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Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad

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Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad
Overview
HeadquartersOakmont, Pennsylvania
Reporting markSWP
LocaleFayette County, Pennsylvania
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Dates of operation1995–
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length66
Other
Websitecarloadexpress.com/railroads/southwest-pennsylvania-railroad/ Edit this at Wikidata
SWP GP11 2002, which was used in the movie Unstoppable, at the Scottdale train station
SWP GP11 2002, which was used in the movie Unstoppable, at the Scottdale train station

The Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark SWP) is a shortline railroad that operates in southwestern Pennsylvania. The SWP uses rail branches that were acquired from CSX Transportation (originally the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad) and Conrail (originally the Pennsylvania Railroad). All of the track used by the SWP is in either Fayette or Westmoreland counties. SWP provides local service to many customers in the area, connecting them to the outside world via interchanges with Norfolk Southern, Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad, and CSX. SWP has been vital in the location of several new industries to Fayette and Westmoreland Counties in recent years.

The main line of the SWP railroad runs as far north as Radebaugh in Hempfield Township. It then passes Greensburg and Scottdale (the location of the railyard) to an interchange with NS and W&LE in Everson. The SWP mainline passes through the coal towns of Owensdale and Broadford, before reaching a junction with CSX. It operates over CSX tracks through Connellsville, where it leaves CSX to run south through Dunbar and Mt Braddock to Uniontown. The route ends after passing through Fairchance and Smithfield. Near the end of the line in Smithfield is a new large fracking-sand facility owned by Hi-Crush Partners, which receives 40 ft covered hoppers.

The railroad features several branch lines. One travels to Yukon (in South Huntingdon Township) to serve a box and packaging facility. Another branch runs from Everson to Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania and New Stanton. Here, the Westmoreland Rail Freight Terminal, a large bulk transload facility, is served. This location also has a new ethanol plant under construction. The Bullskin Branch serves a small coal loadout named Bullskin Tipple which actually is in Connellsville Township, Pennsylvania. It is only used occasionally. Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad's operational headquarters are located in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. The SWP is operated by Carload Express, Inc., which also operates two other shortline railroads: The Allegheny Valley Railroad (AVR) serving the Pittsburgh area and the Delmarva Central Railroad.[1]

The current SWP roster consists of SWP 4006 GP40-2 mated with SWP 406 slug, which in combination are referred to as an HD40-2 by Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad. This combination has 3000 HP, 8 powered axles and two fuel tanks. SWP 4006 was repainted and SWP 406 was rebuilt by Metro East Industries, Inc. of St. Louis, Ill in 2015. Other locomotives from sister railroad AVR are lent to SWP from time to time as needed.

Discover more about Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad related topics

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of the National Road early in the century, wanted to do business with settlers crossing the Appalachian Mountains. The railroad faced competition from several existing and proposed enterprises, including the Albany-Schenectady Turnpike, built in 1797, the Erie Canal, which opened in 1825, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. At first, the B&O was located entirely in the state of Maryland; its original line extending from the port of Baltimore west to Sandy Hook, Maryland, opened in 1834. There it connected with Harper's Ferry, first by boat, then by the Wager Bridge, across the Potomac River into Virginia, and also with the navigable Shenandoah River.

Fayette County, Pennsylvania

Fayette County, Pennsylvania

Fayette County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in southwestern Pennsylvania, adjacent to Maryland and West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 128,804. Its county seat is Uniontown. The county was created on September 26, 1783, from part of Westmoreland County and named after the Marquis de Lafayette.

Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania

Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania

Hempfield Township is a township in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 41,585 at the 2020 census, making it the largest suburb in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area by population. Its name is derived from Hempfield in Lancaster County, which was formed in 1729 and is named after the hemp fields in the area.

Greensburg, Pennsylvania

Greensburg, Pennsylvania

Greensburg is a city in and the county seat of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, and a part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The city lies within the Laurel Highlands and the ecoregion of the Western Allegheny Plateau. The city is named after Nathanael Greene, a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. The population was 14,976 at the 2020 census.

Everson, Pennsylvania

Everson, Pennsylvania

Everson is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 768 at the 2020 census. It was incorporated in 1903.

Broadford, Pennsylvania

Broadford, Pennsylvania

Broadford or Broad Ford is an unincorporated community in Connellsville Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania southeast of Pittsburgh in the United States. Broadford is on the Youghiogheny River downstream from Connellsville. Galley Run, a tributary to the Youghiogheny River, joins here.

Connellsville, Pennsylvania

Connellsville, Pennsylvania

Connellsville is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, 36 miles (58 km) southeast of Pittsburgh and 50 miles (80 km) away via the Youghiogheny River, a tributary of the Monongahela River. It is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 7,637 at the 2010 census, a decline from the figure of 9,146 tabulated in 2000.

Dunbar, Pennsylvania

Dunbar, Pennsylvania

Dunbar is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,013 at the time of the 2020 census, a decline from the figure of 1,042 tabulated in 2010.

Fairchance, Pennsylvania

Fairchance, Pennsylvania

Fairchance is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,889 at the 2020 census, a decline from the figure of 1,975 tabulated in 2010. It is served by the Albert Gallatin Area School District.

New Stanton, Pennsylvania

New Stanton, Pennsylvania

New Stanton is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,173 at the 2010 census. New Stanton is often used as a control city in western parts of Pennsylvania, as I-70 joins the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76) eastbound towards Breezewood in New Stanton, and is a free highway westbound.

Allegheny Valley Railroad

Allegheny Valley Railroad

The Allegheny Valley Railroad is a class III railroad that operates in Western Pennsylvania, and is owned by Carload Express, Inc.

Delmarva Central Railroad

Delmarva Central Railroad

The Delmarva Central Railroad is an American short-line railroad owned by Carload Express that operates 188 miles (303 km) of track on the Delmarva Peninsula in the states of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. The railroad operates lines from Porter, Delaware to Hallwood, Virginia and from Harrington, Delaware to Frankford, Delaware along with several smaller branches. The DCR interchanges with the Norfolk Southern Railway and the Maryland and Delaware Railroad. The railroad was created in 2016 to take over the Norfolk Southern Railway lines on the Delmarva Peninsula. The DCR expanded by taking over part of the Bay Coast Railroad in 2018 and the Delaware Coast Line Railroad in 2019.

History

The Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad began operations in June 1995 when Trimax (now Carload Express) was selected to operate 66 miles (106 km) of railroad by the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corporation and the Fay-Penn Industrial Development Corporation. In May 2000, the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad started service to the Westmoreland Rail Freight terminal near New Stanton. The railroad began service to the Hunter Panels plant in the Fayette Business Park in Fairchance in 2006. In 2011, the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad commenced service to the Fayette Rail Freight terminal in Smithfield. This facility is now operated by Hi-Crush Partners and serves unit trains of sand for hydraulic fracturing.[2]

Locomotive roster

Locomotive model Road number
Road Slug 406
EMD GP11 2001
2002
2003
2006
EMD SD40-2 3501
3503
EMD GP40-2 3504
4005
4006
EMD GP9r 4602

[3]

Discover more about Locomotive roster related topics

EMD GP11

EMD GP11

The EMD GP11 is a four-axle diesel locomotive rebuilt by the Illinois Central Railroad's Paducah shops. It is very similar in appearance to the GP8 and GP10.

EMD SD40-2

EMD SD40-2

The EMD SD40-2 is a 3,000-horsepower (2,200 kW) C-C diesel-electric locomotive built by EMD from 1972 to 1989.

EMD GP40-2

EMD GP40-2

The EMD GP40-2 is a 4-axle diesel locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division as part of its Dash 2 line between April 1972 and December 1986. The locomotive's power is provided by an EMD 645E3 16-cylinder engine which generates 3,000 horsepower (2.24 MW).

EMD GP9

EMD GP9

The EMD GP9 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between 1954 and 1959. The GP9 succeeded the GP7 as the second model of EMD's General Purpose (GP) line, incorporating a new sixteen-cylinder engine which generated 1,750 horsepower (1.30 MW). This locomotive type was offered both with and without control cabs; locomotives built without control cabs were called GP9B locomotives.

Source: "Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, January 3rd), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Pennsylvania_Railroad.

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Further Reading

Fayette County, Pennsylvania

Connellsville, Pennsylvania

Western Maryland Railway

Progressive Rail, Inc.

Massena Terminal Railroad

Paducah & Louisville Railway

Eastern Shore Railroad

Wiregrass Central Railroad

Connecticut Southern Railroad

Transportation in Pittsburgh

P&W Subdivision

Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 52

Allegheny Valley Railroad

Pennsylvania Northeastern Railroad

Rail freight transportation in New York City and Long Island
References
  1. ^ "Delmarva Central Railroad". Carload Express. 8 November 2016.
  2. ^ "Company History". Carload Express. 28 November 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  3. ^ "Southwestern Pennsylvania".
External links
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