Turtle Creek Industrial Railroad

Turtle Creek Industrial Railroad

Turtle Creek Industrial Railroad locomotive #550 in Export, PA
Overview
Headquarters	Export, Pennsylvania
Reporting mark	TCKR
Locale	Westmoreland and Allegheny counties, Pennsylvania, USA
Dates of operation	1982–2009
Predecessor	Turtle Creek Industrial Track of the Consolidated Rail Corporation[1]
Successor	Westmoreland Heritage Trail
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length	10.7 miles (17.2 km)
Route map Legend M.P. [2][3] Old William Penn Hwy 10.70 Turtle Creek Export Flood Protection Project Puckety Dr Dura-Bond 10.19 Turtle Creek, 25' br Lincoln Ave Van Buren St 9.29 Turtle Creek US 22: William Penn Hwy Haymaker Farm Rd 8.19 Turtle Creek, 55.5' br 7.76 Turtle Creek, 75' br School Rd Murrysville run-round loop Carson Ave 5.83 Turtle Creek, 55.5' br Trafford Rd Mills St 3.69 Turtle Creek, 104' br I-76 / Penna Turnpike Saunders Station Rd 3 Simpson Run, 24' br 2.52 Turtle Creek, 108' br Forbes Rd PA 130: 5th St Ext 4th St 0 SZ Cabin Pittsburgh Line

The Turtle Creek Industrial Railroad (reporting mark TCKR) was a short line freight railroad that operated in western Pennsylvania between the boroughs of Export and Trafford, where it connected to the Pittsburgh Line. The TCKR was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dura-Bond Corporation, a steel products company headquartered in Export. The company purchased the railroad from Conrail (the successor to the Pennsylvania Railroad) in 1982. For the next 27 years, three to five trains per week made the round trip along just over ten miles (16 km) of track, delivering materials such as steel pipe to the shortline's parent company in Export and lumber to lumber yards in neighboring Murrysville. In the shortline's heyday, trains of typically about four cars in length were hauled by one of the railroad's two 1940s era switch engines, operated by a two-man crew. The railroad was in service until 2009, when flash flooding of Turtle Creek severely damaged the TCKR's tracks which ran adjacent to the stream. After cessation of service, most of the right-of-way was sold to Westmoreland County to become part of the Westmoreland Heritage Trail.