Welcome to the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Historical Society web site. We hope that you will find many interesting and informative items on these pages, and will come back to visit us often.

March 8, 2008
The latest issue of The Little Giant, the magazine of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Historical Society, brings articles that look at covering some interesting aspects of the P&LE.

The first article is an in-depth discussion of "The Demise of the Little Giant". In the first installment of a two part article, author Jack Polaritz begins with the early history of the P&LE, discussing how it's strategic location in the heart of the steel capital of the world was responsible for both it's rise to the most profitable railroad in the country and it's ultimate downfall when the steel industry in the United States collapsed. Railfans and historians alike will find this article enlightening as Jack outlines the business decisions and missed opportunities that brought about the ruin of the P&LE. This article covers the years of the P&LE's control by the New York Central Railroad and it's dire treatment at the hands of both the Penn Central and Conrail until it became an independant railroad in the 1980s.

Larry Kline continues to examine the P&LE's freight car fleet in this issue, but with an unusual twist. This article discusses the failure of a USRA design gondola, one of over 3500 owned by P&LE and a common design used by railroads across the country. Gondola No. 47908 was loaded with machinery and being moved by the Pennsyvania Railroad in 1949 when it suffered a structural failure. Larry discusses the manner in which the car was loaded, the AAR rules that guided it's loading and the correspondence between the PRR and the P&LE.

Larry also has a follow up to regarding the U-3-L 0-8-0 locomotives that was published in the last issue of The Little Giant. Larry has uncovered the Alco builders photos which show the engine in great detail.

March 22, 2008
I apologize to everyone for the problems that the PLERRHS website experienced over the couple of weeks. I'm not completely sure what happened while I was uploading the update, but something caused the site to go down. I want to thank the support staff at Jumpline.com for the assistance that they gave in getting our website back online. I've scaled down the update for now while I determine what caused the problems last weekend.
       Ken Izzo, PLERRHS Webmaster

Our Goals
This web site exists for everyone who is interested in the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad. We are here to provide a service to you - but to continue to make this site grow, we need your help. Do you have original images of either the prototype railroad or a model that you've built, drawings of any sort, or if your a former employee and have an interesting story to tell, please share these items with everyone who considers the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad to truly be The Little Giant!

Do you have any ideas on how to make this web site better? We welcome all suggestions and comments.