Montour Railroad

Montour Railroad. . , The Montour Railroad Company was organized in 1877 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Imperial Coal Co. to bring coal from mines near Imperial ten miles to a barge loading dock on the Ohio River., A connection was made with the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie RR in 1879. Passenger service commenced, also carrying U.S. mail and local farm produce to market in Pittsburgh via a transfer to P&LE., Passenger service ended in 1927., A shop complex at Montour Junction was opened in 1900 to replace the small original shops at Imperial., An era of expansion was started in 1913, as a 35-mile extension looping around Pittsburgh's South Hills from Imperial to West Mifflin was built to serve several newly opened coal mines in the area., Interchange points were made with five other railroads, establishing shipping connections with markets outside the Pittsburgh area., From 1918 to 1929, branch lines were added to mines in Library, Muse and Westland, with track mileage growing to about 50 miles., In 1928, the Champion Coal Co. processing plant was opened near Imperial. It could clean, size and sort 13,000 tons of coal each day. Although most rail traffic was coal, other freight was also shipped by local businesses., A downturn of the coal market in the 1970's brought a decline in revenue and sections of track were taken out of service., The Montour Railroad ceased rail operations in 1984, with total abandonment in 1986., For more info go to Montourrr.com, [Captions]: Montour's first locomotive, the "Cliff Mine", Gene P. Schaeffer photo