Ligonier Valley Rail Road Newspaper Articles
We have compiled over 1,400 newspaper articles that mention the Ligonier Valley Railroad, or related subjects. The articles were originally published starting in 1873 and our collection runs through 1995. Enjoy!
Daily Courier
Friday, September 12, 1919
P. W. & S. Railroad Sold to Pittsburg Company for $15,000
Twenty-eight Mile Line Between Somerset and Ligonier Changes Hands
A Pittsburg syndicate has bought the Pittsburg, Westmoreland & Somerset railroad, the 28-mile line between Somerset and Ligonier. The consideration is said to have been $15,000.
The sale included every item of property owned by the railroad concern franchise, rails ties, rolling stock, station houses, etc. Probably the most valuable item sold was the tract of land a short distance north of Somerset, formerly occupied by the railroad company as a terminal and on which it erected a passenger and freight station and other buildins before operating trains between Somerset and Ligonier.
The railroad was originally constructed by the lumber firm of Byers, Allen & Cop., of Williamsport, Pa., for the purpose of carrying the timer from an immense area on both sides of the Laurel Hill mountain to Ligonier, where it was sawed into lumber. Following the removal of the timber, the owners extended the railroad a distance of six or seven miles to Somerset, operating it as a passenger and freight line. During the period of years that the passenger trains were operated between Somerset and Ligonier by the P. W. & S., they were patronized by passenger traveling to and from Pittsburg and Somerset. It reduced the railroad mileage between Somerset and Pittsburg nearly 40 miles, and due to traffic arrangements entered into with the Ligonier Valley and the Pennsylvania railroads, Somerset county people discovered that by patronizing the P. W. & S. they could spend the day in the city and return home the same evening. There was general regret when the train service was abandoned several years ago and the public was forced to depend altogether on the Baltimore & Ohio for traveling.