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Kiski Junction Railroad Rare Mileage Trip 5/21/2010

Randy and I awoke at the Caboose Motel in Titusville then drove to Schenley, Pennsylvania, stopping at Butler where we found the Buffalo & Pittsburgh shops. This is a shortline railroad owned by Genesee & Wyoming. Its main line runs between Buffalo, New York and Eidenau, Pennsylvania, north of Pittsburgh. Here, connections are made to the city center via the Allegheny Valley Railroad. The system runs largely on former Baltimore & Ohio lines and is 728 miles.

Buffalo & Pittsburgh GP40 3111, ex. KYLE 3111, exx. Conrail 3137 nee Penn Central 3137 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1968.

Buffalo & Pittsburgh SD45 454, ex. Helm Atlantic Leasing 7563, exxx. Southern Pacific 7563 nee St. Louis-Southwestern 9059 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1969 and Kansas City Southern de Mexico GP22ECO-M 2402, ex. Kansas City Southern GP40-2LW 4711, exx. Kansas City Southern GP40-3 2099, nee Canadian National GP40-2LW 9535 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1975.

Buffalo & Pittsburgh SW1500 1510, ex. Conrail 9614, nee Reading 2764 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1969.

Kansas City Southern de Mexico GPTEB-C 401, ex. Kansas City Southern GP38-3 2005, exx. Gateway Western 4098, exxx. Gateway Western 2024, exxxx. Chicago, Missouri and Western 2024, nee Conrail 7763 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1969.

Allegheny and Eastern Railroad GP35 305, ex. Allegheny and Eastern 105, nee Union Pacific 743 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1964.

Buffalo & Pittsburgh SD40T-2 3302, ex. Kansas City Southern 6105, nee Southern Pacific 8358 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1978.

Views of the railroad's shops. From here we made our way to Schenley, where today's rare mileage trip would be occurring.

The Kiski Junction engines in front of their engine house.

Kiski Junction S-1 7135, ex. South Branch Valley Railroad 1, nee United States Army 7135 built by American Locomotive Company in 1943.

Kiski Junction GP9 752, ex. Indiana Boxcar Corporation 752, exxx. Fox River Valley Railroad 4329, ex. Chicago and North Western 4329, nee Chicago and North Western 1527, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1951.

Kiski Junction caboose 5, nee Pittsburgh and Lake Erie 500, converted to a coach.

Kiski Junction caboose 517, nee Pittsburgh and Lake Erie 517 built by the railroad in 1950. I walked down to the shore of the Allegheny River.

The Allegheny River.

The dam.

The River from a different angle, after which I walked back to the station to wait to board the train.

Kiski Junction GP9 752.

The covered open air car I would be riding in on this trip.

Kiski Junction caboose 200, nee Penn Central work transfer caboose 18200 built by the railroad in 1968.

Kiski Junction coach 1154, nee Central of New Jersey 1154 built by Standard Steel in 1925.

Kiski Junction caboose 4, nee Norfolk and Western 518456 built by International Car in 1958.

The rear view of our train this morning.

The branch line to Bagdad was originally part of the Pennsylvania Main Canal. In 1826 the Pennsylvania Legislature authorized the first segment of the Western Division Canal from Pittsburgh up the Allegheny River to its confluence with the Kiskiminetas River at Freeport. Coming up the Allegeny River, the canal was run along the north bank to Freeport, across the river from Schenley. The Western Division Canal extension crossed the Allegheny River and went up the Kiskiminetas and Conemaugh Rivers to Blairsville. A separate extension, Kittanning Feeder, ran 14 miles up the Allegheny River from Freeport to Kittanning. The main route was 104 miles and was fully opened in 1834.

The canal employed 16 river dams, 68 locks and 16 aqueducts. The first fully loaded freight boat traveled from Johnstown to Pittsburgh in 1831. While the canal was initially successful, railroads soon replaced the canal system and the Western Division was sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1857. The PRR filled the canal and built railroad tracks on the right-of-way. However with the Western Pennsylvania route already on the west bank of the Kiski River, the canal grade south of Schenley remained unused. However the railroad built 2.43 miles of track in 1889 and 2.39 more miles in 1890 to reach several coal mines. In 1952 this line was known as the Schenley Branch of the Connemaugh Division. By the October 31, 1993 Conrail Timetable, this line was known as the Schenley Industrial Track.

In 1852 the Pittsburgh. Kittanning and Warren Railroad begin construction. The railroad's name was changed on April 14, 1852 to the Allegheny Valley Railroad. The railroad opened to Rosston on December 11, 1855 and on to Kittannning Station on January 23, 1856. Delayed by the Civil War, the railroad did not reach Oil City until February 2, 1870. In 1900 the Pennsylvania Railroad took over the operations of the Allegheny Valley Railroad under lease, changing the name of the railroad to the Buffalo and Allegheny Division and extending the tracks all the way to Buffalo New York. On April 7, 1910, the Pennsylvania Railroad acquired the entire line then made improvements to the entire railroad. The West Penn, after crossing the Allegheny River at Freeport, crossed the former Allegheny Valley at Kiskimentos Junction. Later the name would be changed to Kiski Junction and the West Penn would become the mainline to Connemaugh.

By the 1960's, the importance of the Allegheny Branch from Pittsburgh to Kiski Junction had diminished. The last scheduled passenger train was part of the Pittsburgh commuter service ended on November 28, 1964. The Allegheny Branch became a secondary track and then an industrial track during the Penn Central and Conrail years. By the 1990's, the Allegheny Branch was severed south of Kiski Junction. In 1992 Conrail abandoned most of the line and sold it off as a recreational trail. In 1995, the few miles of remaining track around Schenley was sold to the Kiski Junction Railroad which primarily serves the Allegheny Ludlum's Bagdad Works in Gilpin hauling scrap along the former four mile line that lines the Kiski River's Armstrong County shore. The railroad also sometimes hauls bulk chemicals for the Armstrong Terminals in Schenley Industrial Park. The railroad also runs seasonal tourist train especially fall foliage trips.

The train arrived at the Schenley station and we all boarded.

We departed on schedule down the track that the Kiski Junction Railroad uses for their excursions.

The park in Schenley.

View inside the covered open air car.

We left our parked cars behind as we enjoyed the pleasures of train travel.

Crossing Schenley Road.

At Junction, we turned to the left towards the ATI Allegheny Ludlum Plant.

Two views at Junction.

The view ahead of our train.

The first view of the Kiskiminetas River, which forms the northeastern boundary of Westmoreland County and separates it fro Armstrong County, about 20 to 25 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

Views ahead.

An old building remains.

Passengers enjoying their ride.

The forest.

Rolling through the forest.

The Kiskiminetas River.

The view ahead just before we stopped for a photo runby. A few of us went up on the ledge where the Gilpin Mine was once worked.

The Kiskiminetas River from the perch at the Gilpin Mine.

The reverse move.

The photo runby, after which everyone reboarded and we continued east.

The Kiskiminetas River again.