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Wheeling Traction Company: Serving Northern WV

Published: January 26, 2025

By: Adam Burns

In Wheeling, the local broad-gauge street railway, measuring 5’-2½”, once owned a standard-gauge interurban line that ran along the Ohio River's east bank all the way to Steubenville.

Despite many years of trying, they never completed a similar line on the west bank. The east bank line, constructed by the Pan Handle Traction Company, hugged the roadside and was regarded as insufficient by the company.

They aimed for a more robust build for the west bank line. The Wheeling-Wellsburg segment of the east bank line, stretching 18 miles, opened in 1903. By 1906, the Tri-State Traction Company extended the line from Steubenville to Wellsburg, eventually falling under West Penn Railways' control.

In 1918, Wheeling Traction, also owned by West Penn, leased the line, but the lease ended in 1931 due to Wheeling Traction’s financial downfall. The operation of the interurban went back to Pan Handle Traction and the Steubenville Wellsburg and Weirton Railway, which succeeded the Tri-State Traction, all still under West Penn’s watch.

When Pan Handle Traction declared bankruptcy in 1936, the interurban was shut down on October 25, 1937. It featured heavy steel center-door cars typical of West Penn, with local trips taking 90 minutes over the 23-mile route. Limited services completed it in 60 minutes, running three times daily. A branch with a line to Weirton, 6 miles from Steubenville, opened in 1911.

The unfinished line on the west bank belonged to the Steubenville and Wheeling Traction Company, a subsidiary of Wheeling Traction, featuring standard-gauge tracks from Steubenville to Brilliant and from Wheeling to Rayland and Warrenton.

Around 1901, the company pushed to complete the line, but never built the 7-mile stretch from Warrenton to Brilliant. They even adjusted their entryway into Steubenville, frequently claiming the gap would soon be closed, yet it remained two separate suburban lines throughout its existence, despite maps illustrating it as complete.

Meanwhile, Wheeling Traction ran suburban lines with broad-gauge tracks to places like Moundsville, Barton, and Shadyside. Their Moundsville line operated from 1896 to 1941. After facing bankruptcy in 1931, the company re-emerged as the Co-operative Transit Company, now owned by its employees. The Barton and Shadyside lines continued to run shortly after World War II before ceasing operations.

Cooperative Transit Company car #4 was photographed here in Wheeling, West Virginia on July 7, 1940.

The Wheeling Traction Company has been pivotal in boosting Wheeling's civic and material progressions, transitioning from horse-drawn carriages to a vast electric railway system that spans the city and surrounding areas, providing invaluable service to the community.

Back in 1863, the Citizens Railway Company of Wheeling introduced the city to its first street railway, featuring horse-drawn cars navigating on wooden tracks. This line connected South Wheeling with North Wheeling and extended further to Bridgeport, Ohio. This mode of transport lasted until 1887 when the Wheeling Railway Company was formed, merging with the Citizens Railway Company. Following this union, Wheeling's Citizen Railway tracks were electrified, allowing electric cars to take over the routes once dominated by horse-cars.

The first electric vehicles in Wheeling were of the Vanderpool type, equipped with a motor upfront. This motor worked through a sprocket chain tied to a wheel on the car's axle. These early electric cars could only travel in one direction, necessitating the use of turntables or a "Y" junction to change course. Notably, Wheeling was just the third city in America to implement an electric street railway system.

The tracks for these electric cars were built with flat rails similar to those used for horse cars, laid atop a 6 by 6 inch wooden beam with cross ties spaced five feet apart. Power transfer to the car was achieved using two overhead trolley wires, eliminating the need for a return through the rail.

In 1889, they pushed the electric railway down to Benwood. Fast forward to 1893, they put up the new Back River Bridge and stretched the electric line all the way to Bridgeport, Ohio. That same year, the Bellaire, Bridgeport, and Martins Ferry Street Railway Company was born, rolling out a line from Bellaire through Bridgeport to Martins Ferry, Ohio. By 1895, another group sprang up, laying tracks from Benwood to Moundsville, West Virginia. In 1898, a bunch of investors from Wheeling made a mark by stringing an electric line from Steubenville to Brilliant, Ohio.

Come 1899, the Wheeling Railway Company went through a makeover, emerging as the Wheeling Traction Company. This revamped entity took over the Wheeling Railway Company's interests, including the Bridgeport, Bellaire & Martins Ferry Street Railway Company, managing lines on Ohio's side of the Ohio River and between Benwood and Moundsville. Then in 1901, folks from Wheeling got together to form the Northern Ohio Valley Railway Company—later rebranded as the Pan Handle Traction Company—setting up an electric railway between Wheeling and Wellsburg, West Virginia. Just two years later, this route stretched out further to Lazearville, West Virginia. In 1902, the Steubenville to Brilliant line found a new home under the Wheeling Traction Company.

In 1904, the Tri-State Railway Company, which would later become the Steubenville, Wellsburg & Weirton Railway Company, built a line from Wellsburg to Steubenville. About two years on, they added a line running from East Steubenville to Weirton, West Virginia. Around 1904, the Wheeling Traction Company also extended its reach from Bridgeport to Barton, Ohio. By 1906, the lines were extended from Martins Ferry to Rayland, Ohio, and in 1907, the Bellaire line reached out to Shadyside, Ohio. The Wheeling Traction Company's stock was scooped up by Pittsburgh’s West Penn Railways Company in 1912. A few years later in 1917, West Penn Railways took over the routes connecting Steubenville with Wellsburg and Weirton. Currently, these lines are running under a lease held by the Wheeling Traction Company.

The initial power plant started out in an old skating rink in South Wheeling, but eventually moved to a sturdier venue on Forty-second Street, Wheeling. Nowadays, the power essential for running the cars predominantly comes from the Windsor Power Plant, located in Beech Bottom, West Virginia, approximately twelve miles north of Wheeling.

Staying current with national trends in the electric railway sector, the Wheeling Traction Company now boasts modern, double truck steel passenger cars on its routes. For the interurban services, they employ large steel type cars with center entrances. On a daily basis, they operate seventy cars on scheduled routes, with additional freight and express cars running between Wheeling and other locations like Moundsville and Steubenville-Weirton. Both the track and overhead lines have undergone updates, aligning with standard practices in modern railway construction, resulting in a system that now spans 101 miles of track.

The company employs a workforce of approximately 600 people across various departments such as transportation, track, and shop. Their facilities, including shops and barns, are situated on Wheeling Island, McMechen, West Virginia, Beech Bottom, West Virginia, and Follansbee, West Virginia. In 1921, the company transported 27 million passengers along its lines.