Ligonier Valley Rail Road Museum

The museum preserves the story of the Ligonier Valley Rail Road, a 10-mile Mellon-family short line that tied Latrobe to Ligonier, Pennsylvania along Loyalhanna Creek. Chartered by the state legislature in 1853 as the Latrobe and Ligonier Rail Road Company and renamed in May 1871, the line languished until Pittsburgh banking magnate Thomas Mellon agreed to buy it in August 1877; trains finally rolled on December 1 of that year. Built as 3-foot narrow gauge, it was converted to standard gauge in 1882, and in 1908 a 5.7-mile branch opened north to the coal towns of Wilpen and Fort Palmer. The railroad hauled coal, coke, lumber, and quarry stone, and its passenger trains carried crowds to the railroad-owned Idlewild Park — though tragedy struck on July 5, 1912, when a head-on collision on the Wilpen branch killed 26 people. Service ended on August 31, 1952. The surviving Darlington station, an original LV Rail Road depot about three miles west of Ligonier built around 1896, was given to the Ligonier Valley Rail Road Association, restored, and now houses the association's museum.