Ligonier Valley Rail Road Museum

The Ligonier Valley Rail Road's main line between Ligonier and Latrobe was short, only 10.3 miles. Although short in length, it was long in construction. The Pennsylvania Railroad opened its route through Latrobe in 1852, and it wasn't long before a railroad line that would connect Ligonier with Latrobe was conceived. In April 1853, the Assembly passed the Act of Incorporation for the Latrobe and Ligonier Rail Road Company. The first surveys for the proposed line were done in 1853 and 1854. Unfortunately, the lofty goals of the incorporators exceeded their financial ability and so the plans languished. During the subsequent years there were several reorganizations and supplemental acts of the legislature. In May 1871, the name of the railroad was changed to the Ligonier Valley Rail Road Company. Following this change, there was a spurt of activity. The proposed line was again surveyed and by April 1872 the location was established. Grading and bridge work began and was mostly completed by the end of 1873. Again, lack of adequate finances made it impossible to complete the work. A serious effort was made to entice the PRR to take over the line and operate it, but the PRR declined the opportunity. Finally, Judge Thomas Mellon was approached, and a contract was signed in August 1877 whereby he would complete and operate the railroad line.

Ligonier Valley Rail Road Museum

The caboose is a PRR Class ND cabin car built on April 4, 1905, with a Series Number of 485994. It received United States Safety Appliances Standard at Pitcairn on April 26, 1913. From the old records, the car was not marked as destroyed, so was still in service on that date. The caboose was one of 18 Class ND cabin cars that were eventually sold to the Monongahela Railroad in 1919, during Federal control of the railroads (during and immediately after World War I). The date of sale of 485944 was February 25, 1919. According to the Pennsylvania Railroad the Class ND cabin car has a steel underframe, four wheels with a 13 foot, 6 inch wheelbase, a length of 29 feet coupler to coupler, and weighs 28,000 pounds. The Ligonier Valley Rail Road owned at least one of these cars, built in March 1907.

Ligonier Valley Rail Road Museum