Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railway Improvements – Pittsburgh PA

City:
Pittsburgh, PA

Site Type:
Infrastructure and Utilities, Mass Transportation

New Deal Agencies:
Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)

Quality of Information:
Very Good

Marked:
No

Site Survival:
No Longer Extant

Description

In 1934, the Public Works Administration (PWA) provided $331,000 in loans to the Pittsburgh & West Virginia (P&WV) Railway, for the purchase of three new locomotives, and an additional $47,000 for the “Purchase and installation of steel rail, track fastenings, etc.” (Interstate Commerce Commission).

The P&WV operated from about 1916-1964 and was headquartered in the Wabash Railroad Station and Building, Pittsburgh, PA, 1916-1946. Its trains operated on routes from Connellsville, Pennsylvania, to Pittsburgh, to Wheeling, West Virginia.

The P&WV was one of over 30 railroads that received New Deal funding assistance, which helped usher in an exciting era of new and bigger locomotives, streamline trains, and significant progress towards the electrification of American railroads.

The Wabash Railroad Station and Building was constructed in 1906 and destroyed by fire and demolished in 1946.

Source notes

Howard V. Worley, Jr. and William N. Poellot, Jr., The Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railway: The Story of the High and Dry, Halifax, PA: Withers Publishing, 1989, pp. 143-145 and 264.

“PWA Grants Funds For Locomotives: Pittsburgh and West Virginia Road to Gain,” The Pittsburgh Press, February 25, 1934, p. 9.

48th Annual Report of the Interstate Commerce Commission, December 1, 1934, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934, pp. 25-26 and 138-139. (Available for viewing at Google Books.)

Pittsburgh & West Virginia 2-6-6-4 Locomotives in the USA,” Steam Locomotive dot Com (accessed April 21, 2022).

Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway,” Wikipedia (accessed April 21, 2022).

“This is Pittsburgh 1953!” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, November 8, 1953, p. 144 (advertisement highlighting the Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railway’s new headquarters at “No. 1 Building Gateway Center”).

Wabash Railroad Station and Building, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,” Carnegie Museum of Art (accessed April 20, 2022).

Wabash Building,” University of Pittsburgh Library System (accessed April 20, 2022).

Wabash Building,” Historic Pittsburgh (accessed April 20, 2022).

Wabash Terminal Building Ruins,” Historic Pittsburgh (accessed April 20, 2022).

Liberty Avenue and Ferry Street,” Historic Pittsburgh (accessed April 20, 2022).

Wabash Building,” Emporis (accessed April 20, 2022).

Site originally submitted by Brent McKee on May 10, 2022.

Location Info


Liberty Ave. and Stanwix St. (formerly Ferry St.)
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Allegheny County

Coordinates: 40.441193 , -80.004246

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