• "The Bus"
  Butler Twp.-City Joint Municipal Transit Authority
  "The Bus" provides fixed route public transportation throughout the Butler PA area.
  Office:  140 W. North Street
  Butler PA 16001
  724-283-0445
  Terminal:  113 E. Cunningham St.
  Butler PA 16001
  724-283-1783
  Terminal hours: 5:45AM to 5PM Monday through Friday; 9:30AM to 2:30PM Saturday and Sunday.
  Seniors 65 and older ride free 8:00-4:30 Monday thru Friday and ALL DAY Saturday!

• Kenneth Bauman Bus, Inc.
  School Buses
  429 Fairmont Rd.
  Chicora, PA  16025
  724-445-7944
• Campbell Bus Lines
  Bus Charter Service
  258 Grove City Rd.
  Slippery Rock, PA
  724-794-2440
• Durham School Service
  Cabot: 724-287-4413 
  Butler: 724-285-5794
  Pine Richland: 724-443-5063
  Karns City: 724-445-7944

The Pennsylvania School Bus Stopping Laws:

• When you meet or overtake a stopped school bus with red signal lights flashing and stop arm extended, you must stop.
• When you approach an intersection where a stopped school bus has its red signal lights flashing and stop arm extended, you must stop.
• You must stop for a bus on roadways with painted lines. Drivers do not have to stop on a highway with clearly defined dividing sections or physical barriers providing separate road ways - this only applies when the school bus is on the opposite side of the road.
• You must stop at least 10 feet away from the school bus.
• You must wait until the red lights have stopped flashing and the stop arm has been withdrawn before moving.
• Do not move until all the children have reached a place of safety.

If you are convicted of violating Pennsylvania's School Bus Stopping Law, you will receive a 60-day driver's license suspension, five points on your driving record and a $100 fine.

Roads & Highways
Butler County PA

Schools & Training - CDL Training, Driving Schools
Butler County PA

• Transport Tech of Butler
  647 Evans City Road 
  Butler, PA 16001
  724-482-0019
  Email:
  Website: www.training4cdl.com
  CDL Training

If you bought it, a truck brought it.
Respect the Truckers!

Without truckers, America would stop!
Respect the Truckers!

Trains and Train Rides - Butler County PA

RailRoad Removal
Submitted by Leroy Andre

     Some neighbors envy other neighbors, but do fellow neighbors envy the property recently acquired by the William and Kay Barnhart family, who reside on Boosel Road, in Concord Township, in northern Butler County.
     It is historic, but what do you do with a 697 foot, 103 foot high railroad trestle, constructed of huge wooden beams and steel supports? It is doubtful if any other similar structures are under private ownership. The last train to pass over the trestle was on Nov. 2, 1994, and the train was featured in a railroad magazine following the final trip.
     The Western Allegheny Railroad had transported both passengers and materials from Brady's Bend and Kaylor, in Armstrong County, through northern Butler County communities near Chicora and having 31 stops as it traveled north of Butler, to its terminal at Queens Junction, in Clay Township. Most of the stops were close together, and the names of the stations have almost all disappeared along the 18 mile route.
     Bessemer and Lake Erie became the owners of the railroad, and about two years ago, announced that they would sell the land for which they had right-of-ways.
After some of the property owners, who owned the land adjoining the railroads that had been used by the railroads, attended a public meeting at the Moraine Park Office, they learned that promoters of Rails to Trails, were interested in the former railroad beds for a hiking trail.
     When those opposed to a trails being constructed, the sponsors asked for a show of hands of those wanting a trail. It was quite clear that the majority present were opposed to the trails project proposal.
     After leaving the meeting, several of the property owners discussed the situation and decided to form a Landowners Association, and work towards securing the right-of-ways for return to those who owned the property prior to construction of the railroad bed.
     When the railroads constructed the railroad beds, they acquired the necessary property through outright sales in the early 1900's, rather than agreements with the land owners that the property used by the company would revert back to the original owners if the railroad ceased to operate.
     At subsequent meetings of the property owners, the Landowners Association was formed, with three members from each of of the townships through which the railroad had operated. Jim Christy, Doug McKinney and Bill O'Brien, Clay Township, Glen Stevens, Bill 
     Barnhart and Bob Niggel, Concord Township, and Tom Huff, Mat Hartle an Fred Rupp, Fairview Township, were board members.
     A two year period of holding meetings, writing letters, making phone calls, and knocking on doors, ensued as the board members donated time, travel and other efforts towards the securing of the land. County commissioners and other elected officials in each area were contacted and Commissioners James Kennedy and Glenn Anderson joined the supervisors in attending or providing help and advice to the Association. 
     Each land owner was asked to contribute a sum of money for the railroad property abutting their property, based on the value per acre of the land estimate. Additional dues of $100 a year per landowner was assessed to cover incorporation fees, insurance, legal fees and any other costs incurred.
     Many hours were devoted by the board members in working out details of the organization-drawing up by-laws, researching property maps and deeds, determining how much land each property owners was entitled to purchase, setting and holding meetings with members of the Association and the railroad people, political contacts, attorneys and then determine what the final bid would be that they could submit to the railroad
     Bob Niggel, who presided at the meeting when results of the bidding process was made known, said that the entire board did a tremendous job during the many months to reach their goal. He added that Bill and Kay Barnhart were the "catalyst that drove the engine."
     Niggel added that while each board member contributed much to the success, Bill and Kay had spent hundreds of hours and drove hundreds of mile, in additions to spending countless hours on the telephone seeking and informing and disseminating information relative to each landowner's property
When the time for bidding arrived, the Association was so well organized that that they were able to submit the high bid of $290,000 for the entire right-of-way, approximately nineteen miles long and almost 300 acres, affecting 75 families whose property adjoined the railroad.
     Attorney Tom King and his office staff were instrumental in working out the legal details regarding the bid agreement and the redeeding of the railroad properties to the landowners. The Landowners Association bid of $290,000, with 10 percent of the bid, was presented to the railroad officials on Feb. 11, and was accepted. 
     Final details remain, but the removal process of rails, spikes and plates, and the railroad ties started several months ago and just reached the Mahood Crossing recently. Rails and crossing signs and lights have been removed from crossings and signs stating the railroad is no longer in operation now grace the crossings.
     The salvage company stored the ties at Kaylor, where huge piles are being moved out by trailer trucks. Everything has been removed except the ballast from the railroad bed. Many spectators, with camera in hand viewed the operation in removing the rails and other metal. The trestle now owned by the Barnharts presented extra hazards in the removal of the rails, spikes and metal plates attaching the rails to the wooden ties.
     A large machine with a strong magnet attached to its long boom, lifted the metal spikes and plates, and had to make a 180 turn, with the hundreds of pounds of metal suspended over the sides of the trestle to be placed in a high lift bucket. The high lift then had to back off the trestle to dump the metal into a large trailer. When loaded the huge rig had to drive back over the ballast, go for unloading, and then back up the railroad bed to the trestle.
     Strange as it may seem, the operator of the boom was afraid of heights, he wouldn't even go on a Ferris wheel with his children.
     He operated the unit without incident, but added that he wasn't going on the trestle more than once.
     "I've worked the unit on other trestles, but none as high as this one," the operator said. He finished the removal of the metal from the trestle at 4 p.m., July 3, 2002, in time to celebrate the 4th with his family, and with other "booms" rather than the one with the magnet.
     Among the spectators viewing the dismantling of the rails and other metal from the trestle were Jack Barnhart, whose grandfather had owned the ground over which that portion of the railroad passed, and had watched the construction, and Jack's grandson, Joshua, who viewed the dismantling.
     The trestle, now owned by Bill and Kay Barnhart, will have sections at each end removed, or blocked, so that ATV riders and others cannot gain access to travel on the high structure. A long tunnel will be sealed at both ends, overpasses and road grade crossings will be removed. Railroad crossing signs and crossing signals have been removed and replaced with signs stating that the railroad is no longer operating.
     A major project developed at the Mahood Crossing, on Rt. 308 with the removal of the signs, lights and rails. The rails were dug out, a concrete base replaced the rails and ballast, and the crossing became part of a road improvement project extending back to near Butler.
     Today, with the removal of the rails and ties, the tracks that once carried both passengers and merchandise is nothing but a gravel path meandering off into a bygone era, leaving the older generations reflecting on a time when life was much less hectic, and much less complicated. It was also a time when the trains served the rural areas, residents could travel on a train, gaining access almost at their doorsteps, avoiding the hazards presented on crowded highways where most motorists travel as if they were on tracks like a train, not willing to share the highways with others and lacking most of the courtesies shown by the older generations.

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