1857

— The Pennsylvania Railroad Mainline —

You are standing above the historic route of the Main Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad—one of the most important railroad corridors in the country.

Connecting Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the first train arrived in East Liberty in December 1852, less than a half mile east of here. While the 350-mile route initially utilized twenty-eight miles of the Allegheny Portage Railroad in order to traverse the Allegheny Mountains, an all-rail line was completed in February 1854. As a result, travel to Philadelphia, which had taken up to a week, was shortened to thirteen hours.

Significant initially for its direct connections to the east coast, the Pennsylvania Railroad quickly expanded westward, with the thriving industrial giant of Pittsburgh at its center.

At its peak of operation in the 1920s, the Pennsylvania Railroad boasted 28,000 miles of track, 7,000 locomotives, 250,000 cars and 280,000 employees. "The Pennsy," as it was affectionately known, was once the nation's largest employer, transporting ten percent of all freight in America, and twenty percent of all passengers.

There are people now living in Pittsburgh who have traveled diligently for a whole week to reach Philadelphia. The same persons can now go from our city to the eastern metropolis between sunrise and sunset of a summer's day, without fatigue, and without occasion for stopping to eat more than one meal.

—Daily Morning Post,Pittsburgh on the opening of the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1854

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