Information about Riverfront Park - Sewickley, Pennsylvania
Click here for a photo gallery of the park!!!
Click here for photos of the new Phase II boat launch and river overlook!!!
Click here for photos of the H.K. Porter Locomotive and Caboose being moved to the park
- The rail line that runs past the park is called the Ft. Wayne line and was incorporated in 1848.
- The main Norfolk and Southern east-west route runs past the park. NS averages 50 trains daily carrying a wide range of products, coal, and mail.
- AMTRAK operates six daily trains past the park.
- The locomotive at the park is an H.K. Porter 0-4-0T made in 1897 at the H.K. Porter Locomotive Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally used for maintenance purposes at the Duquesne Works of the U.S. Steel Corporation in Pittsburgh. The engine was then displayed at Mr. Fred Okie's house on Backbone Road in Sewickley. He was President of two railroads, the Union Railroad and the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad. The locomotive sat on his front lawn until he moved to a retirement home in 1978 and it was shipped to Station Square. When Station Square was sold to new owners (Forest City Development) they donated the cars back to Sewickley and to this Park. See the links below for more information about Porter Locomotives:
- Catskill Archives Porter Page
Dataview Page on the Sewickley Locomotive - Lots of Photographs
- The caboose is a "bobber" style caboose. According to the Dataview Publishing website, the caboose was "built for the P&LE in the late 19th Century, this car was later transferred to the Pittsburgh & Ohio Valley, and then to the Shenango Furnace Company on Neville Island, PA. Retired in 1964, it was displayed for some time at Station Square on Pittsburgh's South Side before being taken to Riverfront Park in Sewickley, PA." This cars were called "bobbers" because they only had two axles, which caused a harsh "bobbing" ride for those inside.
