The Pittsburgh & Western was a narrow-gauge railroad extending from Allegheny (across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh) to Orrville, Ohio, and also had a line north from Allegheny to Mount Jewett, Pennsylvania, almost on the New York border. This timetable shows two trains a day to Orrville and one a day to Mount Jewett plus a number of local trains.

Click image to download a 2.9-MB PDF of this brochure, which is from the David Rumsey map collection.

The timetable advertises that through sleeping cars from Pittsburgh to Chicago. These went over the Wheeling and Lake Erie from Orrville to Monroeville, Ohio, and then the Baltimore & Ohio to Chicago. The B&O and W&LE were both standard-gauge railroads, but the through cars were apparently accommodated by changing trucks at Orrville.

In the 1880s, the Baltimore & Ohio had an 853-mile line from Baltimore to Chicago. This line completely by-passed Pennsylvania, but it also had a branch line to Pittsburgh. In 1902, it purchased the Pittsburgh & Western and converted it to standard gauge track, giving it a line to Chicago via Pittsburgh that was only 804 miles.