David Aitken Jr 124 pages softcover.
At the beginnings of the 1850's Pittsburgh was on the verge of becoming the "workshop of the world". The coal industry, the foundation of the area's growth needed to reach coal inland from the rivers. The Little Saw Mill Run Railroad's three miles of track were not the first to wind between the hills and run along and over the creeks and streams to carry coal to market. But, to the folks living along its route, in the valleys of the Saw Mill and Little Saw Mill Runs, it was as important as any major trunk line hundreds of miles long. Conceived by farmers and merchants, the Little Saw Mill Run Railroad was in large part financed and managed by the Harmony Society, a group of German Communist, Capitalist and Celibate Christians. The life and times of the railroad and the residents of the valleys are looked at in this book, which covers approximately one hundred and ten years from the mid 1840's to the mid 1950's. Operations on the Little Saw Mill Run Railroad's 3.4 miles of track by its successors, the West Side Belt Railroad and the Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway are also covered.
