The McLaughlin's and Saw Mill Run Railroad. March 15, 2018

Copyright © 2018                                                         John F. Oyler

March 15, 2018

The McLaughlin’s and Saw Mill Run Railroad

After David Aitken gave his talk on the Little Saw Mill Run Railroad to the Bridgeville Area Historical Society last Fall, he and I had an interesting discussion about the Pittsburgh Southern Railroad in specific, and the nineteenth century railroads in southern Allegheny County in general. A few days later he sent me a link to a map of Allegheny County in 1890 on the Library of Congress website.

Like all old maps it was full of interesting information. Our discussion had been regarding the route the Pittsburgh Southern took through Mt. Lebanon. The Southern had been organized by Milton Hays in 1878 to connect Washington, Pa. with the Ohio River at Temperanceville (now Pittsburgh’s West End neighborhood) via Castle Shannon and the Little Saw Mill Run Railroad.

The route of the Little Saw Mill Run Railroad up Banksville Road as far as Wenzell Avenue is well documented. Up until now I have been unable to confirm the extension on to Castle Shannon. We know it continued through Dormont Park past the swimming pool and crossed McFarland Road just beyond the Beverly Road intersection. We know it ended up at the foot of Alfred Street where it joined the current right-of-way of the Port Authority light rail system and followed it to Castle Shannon.

The portion in between has been a mystery, one that was resolved by the 1890 map. According to it, the Southern crossed McFarland at the Parker Drive intersection, paralleled McFarland to Edward Avenue, and then crossed Bower Hill Road at the Kenmont intersection. From that point it followed Kenmont across Shady, through Rolliers’ parking lot, crossed Washington Road at the Academy intersection, and proceeded down the hill to the foot of Alfred Street.

Also on this map is the route of the Pittsburgh, Chartiers, and Youghiogheny Railroad (PC & Y) Painters Run branch. It splits off from the PC & Y Thoms Run branch at Woodville, crosses Vanadium road, goes over the Chartiers Valley branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, then Chartiers Creek, and proceeds through “Panhandle” to Bower Hill Road.

It then parallels Bower Hill to the north until crossing it on a trestle and entering the tunnel whose southern portal is still visible on Bower Hill Road. Exiting the tunnel, it then crosses Painters Run three times before staying north of it. Incidentally on this map the creek is named Panther’s Run, confirming our suspicion that “Painter” referred to the early settlers’ name of panthers, mountain lions.

The Painters Run branch stops well short of the McMillan Road intersection, suggesting that the Harrison Mine, developed by the Beadling Brothers in 1883, had not yet reached a production level sufficient to justify extending a rail head to it.

More interesting is the fact that the map shows a spur leaving the Painters Run branch close to the entrance to Bednars’ Farm Market and entering a tunnel in the hill at that point. The other end of the tunnel is north of the large bend in McLaughlin Run Road where the borough park and sports complex is located.

The rail line then follows McLaughlin Run Road to the east, crossing it about halfway between the tunnel exit and its intersection with McMillan Road. This map does not show Lesnett Road extending down the hill to McLaughlin. The railroad parallels McLaughlin Run Road and the creek to the west, crossing Morrow Road and a no longer existing road through St. Clair Country Club before arriving at Clifton.

It continues, west of McMurray Road to the intersection with Bethel Church Road, crosses McMurray, follows McLaughlin Run to South Park Road and its intersection with Drake Road. At this point it crosses the Pittsburgh Southern Railroad and continues on to the southeast, across Irishtown Road and into Library. Its extension reaches the Monongahela River at Elizabeth.

The official name of the map is “Map of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 1890: with adjoining parts of Westmoreland, Washington & Beaver counties”. It was published in Pittsburgh by Otto Krebs and entered in the Library of Congress for copyright in 1890.

We have determined that the McLaughlin’s and Saw Mill Run Railroad was indeed incorporated in 1881 with the right to build a railroad about six miles long from the termination of the Chartiers and Mansfield Valley Railway following the line of McLaughlin’s Run to Sodom (now called Clifton) on the line of the Pittsburgh Southern Railway. The fact that the Southern did not go through Clifton is another puzzle. The Chartiers and Mansfield Valley Railway had been chartered a year earlier to build a line from McKees Rocks up the Chartiers Valley to Woodville.

Later in 1881 the two railroads were combined to form the Pittsburgh, Chartiers, and Youghiogheny Railroad. One of the directors of each of these corporations was Jacob Henrici, the Harmony Society trustee credited with the Society’s investment in many successful business ventures in western Pennsylvania.

The railroad shown on the 1890 Krebs map extended far beyond Sodom; apparently the PC & Y acquired right-of-way at least as far as Elizabeth. Otherwise it would have been the Pittsburgh, Chartiers, and McLaughlin Run railroad. But was it ever constructed? I have found no evidence to that effect, other than the Krebs map.

An exception might be up the index map for the 1896 Hopkins Atlas for the Pittsburgh area. It does show the P C & Y running through Sodom and on toward Library, but as a broken line, suggesting it is merely a railroad that is planned for the future. This map also shows the southeastern tunnel portal being much farther up McLaughlin Run than is indicated on the Krebs map. It would have been a major tunnel, perhaps two thousand feet long.

It is interesting to imagine a farmer coming down Morton Road toward McLaughlin Run, watching a passenger train from Sodom heading down the valley on its way to Carnegie. I suspect this is wishful thinking and that the railroad never was built.