The Conemaugh Line is a
rail line
Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...
owned and operated by the
Norfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (3 ...
in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...
. The line runs from Conpit Junction, Pennsylvania (west of
New Florence) northwest and southwest to
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, following the
Conemaugh,
Kiskiminetas, and
Allegheny rivers, on the former main line of the Conemaugh Branch of the
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
(PRR). At its east end, it merges with the
Pittsburgh Line
The Pittsburgh Line is the Norfolk Southern Railway's primary east–west artery in its Pittsburgh Division and Harrisburg Division across the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and is part of the Keystone Corridor, Amtrak-Norfolk Southern's combin ...
; its west end is where it merges with the
Fort Wayne Line
The Fort Wayne Line and Fort Wayne Secondary is a rail line owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad (CFE), and CSX Transportation in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. The line runs from Pit ...
at the northwestern tip of
Allegheny Commons Park. The line was used by the PRR as a low-
grade
Grade most commonly refers to:
* Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance
* Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage
* Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope
Grade or grading may also r ...
alternate to its
main line, which is now part of
Norfolk Southern
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...
's Pittsburgh Line, in the Pittsburgh area.
History

A short branch of the
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
from
Torrance on the main line to
Blairsville opened in 1851; only a small piece of this at Blairsville is still in use. The
Western Pennsylvania Railroad
The Conemaugh Line is a rail line owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The line runs from Conpit Junction, Pennsylvania (west of New Florence) northwest and southwest to Pittsburgh, following the C ...
(formerly the
North Western Railroad) opened from Blairsville west to
Saltsburg
Saltsburg is a borough in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, United States. Its location is in western Pennsylvania, in the southwestern corner of Indiana County near its border with Westmoreland County.
The town was based on the construction of salt ...
in 1863 and to
Kiskiminetas (Kiski) Junction (near
Freeport Freeport, a variant of free port, may refer to:
Places United States
*Freeport, California
* Freeport, Florida
*Freeport, Illinois
*Freeport, Indiana
*Freeport, Iowa
* Freeport, Kansas
*Freeport, Maine, a New England town
**Freeport (CDP), Maine, t ...
) in 1864 or 1865. The line from Freeport to
Allegheny (Pittsburgh) opened in 1866. A new, more direct line east from Blairsville was built by the Western Penn in the early 1880s, meeting the PRR main line at
Bolivar. The PRR's Sang Hollow Extension, now Main 3 of the
Pittsburgh Line
The Pittsburgh Line is the Norfolk Southern Railway's primary east–west artery in its Pittsburgh Division and Harrisburg Division across the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and is part of the Keystone Corridor, Amtrak-Norfolk Southern's combin ...
east of CP Conpit, opened east to
Johnstown in 1876; the portion east of Conpit Junction was operated as a one-way line for westbound freight. All of the aforementioned lines became part of the PRR through leases and mergers, became
Penn Central
The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and th ...
in 1968, and were taken over by
Conrail in 1976. In the 1999 breakup of Conrail, the line was assigned to Norfolk Southern.
Around 1950, a (then double-track) portion of the line was relocated to a higher elevation, as part of a flood control project on the
Conemaugh River
The Conemaugh River is a long tributary of the Kiskiminetas River in Westmoreland, Indiana, and Cambria counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The name means 'Otter Creek', originating from the Unami-Lenape language word ''kwənəmuxkw' ...
.
The previous alignment (built in 1907) would later become the bulk of the
West Penn Trail.
The Conemaugh Line is notable for being the recipient of a variation of the PRR's
cab signal system in 1940, which eliminated the wayside signals between interlockings from Conpit Junction to Kiski Junction, requiring operation of trains by cab signal indication only. This system (whose visual
NORAC
The Northeast Operating Rules Advisory Committee (NORAC) is a body of railroads that establish a set of operating rules for railroads in North America. The NORAC rulebook is used by full and associate member railroads, located mostly in the Northe ...
Rule 562), modified by Conrail to operate bidirectionally. Until 2019, trackage from Pittsburgh to Kiski used wayside signaling in lieu of
cab signals. By 2020, the line received
Positive Train Control
Positive train control (PTC) is a family of automatic train protection systems deployed in the United States. Most of the United States' national rail network mileage has a form of PTC. These systems are generally designed to check that trains ...
and upgrades to the signaling system. The upgrades to the signal system included a usage of cab signalling across the entire line and the elimination of all wayside intermediate signals.
Notice of Application for Approval of Discontinuance or Modification of a Railroad Signal System
/ref> Furthermore, all legacy signaling systems were discontinued, leaving only Safetran wayside signals at interlockings only. The line is dispatched remotely in Atlanta, GA
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...
by the Pittsburgh East dispatcher.
See also
* West Penn Trail
*List of Norfolk Southern Railway lines
The Norfolk Southern Railway owns and operates A vast network of rail lines in the United States east of the Mississippi River. In addition to lines inherited from predecessor railroads, Norfolk and Western, and the Southern Railway, it acqui ...
References
{{Reflist
Norfolk Southern Railway lines
Pennsylvania Railroad lines
Rail infrastructure in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Railroad Through-freight Lines
Railway lines opened in 1865