Fairbanks Feature: A New Train of Thought – The Wayne A. Cole Collection: Ghost Rail series and other volumes

James D. Van Trump Library | Frank B. Fairbanks Transportation Archive | Fairbanks Features

Showcasing a variety of materials located in the Frank B. Fairbanks Rail Transportation Archive

No. 2 Presentation:
The Wayne A. Cole Collection––Ghost Rail series and other volumes

Wayne A. Cole is a graduate of Geneva College and a retired English teacher from Blackhawk High School. His series of railroad books fills a reference gap that is not addressed in any other publications. He is working on additional books for his Ghost Rails series, which will be added to the Fairbanks Archives as funds permit. We thank Mr. Cole for donating one of the volumes listed here.

Most of the rail lines written in these books are abandoned now, but they were vital to the economy of their area when first built.

• Ghost Rails Volume 1 1850-1980Abandoned Railroads, Their Industries, Last Runs Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania
• Ghost Rails Volume II Western Allegheny Railroad CompanyThe last steam in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the last F units in revenue service in America, Western Allegheny Railroad, the Bessemer and Lake Erie, the BR&P, and the Pennsylvania Railroad 1903-1994
• Ghost Rails III ElectricsUpper Ohio Valley, West Virginia, Ohio, Pa.
• Ghost Rails IV Industrial ShortlinesA historical series of the abandon railroads and their industries Ohio and Pennsylvania State Line
• Ghost Rails V PRR Butler Branch and Buffalo Creek GhostsWinfield Railroad to PRR Kiski Junction
• Ghost Rails VI Harmony RouteThe Pittsburgh Harmony Butler & New Castle Railway
• Beaver Valley Railroad Company The history from Bridgewater to Vanport, from Sun Oil Co. to Cook-Anderson, lumber and sand, and finally the atomic bomb
• Rails of DreamsThe Youngstown and Southern Railway; The Pittsburgh Lisbon and Western Railroad; The Pittsburgh Coal Company’s private railroad––the Smiths Ferry Branch
• Where Earth Dissolves Like Snow The Keystone Driller Story
• To be added in the future: Ghost Rails VII through X

The Frank B. Fairbanks Rail Transportation Archive is open by appointment on Mondays, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Use of the archive is free to PHLF members (one of the benefits!); non-members are assessed a $10 use fee.

The Archive is located on the fourth floor of The Landmarks Building at Station Square, in the offices of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.

To schedule an appointment, email the Librarian James Halttunen: James@phlf.org