and hills, Pittsburgh has an infrastructure system that has been built out over the years to include roads, tunnels, bridges, railroads, inclines, bike paths, and stairways; however, the hills and rivers still form many barriers to transportation within the city.
Union Railroad is a Class III switching railroad located in Allegheny County in Western Pennsylvania. The company is owned by Transtar, Inc., which is a subsidiary of Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors, after being acquired from U.S. Steel in 2021. The railroad's primary customers are the three plants of the USS Mon Valley Works, the USS Edgar Thomson Steel Works, the USS Irvin Plant and the USS Clairton Coke Works.
Cleveland has been and continues to be deeply rooted in railroad history.
The Keystone Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Maryland and Pennsylvania. The line runs from Cumberland, Maryland, west to McKeesport, Pennsylvania, along a former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) line. The line includes the well-known Sand Patch Grade over the Allegheny Mountains.
The P&W Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation, the Allegheny Valley Railroad (AVR), and the Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad (BPRR) in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The line runs from Rankin north through Pittsburgh to West Pittsburg along a former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line, once the Pittsburgh and Western Railroad.
The Pittsburgh Subdivision is an American railroad line that is owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The Kiski Junction Railroad was a short-line railroad that operated in Western Pennsylvania near the city of Pittsburgh. The railroad was based in the small community of Schenley which is situated at the point where the Kiskiminetas River flows into the Allegheny River. The KJR functioned as both a freight hauler and a tourist railroad. The railroad suspended all rail operations after the 2016 season and was officially closed and abandoned in 2021.
The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway was a Class I railroad mostly within the U.S. state of Ohio. It was leased to the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad in 1949, and merged into the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1988. A new regional railroad reused the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway name in 1990 when it acquired most of the former W&LE from the N&W.
The Columbus & Ohio River Railroad is a railroad in the U.S. state of Ohio owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc.
The W&P Subdivision is a rail line between Washington, Pennsylvania, and Hazelwood, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Formerly operated by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and later CSX Transportation, this line is now operated by Allegheny Valley Railroad. The Allegheny Valley Railroad leased the line from CSX in 2003 and acquired it in 2019. The section from Pittsburgh to Washington, PA is still in use, however, Washington to Wheeling, WV has been abandoned since 1989.
The Brilliant Branch, also known as the Brilliant Cutoff, is a railway line in Pittsburgh and Aspinwall, Pennsylvania. It connects the Pittsburgh Line to the Conemaugh Line and to Allegheny Valley Railroad's Allegheny Subdivision.
The Delmarva Central Railroad is an American short-line railroad owned by Carload Express that operates 188 miles (303 km) of track on the Delmarva Peninsula in the states of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. The railroad operates lines from Porter, Delaware to Hallwood, Virginia and from Harrington, Delaware to Frankford, Delaware along with several smaller branches. The DCR interchanges with the Norfolk Southern Railway and the Maryland and Delaware Railroad. The railroad was created in 2016 to take over the Norfolk Southern Railway lines on the Delmarva Peninsula. The DCR expanded by taking over part of the Bay Coast Railroad in 2018 and the Delaware Coast Line Railroad in 2019.