MGA Mine District - The Mon Line

The portion of the equal access Mon Line between the O Track connector at West Brownsville Junction and Waynesburg is the busiest section of the MGA Mine District, often seeing more than 15 mine turns each day. From the O Track connection with the East Division at the southern end of the West Brownsville Yard - CP58, the Mon Line heads south through West Brownsville on Main Street for about half a mile until the railroad reaches CP59 marking the end of its street running trackage. Below West Brownsville, the Mon Line follows the Monongahela River's west bank through Denbo, Vestaburg and Fredicktown until it reaches Ten Mile Run Junction at Millsboro. Interestingly enough, a connecting bridge to the former East Division was suppose to have been constructed at this point in the mid 20th century, but a poor financial situation rendered the plan too expensive.

From Ten Mile Run Junction, the railroad heads southwest away from the Mon River along Ten Mile Creek to Clarksville, PA, the location of the first section of double main track on the former West Division between CP-70 (MP 70.3) and CP-71 (MP 71.7). This section of the mainline is used as a meeting location between northbounds and southbounds, with the two main tracks numbered east to west. The Mon Line twists and turns towards Waynesburg from Clarksville passing through the small towns of Besco and Mather and over several ornate PRR trestles spanning Ten Mile Creek. This section is particularly prone to derailments, resulting in the installation of several dragging equipment detectors during the MGA and Conrail eras, although track crews are now switching them over to call the Norfolk Southern "greeting". At MP 80.5, Ten Mile Run contorts into a sharp bend resulting in the Mon Line's only tunnel, the Wayne Tunnel. In 1992, a section of double track capable of holding 160 cars was constructed from the western end of Wayne tunnel at CP80 (MP 80.7) to the I79 overpass just north of Waynesburg at CP82 (MP82.4), which allows the Mon Valley Dispatcher to use greater flexibility in threading trains together off the Waynesburg Southern and Manor Branch. A mile to the south of the double track in downtown Waynesburg is the old MGA Waynesburg Station, now a Maintenance of Way base for the West Division hinterlands. A short distance to the south is the modern Waynesburg "Yard Office", which serves as the base of operation for the MGA Mine District, in addition to a 'desk headquarters' for the processing of the volumes of daily paperwork involved in running the railroad. Also located in Waynesburg is a bad car setoff named the W&W track after the narrow gauge Waynesburg and Washington RR which connected to the MGA here. Just south of the W&W track at CP84 (MP84.9) is the northern end of the Emerald Siding that serves as a loading and runaround track for Cyprus Ajax's Emerald Mine. Emerald Mine has one of the fastest loaders on the MGA Mine District with the capability to fill a 100 car train with coal in an hour. Less than a mile south is Manor Junction at CP85 (MP85.7) which marks the official end of the Mon Line and CTC signalling. The Manor Branch diverges to the northwest (railroad south) towards Time, PA here, while the Waynesburg Southern continues south towards the mines around Blacksville, WV.

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Photo by Matt Reese. Two CSX ACW4400s on an N65 Emerald Turn have 105 empties in tow as they head down Main Street at West Brownsville.

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Photo by Ron Wilson. A loaded coal train is approaching the northern end of the West Brownsville street running trackage at CP58 as its two Norfolk Southern units keep the train moving at a steady 10 MPH.

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Photo by Matt Reese. PRR #5371 and three other units are heading south down Main Street in West Brownsville on a hot and humid day in July of 1999. Like the rest of the Mon Line, this half a mile section of track between CP59 and West Brownsville Junction (CP58) is heavily used, much to the disdain of the nearby homeowners.

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Photo by Ron Wilson. Two CSX ACW44s have the point of an empty mine turn as the train speeds south at the Maple Glen Crossing near Fredricktown.

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Photo by Rich Borkowski Jr. A southbound empty UDM Conrail train is passing under the La Belle river barge coal conveyor at Fredricktown on March 28, 1996.

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Photo by Matt Reese. Two ACW4400s are heading north with 130 loads on a N72, CSX symbol U883, at the Besco defect detector in early August of 2001.

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Photo by Matt Reese. A southbound Federal #2 Turn with three Norfolk Southern Dash 9s has taken #1 main at CP 70 for a meet with a northbound Emerald Turn.

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In a view from the opposite side of the tracks, a Detroit Edison train is heading south on the #2 main track at CP 70, led by two Conrail General Electrics. Photo by Bill Sechler - Matt Reese Collection

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Photo by Ron Wilson. A former Conrail SD60 and a CP Rail locomotive hold down the #2 main track with loaded CSX hoppers at the north end of the Clarksville double track as a southbound CSX Turn crosses over onto #1 at CP70.

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A colorful lashup of two Super 7s, one in the MGA scheme and the other in Conrail paint, along with two Wisconsin Central units await the arrival of a northbound at BLS "GATE" near Clarksville, PA, during the summer following the Conrail takeover of the MGA. Photo by Bill Sechler - Matt Reese Collection

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A Detroit Edison train with #018 and two other DEEX units up front are headed south near "GATE" with their 140 car loaded unit train in late winter. Photo by Bill Sechler - Matt Reese Collection

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A Conrail SD40-2 leads a set of mty hoppers a mile south of "GATE" through the splendid fall colors of south western Pennsylvania. Photo by Bill Sechler - Matt Reese Collection

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Photo by Matt Reese. Two Conrail units followed by 100 empty hoppers are about to pass the station at Mather in the early spring of 1999.

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Photo by Chris Strogen. On a hazy summer day in 2000, three Norfolk Southern SD40-2s are passing the abandoned station at Mather with an mty PPL train. The spur in the foreground is mostly used by MofW forces to clear the main track while working.

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Photo by Terry Arbogast. Led by Super 7 #2300, a southbound Wisconsin Electric train is approaching the north bridge over Ten Mile Run.

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Photo by Matt Reese. From the same vantage point more than a decade later, two CSX AC6000s charge across Ten Mile Run in the late evening sunlight with a train of empty SJRX hoppers bound for Bailey Mine.

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Photo by Ron Wilson. Two Burlington Northern SD70MACs lead a northbound loaded CSX train across the south bridge over the South Fork of Ten Mile Run near Mather, Pennsylvania

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Photo by Rich Borkowski Jr. An empty train is meeting a northbound loaded turn at the Waynesburg (I-79) double track in this view, as the leading units of the drag on the #1 main pass the marker of the southbound on #2 during the fourth of May, 1997.

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Photo by Matt Reese. It's less than two weeks after the Conrail merger and Norfolk Southern has wasted little time in assigning "Stallion" units to the Monongahela. NS #8757 is about to set off the Waynesburg, now MP 83.2, Defect Detector on June 14th, 1999, as it heads north for a meet at CP82.

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Photo by Matt Reese. The power on this southbound CSX Emerald Turn is passing over the Wayesnburg Defect Detector behind the local Pennyslvania State Road facility.

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Photo by Chris Strogen. A CSX Willoughby coal train has finished loading at Emerald Mine and is being pulled off the mine's loading siding bound for Newell. The brick structure to the right is the MGA Mine District's crew and administrative base of operations, often referred to as the "Yard Office". Following Conrail's takeover of the MGA in 1993, it was decided to move the coal field operations from Brownsville to Waynesburg, resulting in this building's construction during the mid 90s.

[Waynesburg Defect Detector]

The Defect Detector at Waynesburg on the Mon Line.

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