Pittsburgh, Westmoreland and Somerset Railroad

The Pittsburgh, Westmoreland, & Somerset Railroad (PW&S) was a short-lived railroad that connected the Pennsylvania communities of Ligonier and Somerset, running over a mountain known as Laurel Hill or Laurel Mountain.

On occasion the railroad's name was spelled as the Pittsburg, Westmoreland, & Somerset, using the older spelling of Pittsburgh without the h. Although Pittsburgh is in the railroad's name, it never served that city. The word Westmoreland refers to Westmoreland County, where the town of Ligonier is located.

The railroad's sole tunnel was the Quemahoning Tunnel, also known as the Lumber Railroad Tunnel, which had originally been built for the South Pennsylvania Railroad but had not been previously used.

Although the Pennsylvania Railroad did not control the PW&S, the Pennsylvania Railroad provided construction materials. The Pennsylvania Railroad regarded the PW&S as a feeder which would compete for customers against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which had viewed Somerset County as a captive customer base. However, the operational difficulties of running trains over the steep gradients of Laurel Hill prevented the PW&S from being truly competitive against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

The PW&S had a very short life. Although trains began operating on the western segment near Ligonier in 1899, the complete Ligonier-Somerset route operated for only ten years (1906–1916). Little remains of the PW&S, yet it had a lasting impact in developing the area southeast of Ligonier, near present-day Rector, as a summer cottage area for Pittsburgh's elite. Laurel Summit State Park, at the mountain's crest, first became popular as a recreational destination due to PW&S excursion trains.