What's online?
The Monongahela Railway Company online photograph collection contains images dating from 1905 through 1975. The images document railroad activities, buildings, equipment, and staff, as well as rivers and coal mining. They also help to document the communities through which the railroad passed. Included are scenes in urban and rural areas of Western Pennsylvania and bordering counties in West Virginia.
What's in the entire collection?
The collection, held by the Archives Service Center (ASC) at the University of Pittsburgh, comprises approximately 9,470 negatives ranging in size from 3x5 to 8x10, associated photographer's log books and indices, as well as a limited number of gelatin silver prints. Images date between 1903 and 1993. Little information about the photographers exists; however, Charles Keibler and G. H. Burnette have been identified as being photographers employed by the railroad.
In addition to documenting the Monongahela Railway Company, the collection also serves to document other railroads including the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railway Company; the Connellsville and Monongahela Railway Company; the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company; the Scotts Run Railway; and the Crucible Coal Company. Approximately 47 towns along the railroad in two states are visible in this collection. These include locations in Pennsylvania, such as Brownsville, Adah, Huron, Gallatin, Leckrone, Maidsville, Nemacolin, and Rush Run among many others. Locations in West Virginia include Fairview, Rivesville, Morgantown, and Fairmont. Often included in views of these areas are worker housing, construction, and community activities such as parades, rail stations, and people.
About the Monongahela Railway Company
The Monongahela Railroad (MRR) was a joint enterprise of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad (P&LE) and the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and used for coal transportation throughout southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. In 1927, the Baltimore and Ohio Railway (B&O) purchased a share of the Monongahela Railroad. This made them a partner in the Monongahela Railroad until its sale and absorption into the Conrail Corporation (CR) in 1993. In 1915, while still owned by the PL&E and PRR, the Monongahela Railroad consolidated with the Buckhannon & Northern Railroad forming the Monongahela Railway Company (MRY).
For more information see, Gratz, David E. and Terry Arbogast. The Monongahela Railway: It's History and Operation 1903-1993. M2FQ Publications, 2003.