Operating Railroads
KISKI VALLEY RAILROAD
Bob Haggart
Bob@kvrr.org www.kvrr.org
This railway became the Kiski Valley Railroad Co. The layout is a freelanced, based very loosely, on the Conemaugh Division. Only the town names are real, as are some of the industries.
The mission of the Kiski Valley Railroad is not only to support all of the smaller industries located along the line, but mainly to support the the steel industry consisting of a Blast Furnace, Coke Ovens, Basic Oxygen Furnace or BOF, the Rolling Mill and a Stamping Plant. All but the stamping plant is owned by the United States Steel Co.
On the Kiski, you turn back the clock to 1953 – 1955. You’ll be hauling live loads of coal, coke, limestone, iron ore, ballast, riprap and sand. Moving hot metal cars back and forth between the Blast Furnace and the BOF, steel slabs from the BOF to the Rolling Mill. Steel products moving from the rolling mill to the Stamping plant, which produces everything from cans for the food canneries to stamped automotive parts. Tons of products being transported over the Kiski’s single track main line, using the Butler Branch, the PRR's Brilliant Branch, the Pittsburgh & Shawmut RR and the Winfield RR. There is enough activity to keep even the best of operators busy & happy.
The layout room is only 12' X 29' with about 200 feet of mainline, of which half of it is double decked & a single main with very long sidings.
The Conemaugh Division of the PRR was located in Southwestern PA and ran from where it joins the PFt.W&C at Northside, Pittsburgh, up the west bank of the Allegheny River to just above Freeport where it crossed the Allegheny to the east and on to the South side of the Kiskiminetas (the locals call it the Kiski) River to Conpit where it joins the PRR main line. The reason for having this railway was to by-pass the city of Pittsburgh, a major bottleneck for through freight trains.
This railway became the Kiski Valley Railroad Co. The layout is a freelanced, based very loosely, on the Conemaugh Division. Only the town names are real, as are some of the industries.
The mission of the Kiski Valley Railroad is not only to support all of the smaller industries located along the line, but mainly to support the the steel industry consisting of a Blast Furnace, Coke Ovens, Basic Oxygen Furnace or BOF, the Rolling Mill and a Stamping Plant. All but the stamping plant is owned by the United States Steel Co.
On the Kiski, you turn back the clock to 1953 – 1955. You’ll be hauling live loads of coal, coke, limestone, iron ore, ballast, riprap and sand. Moving hot metal cars back and forth between the Blast Furnace and the BOF, steel slabs from the BOF to the Rolling Mill. Steel products moving from the rolling mill to the Stamping plant, which produces everything from cans for the food canneries to stamped automotive parts. Tons of products being transported over the Kiski’s single track main line, using the Butler Branch, the PRR's Brilliant Branch, the Pittsburgh & Shawmut RR and the Winfield RR. There is enough activity to keep even the best of operators busy & happy.
The layout room is only 12' X 29' with about 200 feet of mainline, of which half of it is double decked & a single main with very long sidings.