Overview | |
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Headquarters | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
Locale | Western Pennsylvania |
Dates of operation | 1908–1931 |
Successor | Pittsburgh, Mars and Butler Railway |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 5 ft 2+1⁄2 in (1,588 mm) |
Length | 118 miles (190 km) |
Pittsburgh, Mars and Butler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Pittsburgh, Harmony, Butler and New Castle Railway, commonly called the Harmony Line, was a broad gauge [1] interurban streetcar line connecting Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States to Butler and New Castle via Harmony and a split at Evans City. There was also an extension that was later added to the line from Ellwood City to Beaver Falls.
The company had a freight station in downtown Pittsburgh on the north side of Duquesne Way just west of Barbeau Street. This connected to trackage on Duquesne Way.
The railway was developed by business partners Russel H. Boggs and Henry Buhl as an adjunct to their department store in Pittsburgh. Mr. Boggs already had a business relationship with many of the farms between Evans City and Pittsburgh and proposed exchanging the right of way across their land for one dollar, a guaranteed trolley stop and an electricity supply. [2] A first step in consolidation of 11 small railways into Harmony, Butler and New Castle Railway happened when the corporation was formed in 1906. The new corporation officers were President Stanley C. Vickers; vice President Harry Ethridge; Secretary, E.M. Baisinger; Treasurer, Mark G. Hibbs, all of Pittsburgh. [3] The first trolley ran to Ellwood City on July 2, 1908. At the southern end of the line Pittsburgh Railways took over the trolley for the run into Pittsburgh, as the final few miles was over their rails. In 1914 an extension along the Beaver Valley was opened. This left Ellwood City heading south west and crossed the Beaver River on Koppel Bridge which was built for the purpose. This bridge also carried vehicle and pedestrian traffic and was subject to a toll.
In 1917, the railway amalgamated with the Pittsburgh and Butler Street Railway , who operated the Butler Short Line between Pittsburgh and Butler, the new company being named the Pittsburgh, Mars and Butler Railway. [4] The new combined system had a length of 118 miles (190 km). [5] In 1922 the railway formed the Harmony Short Line Motor Transportation Company to carry freight between Bakerstown, and Butler. Bus services were introduced in 1923 alongside the Beaver Falls line, with Ellwood City and New Castle being added in 1924 and Butler to New Castle in 1925. Over the next 5 years further services were added, supplementing and paralleling trolley lines. [6]
In April 1931, the company went into receivership. The Butler Short Line was closed on April 22, 1931 [7] as it was in poor condition, services being absorbed into the existing PA 8 bus service. Beaver Falls – Ellwood City – New Castle services were replaced by buses on June 15, 1931. [6] The remaining lines were replaced by buses on the same day, with the final trolley running on August 15, 1931. [2] The stub of the Butler Short Line continued to be used by Pittsburgh Railways as the 2 Etna service until closure in 1952. [8]
All stops to Evans City departing Liberty and Market at 6:15 and every hour until 23:15. Change at Evans City for Butler or New Castle. [9]
Limited stop direct to Butler departing Liberty and Market at 7:45 and every hour until 19:45 with a late car at 23:50. [9]
Limited stop direct to New Castle departing Liberty and Market at 7:45 and every hour until 19:45 with a late car at 23:50. [9]
A passenger car on the Pittsburgh, Harmony, Butler and New Castle Railway hit an open switch and crashed into a freight car on May 30, 1912. It was traveling at 35 miles per hour (56 km/h) near Harmony and 38 were injured in the impact. [10]
Raymond Robinson
In 1919, nine-year-old Raymond was severely burnt by a loose powerline, causing severe disfigurement. He became an urban legend as he only went out at night.[ citation needed ]
Car 115 avoided being burnt when the line closed as it had mechanical problems and had been abandoned where it failed. It became a roadside diner, The Dew Drop Inn, a role it maintained until being extracted from what was now a large restaurant and recovered to the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum where it awaits restoration. [11] In this way it avoided being burnt twice, as the inn was destroyed by fire in 1995. [12] In addition to this car the museum also has the original Harmony dispatch board and a shelter from both the Harmony and Butler lines. [5]
The station building in Ellwood City was retained as commercial premises. In 2007 it reopened as a donut shop and was renamed Ellwood Station as a reference to its origin. Rails remain in situ under part of the building. [13]
Koppel Bridge, which was built for the Beaver Valley extension in 1915 still exists and carries PA 351 over the Beaver River between Ellwood City and Koppel. [14]
Butler is a city and the county seat of Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located 35 miles (56 km) north of Pittsburgh and is part of the Greater Pittsburgh region. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 13,502.
Homeacre-Lyndora is a census-designated place (CDP) in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 6,906 at the 2010 census.
Meridian is a census-designated place (CDP) in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,881 at the 2010 census.
Zelienople is a borough in Butler County, Pennsylvania, 28 miles (45 km) north of Pittsburgh. The population was 3,812 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area.
Shenango Township is a township in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 7,133 at the 2020 census, a decline from the figure of 7,479 tabulated in 2010. Shenango Township is situated between the city of New Castle to the north and the borough of Ellwood City to the south.
Slippery Rock Township is a township in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,913, a decline from the figure of 3,283 tabulated in 2010.
Wayne Township is a township in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,468 at the 2020 census, a decline from the figure of 2,606 tabulated in 2010.
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 Glenwood Bridge is a cantilever bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which carries Pennsylvania Route 885 over the Monongahela River. It started construction on June 3, 1958. It was completed in 1966 to replace an old, decayed, unsafe iron bridge built in 1894, which carried Pittsburgh Railways streetcar tracks and vehicle traffic on a wooden deck.
Pittsburgh Railways was one of the predecessors of Pittsburgh Regional Transit. It had 666 PCC cars, the third largest fleet in North America. It had 68 streetcar routes, of which only three are used by the Port Authority as light rail routes. With the Port Authority's Transit Development Plan, many route names will be changed to its original, such as the 41D Brookline becoming the 39 Brookline. Many of the streetcar routes have been remembered in the route names of many Port Authority buses.
Pittsburgh, surrounded by rivers and hills, has a unique transportation infrastructure that includes roads, tunnels, bridges, railroads, inclines, bike paths, and stairways. The hills and rivers form many barriers to transportation within the city.
The Pittsburgh Light Rail is a 26.2-mile (42.2 km) light rail system in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and surrounding suburbs. It operates as a deep-level subway in Downtown Pittsburgh, but runs mostly at-grade in the suburbs south of the city. The system is largely linear in a north-south direction, with one terminus near Pittsburgh's central business district and two termini in the South Hills. The system is owned and operated by Pittsburgh Regional Transit. The T is one of the surviving first-generation streetcar systems in North America, with the oldest portions of the network dating back to 1903 and the Pittsburgh Railways. It is also one of only three light rail systems in the United States that continues to use the broad 5 ft 2+1⁄2 in Pennsylvania Trolley Gauge on its lines instead of the 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 2,429,500.
The Youngstown and Ohio River Railroad, or Y&OR, was one of the smaller interurban railways in the state of Ohio. Along with the Youngstown and Southern Railway, the Y&OR formed a traction link between Youngstown, Ohio and the Ohio River at East Liverpool. It served several coal mines in the area and it was distinguished by the unusual feat of electrifying a section of a steam railroad, the Pittsburgh, Lisbon and Western Railroad, as part of a trackage rights agreement. The Y&OR operated for 24 years.
Pennsylvania Route 351 is a 17.2-mile-long (27.7 km) state highway located in Lawrence and Beaver counties in Pennsylvania. The western terminus is at the Ohio border in Little Beaver Township. The eastern terminus is at PA 65/PA 288 in Ellwood City. It is famous for its spotting of Raymond Robinson who would go on nighttime walks on the route making him an Urban legend.
Raymond Theodore Robinson was a disfigured American man whose years of nighttime walks made him into a figure of urban legend in western Pennsylvania. Robinson was so severely injured in a childhood electrical accident that he could not go out in public without fear of causing a panic, so he went for long walks at night. Local tourists would drive along his road in hopes of meeting the Green Man or Charlie No-Face; they became disappointed to see no such person. However, they passed on tales about him to their children and grandchildren regardless, and people raised on these tales are sometimes surprised to discover that he was a real person who was liked by his family and neighbors.
Pennsylvania State Senate District 47 includes parts of Beaver County, Butler County, and Lawrence County. It is currently represented by Republican Elder Vogel.
West Penn Railways, one part of the West Penn System, was an interurban electric railway headquartered in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. It was part of the region's power generation utility.
Butler station is a light rail station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA Ashmont–Mattapan High-Speed Line. It is located at Butler Street in the Lower Mills section of the Dorchester neighborhood. It serves a small residential area sandwiched between the Neponset River, Cedar Grove Cemetery, and Dorchester Park. Butler station has no MBTA bus connections. It is accessible via a wooden mini-high ramp on the station's single island platform.
Mount Washington Transit Tunnel is an important public transportation link in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The 3,492-foot (1,064 m) tunnel connects Station Square to South Hills Junction, and is used only by Pittsburgh Light Rail cars and buses of the Port Authority of Allegheny County. The tunnel changes 204.54 feet in elevation from its north portal at 750.36 feet above sea level to its south portal at 954.90 feet above sea level, resulting in a grade of 5.86%. With the cessation of bus service in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel in 2019, the Mount Washington Transit Tunnel is the only tunnel in the United States shared by bus and rail services.
The Pittsburgh and Butler Street Railway, commonly called the Butler Short Line, was a broad gauge interurban streetcar line connecting Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States to Butler via Mars.