When stockholders of the Pennsylvania Railroad gathered in Philadelphia on Feb. 6, 1854, that meeting was big news in Pittsburgh.

The railroad's mountain division, which had been digging tunnels and laying track through the Alleghenies, had finished its work, The Pittsburgh Gazette reported Feb. 10. "[A] locomotive passed through the Allegheny tunnel and the division will be placed in a condition for use during the present month," according to the newspaper.

"An express train will then be run through Philadelphia to Pittsburgh in 15 hours," the paper said. That "time will be further reduced during the coming summer, when a double track is expected across the mountains, and the line is placed in a condition for high velocities."

When Pittsburgh was founded almost 100 years earlier, the journey between Philadelphia and the Forks of the Ohio could take several weeks. As canals and rail lines were constructed out from both the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh ends of the cross-state route, travel time dropped to less than a week.

But the 3,000-foot elevations of the ancient Alleghenies remained a big barrier to moving goods and people quickly and cheaply between the Atlantic coast and the Ohio Valley.

The 1834 completion of the Allegheny Portage Railroad had further speeded up travel by linking the eastern and western portions of the Pennsylvania Canal. Barges and rail cars could be carried up and down the Allegheny Ridge on a series of inclines similar to those still used to transport passengers to the top of Pittsburgh's Mount Washington. The system was called a railroad, because the vehicles moved on rails.

Completion of Horseshoe Curve, west of Altoona, and the Summit Tunnel, now known as the Allegheny Tunnel, opened the way in 1854 for a continuous, all-rail route across the state.

Not only would the trip be faster, it also would be less expensive. With the Pennsylvania Railroad no longer having to pay a fee to the portage railroad for use of its 36-mile-long system, "the fare between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh will be reduced from $9.50 to $8," the Gazette said. The one-way fare still wasn't cheap. It is equivalent to about $200 in modern currency.

The formal date for the start of rail service on the Pennsylvania's mountain division was Feb. 15. The Gazette took note of that landmark date in the previous day's edition: "This evening the first passenger train on the eastern road through the tunnel, avoiding all the inclined planes, will leave this city at half past 9 o'clock. No doubt many of our citizens will embrace this opportunity of visiting the East."

"It will be something to think of and talk about to be on the first passenger train through and over the Allegheny Mountains," the newspaper said. "It is, indeed, a great event and ought to have a fitting celebration."

The completion of cross-state service meant changes for railroads that provided service to communities west of Pittsburgh.

The Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad, which linked Allegheny City -- now Pittsburgh's North Side -- to central Ohio, quickly amended its schedule. At Crestline, which straddles Ohio's Crawford and Richland counties, passengers could connect with trains providing service to Chicago and Cincinnati. Travel from Cincinnati to Philadelphia, the Gazette noted on Feb. 18, had been trimmed to 30 hours.

The Ohio and Pennsylvania also began offering a commuter service. Starting Feb. 23, business people from as far away as Wooster -- about 120 west of Pittsburgh -- could catch an early morning mail train that would get them to the city before noon. They would be able to remain "here several hours in the business part of the day, and [return] home before bed time," according to the Gazette.

The new service would be "a great convenience to our friends in Ohio, and an important advantage to the trade of the city," the newspaper said.

"The route through Pittsburgh is now ... the most speedy and the most pleasant, between the East and the West; and we are glad to perceive that the traveling public are becoming aware to the fact."

Len Barcousky can be reached at lbarcousky@post-gazette.com or 724-772-0184.

EYEWITNESS: 1854

pittsburgh to philadelphia in -- Gulp! -- a day

When stockholders of the Pennsylvania Railroad gathered in Philadelphia on Feb. 6, 1854, that meeting was big news in Pittsburgh.

The railroad's mountain division, which had been digging tunnels and laying track through the Alleghenies, had finished its work, The Pittsburgh Gazette reported Feb. 10. "[A] locomotive passed through the Allegheny tunnel and the division will be placed in a condition for use during the present month," according to the newspaper.

"An express train will then be run through Philadelphia to Pittsburgh in 15 hours," the paper said. That "time will be further reduced during the coming summer, when a double track is expected across the mountains, and the line is placed in a condition for high velocities."

When Pittsburgh was founded almost 100 years earlier, the journey between Philadelphia and the Forks of the Ohio could take several weeks. As canals and rail lines were constructed out from both the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh ends of the cross-state route, travel time dropped to less than a week.

But the 3,000-foot elevations of the ancient Alleghenies remained a big barrier to moving goods and people quickly and cheaply between the Atlantic coast and the Ohio Valley.

The 1834 completion of the Allegheny Portage Railroad had further speeded up travel by linking the eastern and western portions of the Pennsylvania Canal. Barges and rail cars could be carried up and down the Allegheny Ridge on a series of inclines similar to those still used to transport passengers to the top of Pittsburgh's Mount Washington. The system was called a railroad, because the vehicles moved on rails.

Completion of Horseshoe Curve, west of Altoona, and the Summit Tunnel, now known as the Allegheny Tunnel, opened the way in 1854 for a continuous, all-rail route across the state.

Not only would the trip be faster, it also would be less expensive. With the Pennsylvania Railroad no longer having to pay a fee to the portage railroad for use of its 36-mile-long system, "the fare between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh will be reduced from $9.50 to $8," the Gazette said. The one-way fare still wasn't cheap. It is equivalent to about $200 in modern currency.

The formal date for the start of rail service on the Pennsylvania's mountain division was Feb. 15. The Gazette took note of that landmark date in the previous day's edition: "This evening the first passenger train on the eastern road through the tunnel, avoiding all the inclined planes, will leave this city at half past 9 o'clock. No doubt many of our citizens will embrace this opportunity of visiting the East."

"It will be something to think of and talk about to be on the first passenger train through and over the Allegheny Mountains," the newspaper said. "It is, indeed, a great event and ought to have a fitting celebration."

The completion of cross-state service meant changes for railroads that provided service to communities west of Pittsburgh.

The Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad, which linked Allegheny City -- now Pittsburgh's North Side -- to central Ohio, quickly amended its schedule. At Crestline, which straddles Ohio's Crawford and Richland counties, passengers could connect with trains providing service to Chicago and Cincinnati. Travel from Cincinnati to Philadelphia, the Gazette noted on Feb. 18, had been trimmed to 30 hours.

The Ohio and Pennsylvania also began offering a commuter service. Starting Feb. 23, business people from as far away as Wooster -- about 120 west of Pittsburgh -- could catch an early morning mail train that would get them to the city before noon. They would be able to remain "here several hours in the business part of the day, and [return] home before bed time," according to the Gazette.

The new service would be "a great convenience to our friends in Ohio, and an important advantage to the trade of the city," the newspaper said.

"The route through Pittsburgh is now ... the most speedy and the most pleasant, between the East and the West; and we are glad to perceive that the traveling public are becoming aware to the fact."