The Conemaugh Line is a rail line 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 (31 ...

in the U.S. state 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, ...

. 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; 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 ...

at the northwestern tip of Allegheny Commons Park. The line was used by the PRR as a low- grade alternate to its main line, which is now part of Norfolk Southern's Pittsburgh Line, in the Pittsburgh area.

History

A short branch of the

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 The North Western Railroad was a shortline railroad located in the western part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania in the United States. It organized in 1853, and was purchased by the Western Pennsylvania Railroad in 1859 after completing only a ...

) opened from Blairsville west to Saltsburg in 1863 and to Kiskiminetas (Kiski) Junction (near Freeport) 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 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 Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do bus ...

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 West Penn Trail is a 17-mile long rail trail in western Pennsylvania. It runs on old rail alignments of the Conemaugh Line near the Conemaugh River The Conemaugh River is a long tributary of the Kiskiminetas River in Westmoreland, Indian ...

. 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 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 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 by the Pittsburgh East dispatcher.

References

{{Reflist Norfolk Southern Railway lines Pennsylvania Railroad lines Rail infrastructure in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Railroad Through-freight Lines Railway lines opened in 1865

History

See also

References