Updated with full presentation video
At the beginning of the 1850s, Pittsburgh was on the verge of becoming the “workshop of the world.”
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.
On Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the Bridgeville fire hall, area author David Aitken will discuss the railroad’s colorful history. This is the first program in the Bridgeville Area Historical Society’s 2017-18 event schedule.
Aitken will also have books available for sale and signing after the event.
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 1840s to the mid 1950s. 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.
Check out more Historical Society events here.