car with the West Penn Railways insignia 1915


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ALL ABOARD for Issue 10 of RailNutterNews. In this issue we feature a story by D F Cramer about a trolley line near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvannia, USA. RailNutterNews is honored to present this article by Mr. Cramer.

Kittanning & Leechburg Street Railways Company
A Brief History

By D F Cramer

As America moved towards the end of the nineteenth century, there became a greater need for a more efficient means of transportation. Horses and buggies were not keeping pace with the new life style that was to come with the twentieth century. The telephone and electric light were already making life more comfortable and a new means of transportation was being developed to help our cities grow.

In central Armstrong County, a rural county located northeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a charter was granted to the Kittanning Traction Company in 1890 for the purpose of constructing a trolley line in the county seat. No activity followed until 1898, when the Kittanning and Ford City Street Railway Company was formed.

The very first trip on the line took place on July 3, 1899 and went from South Jefferson Street to McCain (lower Manorville) and returned. In those days, South Jefferson Street went under the Pennsylvania Railroad at the south end of town. Regular service began in August of 1899 and the line gradually grew north to Cowanshannock (near where the creek flows into the Allegheny River) and south to Christy’s Grove, which was renamed Lenape Park. Plans were made at various times to expand the line to Applewold, West Kittanning, Rural Valley, Leechburg and Schenley. These extensions were never begun and the line reached its full length by 1907 and the name was changed to the Kittanning and Leechburg Railways Company.

The small closed cars and the open "breezers" were quite popular as a means of transportation. In 1907 over one million passengers were carried on the line that measured just over ten miles from north to south. The line followed the railroad from Cowanshannock to Johnston Avenue and turned right on Lemmon Way and then left onto Orr Avenue. At the intersection of Woodward and East Chestnut it went up over a trestle to cross the railroad and turned left onto McKean. Upon reaching Market it turned right and then left onto Jefferson. It followed Jefferson out of town and then went around Gaults Hill following the highway. There was a car barn and power house in Garretts Run and the line proceeded through Manorville to Fourth Avenue in Ford City. The line followed Fourth then Fifth out of town and started up the hillside across from the current river bridge. It made a gradual incline until the Tub Mill Run watershed was reached and then made a sharp left turn and continued up over the hillside following the creek the entire way. It crossed the state highway at the entrance to Ford Cliff and ended at Church Road (Lenape Park).

The line was purchased by West Penn Traction Company in 1911 and continued half hour service until abandonment started in 1928. That was the year the Lenape Park segment of trackage was removed. The little amusement park that had hosted so many events was now waning as automobiles and paved roads were providing new destinations for area residents.

Contrary to popular belief, the Saint Patrick’s Day Flood of 1936 was not the demise of the K&L. Highway construction did it in. A new viaduct was being built over the Pennsylvania Railroad to create a new entrance into town. The new overpass would eliminate the undergrade crossing and force the trolley line to move 500 feet to the west. The cost was too prohibitive and so on November 8, 1936 the line closed forever.

This is the often published trestle postcard in Kittanning where the line crossed the Pennsylvania Railroad's Allegheny River Branch. A friend grew up next to the trestle and told me the story of watching the car jump the tracks on the trestle and the excitement that ensued when the fire company came to retrieve the passengers one by one.

D F Cramer is an instructor and operator at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum. He is the author of the docent manual used at the museum. He teaches music in the Armstrong School District, is the musical director of the Armstrong Concert Band, and is the principal trombonist in the Butler Symphony Orchestra.

D F Cramer--Teacher-Trombonist-Historian--Conductor
Come Play With Us, Come Hear Us Play
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