Locations and Structures

In 1909, the Pittsburgh Railways Company opened a connection between its recently acquired Washington & Canonsburg division and its Charleroi interurban in Bethel. As part of the project, passenger waiting shelters of this type were constructed for each of the stops along the route. Richfol shelter was constructed to serve workers of the Standard Tin Plate Company in Canonsburg. The stop was named for W. H. Richards, plant superintendent, and Lewis Follet, company president. The site is now occupied by Pennsylvania Transformer Technology and is directly across Adams Avenue from Sarris Candies. Adjacent to the shelter was a 719-foot steel trestle that spanned a portion of the factory property, the Pennsylvania Railroad (the branch which passes the Museum) and Chartiers Creek. After the line was abandoned in 1953, the shelter was moved by the Chartiers-Houston School District to a site along a township road about three miles from the museum. The building was badly deteriorated after serving as a school bus shelter for many years when local businessman John Tarr (of Tarr Concrete) arranged for acquisition and transportation of the shelter to the museum in March 1983. Restoration of the structure required replacement of a substantial part of its lower portion. The roof, however, and the distinctive station signs were preserved intact.

Pennsylvania Trolley Museum

In addition to more than a dozen long and high bridges, the Harmony Route constructed a variety of structures to handle passengers, freight traffic and electrical distribution. For many years, the museum was aware that buildings had survived as businesses at Keown, Wexford, Evans City, Ellwood City and Beaver Falls, but it wasn’t until 1989 that museum members discovered that one of the line’s original waiting shelters had been preserved in its original location at the border of Adams and Cranberry Townships in southwestern Butler County. Although the exact date is unknown, it is thought that the West shelter was erected around the time the line was opened in 1908. The stop name comes from the West farm on which it was originally located, but it was a farmer named Ziegler who built a house and barn adjacent to the stop to take advantage of shipping milk by trolley. Because of its rural location, West stop was also a popular summer retreat for city dwellers wishing to get back to nature. Near the stop were numerous camps and even a guest home. The shelter remained in its original location for several years after the line was abandoned but was eventually removed to a neighboring farm. In the early 1980s, local historian Jim English retrieved the building and returned it to its original location on his property, where it remained until donated to the Museum by his family in April 1992. West was extensively rebuilt in 1993 and put on display across from the Richfol platform. In 2012, additional rebuilting and repainting was undertaken as an Eagle Scout project.

Pennsylvania Trolley Museum

The Allison Shelter was located at the Allison Stop, near today’s intersection of Race Track Road and Pike Street in Meadow Lands. The Allison Shelter is a companion to the Richfol shelter at the Museum’s main passenger platform in front of the Founders’ Car House. Allison is and example of the shelters on the original Washington & Canonsburg portion of the line. These had different window arrangements from their counterparts on the northern end of the Washington line represented by Richfol. The Allison Shelter was preserved by Albert and Delvin Miller founders of the Meadows harness racing track. These gentlemen preserved the shelter from their property in Meadow Lands and took it to their museum, Meadowcroft Village, in the 1970s. In 1994, Meadowcroft donated the structure to PTM and it was moved to the museum site. Volunteers rehabilitated it and placed it along the line. More recently it became the passenger shelter for visitors to the Trolley Display Building, and will one day be placed in the permanent display within our proposed visitor center.

Pennsylvania Trolley Museum

This building started life after construction of the Pittsburgh Harmony Butler & New Castle Railway in 1908. It is a wooden interurban trolley station that originally served trolley passengers, and later postal and deli customers. Its interesting history includes the 23 years it was used as a freight/passenger station for the Harmony Route, its relocation to the corner of Wexford-Bayne Road and Old Perry Highway in the village of Wexford in 1931, and its 83 years’ use as a post office, antique store, craft shop and deli. The exhibit includes the details of the building’s relocation to the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in 2015. The Wexford station building is remarkably well preserved and really helps to tell the fascinating story of interurban trolley service from Pittsburgh into the North Hills and nearby towns such as Evan City, Butler, Harmony, Zelienople, Ellwood City, Beaver Falls and New Castle where it connected to systems reaching Youngstown, Cleveland and Toledo. Always on exhibit at its location adjacent to the Trolley Display Building and will be open to visitors during special events.

Pennsylvania Trolley Museum