Feb 6, 2005 5 min read

By William Balsley and Karen Hechler

For the Herald Standard

When I first moved to Connellsville, remains of the West Penn Railways were still evident. It was funny driving, in the family car, along the Southside streets where there were trolley tracks, and my dad would go bumping over the tracks. Buses replaced the trolleys, and the trolley tracks were paved over, and trolleys become a distant memory. As a child, I wasn’t aware of the importance of this type of transportation and what West Penn Railways had meant to the Connellsville Area.

At one time, the West Penn Railways System was found throughout southwestern Pennsylvania linking mines, industries, and communities. By 1917, this transportation system had reached its ultimate size. Numerous smaller trolley lines were combined over several decades until the West Penn Railways controlled around 340 miles of track.

Although the main line connected Uniontown to Greensburg via Mount Pleasant, Scottdale, and Connellsville, there were lines running to West Virginia and Ohio. But the main emphasis of the West Penn Railways transportation was in the Connellsville coke region.

Connellsville was the home office of the railway system, and you can still see and visit what was the West Penn Terminal Building on Arch Street in Connellsville. Other businesses now make use of the structure, but fortunately, the building still stands and reminds us of our transportation heritage.

People are familiar with the big orange cars that ran on the West Penn tracks. These cars carried all kinds of people from miners to newly arrived immigrants. Basically one thinks of people using the trolleys when shopping or visiting the area, but freight, such as newspapers and groceries, was also carried on the trolleys.

What brought the demise of the West Penn Railways? The answer would have to be the increase in private automobile ownership, better roads, and the decline of the coke industry.

Today we would like to share the information from the souvenir pamphlet of the last West Penn trolley car trip from Uniontown to Brownsville on Saturday, Jan. 28, 1950. This pamphlet is part of Bill’s collection. The pamphlet is entitled “West Penn Travel in the Mid Century.” The text reads:

“You are traveling on the 426,000th trip to be made by a West Penn Railways trolley car from Uniontown to Brownsville since the first day of service, Thursday, July 2, 1908.

Since that day, West Penn trolley cars have clicked off nearly 14,500,000 miles on this run for about 580 trips around the world.

The total number of passengers carried on this line during these 42 years exceeds the population of Pennsylvania at least four times.

West Penn trolley cars from Uniontown were serving Footedale as early as 1903, but it was not until March 1907, that the Brownsville extension was started.

Because of the heavy grading and heavy bridges that were necessary, the Brownsville extension cost $32,000 per mile, a substantial figure for 1907.

When the Brownsville extension was completed, West Penn Interurban Railways operated from Uniontown to Brownsville borough limits, and Brownsville Street Railways within the borough. Both of these lines were merged into West Penn Railways Company in 1917.

The first trolley cars to serve Brownsville were the “200” series built by the John Stephenson Car Co. They were the closed type, with air brakes, electric heaters and double trucks. They were replaced with successive models of the present “700” series.

There were some 3,451 coal and coke ovens in operation along the Uniontown-Brownsville trolley line on Thursday, July 2, 1908. Practically all of these have been abandoned, and only crumbling ruins remain of the once familiar sight of glowing ovens dotting the countryside-like a thousand eyes piercing the darkness of the night.

These familiar orange West Penn trolleys will disappear from the scene, too, after tonight. But in their place are coming modern, 36-passenger buses. These, too, will be painted orange and will carry on the West Penn tradition of good transportation at low cost.”

On the back of the pamphlet, this information appeared for the new buses. “Tomorrow, Sunday, Jan. 29, 1950, West Penn buses go into service between Uniontown and Brownsville. These are the latest type diesel buses with automatic transmissions, which assure smooth stopping and starting.

The aisles are wide, the seats are roomy and soft. All windows are made of safety glass. There are standee windows. The indoor air is controlled and filtered-no outside fumes can infiltrate. The bus is insulated to give you a quiet, relaxing ride.

Travel safe in any weather-ride West Penn buses-they are today’s biggest travel bargain.”

So there you have the transition from the trolley cars to the buses at mid 20th century. It was interesting to see the old being retired and the wave of the future (1950) being introduced.

(For those who would like a reminder of Connellsville trolley days, the Connellsville Area Historical Society has two outstanding pen and ink renderings of trolley cars in the “700” series. They are both of car number 736. One print is in black and white, the other is in West Penn orange. These prints are numbered and signed by the artist, Donna Campbell Allen. For further details, call the Historical Society office at 724-628-5640 between 10 a.m. and noon, and from 1 to 3 p.m.