CERA’s April Zoom Programs
Friday, April 11, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. CT
Zoom Presentation
https://tinyurl.com/CERAthe2ndFriday
Easy Link to Zoom
Meeting Number 814 9251 7167 Passcode 880028
Harvey Laner
West Penn Railways
Run Time: 1h05m
At its peak, West Penn Railways had 237 miles of electric railway trackage.
It operated in the well populated coal mining and coking region of rugged,
mountainous western Pennsylvania. West Penn Railways was a vibrant
transportation system playing a key role in the pre automobile, unpaved,
poor road era, and was an important factor in the Coking region's economy.
This program combines Harvey Laner’s West Penn Railways video files of
railfans Ed Miller and Gene Schmidt’s movies with Harvey’s conversational
narration with West Penn Railways historian Ed Lybarger. Ed meticulously
describes the route as Ed Millers’ movies take us from Uniontown to
Greensburg. Ed Lybarger details West Penn’s LCL freight service, an in-
depth description of the Companies passenger and work car equipment, a
whimsical look at West Penn’s creative advertising program and an
overview of the management people that guided the Company through the
good and the difficult years.
This complete story of West Penn Railways includes a look at the web of
public utilities that connect it to West Virginia’s Monongahela & West Penn
and Wheeling Traction Company properties as well as the Hagerstown &
Frederick Railway in Maryland. Historic movie scenes of those traction
properties are also included in this far reaching, comprehensive program.
We will also have a short newscast preceding the regular program.
This program is open to all CERA members and guests. Mark this date on your calendar!
