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The Westland Branch leaves the Montour Trail Main Line at Gilmore Junction, west of Venice in Cecil Township and runs four miles south to the old mining village of Westland on Hornhead Road. It is the only piece of the Montour Trail with a working railroad beside it: since 2012 the Wheeling and Lake Erie has run tank trains along a rebuilt track to the MarkWest gas plant, creeping past at a few miles an hour. The trail rides a crushed limestone bed over former strip-mined ground, mostly open, with a rise to a low divide and a drop into Westland. Back at Gilmore Junction the Main Line runs east to Venice and Cecil Park or west toward McDonald.
Montour Trail: Westland Branch
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Montour Trail: Westland Branch has about 108 to 149 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, e-biking, birding, biking, running, and walking, with April, May, and October the best months.
Hourly comfort scores for the next 15 days of weather, tuned to your activity and your own thresholds.
Plan your visit to this trail. Get the best windows for a comfortable outing.
Enjoy the Montour Trail: Westland Branch!
In half of past years, color along the Montour Trail: Westland Branch peaks October 20 to November 1, typically around October 25. The trail has 34% deciduous coverage, with the majority being black cherry, red maple, white ash, yellow-poplar, and sugar maple.
The Montour Railroad hauled its first coal in June 1879, from the Dickson Mine at Cliff Mine to barges on the Ohio River at Coraopolis. The Imperial Coal Company had organized the railroad in 1877 to reach its mines near Imperial. Passenger and mail trains ran the main line from 1879 until 1927. In 1899 the Pittsburgh Coal Company bought Imperial Coal and its railroad. From 1913 to 1914 it laid a 32-mile Mifflin Extension around Pittsburgh's South Hills to Bethel Park. Branches followed: Library in 1918, Muse in 1921, and Westland in 1928. During World War II the Montour shipped more than 300,000 tons of coal a month. The coal market fell in the 1970s, mines closed, and the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie, sole owner by 1976, cut the line back. The last Montour crew was called on November 1, 1984. Full abandonment took effect in May 1986. Volunteers chartered the Montour Trail Council in November 1989. In 1991 it bought 38 miles of right of way from the P&LE for $220,000. The first 4.4 miles of trail opened at Cecil Park in October 1992. The council has built the trail piece by piece since, earning National Recreation Trail status in 2004. The Westland Branch follows the 1928 spur to Westland Mine No. 1, the Montour's last customer, and since August 2012 it has shared its corridor with a rebuilt railroad serving the MarkWest gas plant.
