Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway – W&LE

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Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway – W&LE

The Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway (W&LE) is an important regional railroad that serves Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The company operates on a revitalized infrastructure, and though it shares a name with a historic railway, the modern W&LE is a distinct entity established in 1990.

History of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway

The history of the W&LE is a story of evolution, mergers, and revival. The original Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway was founded in 1871 with the goal of connecting the coal fields of southeastern Ohio to Lake Erie ports like Huron and Toledo. Despite some early financial struggles, it grew into a significant carrier by acquiring other lines, such as the Cleveland, Canton and Southern Railroad. The railroad was even nicknamed “The Iron Cross” for its busy intersecting lines in Ohio.

The original W&LE never reached Wheeling on its own rails, instead relying on a subsidiary, the Wheeling Bridge and Terminal Company, to cross the Ohio River. In 1949, the W&LE was leased for 99 years to the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, known as the “Nickel Plate Road,” which gave that company access to Ohio’s coal country and Lake Erie ports. The Nickel Plate Road was later merged into the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1964.

Mergers and Acquisition

The end of the original W&LE came in 1989 when its parent company, Norfolk Southern (created from the merger of Norfolk and Western with Southern Railway), dissolved it as a legal entity. A new era began in 1990 when an investor group acquired most of the former W&LE trackage from Norfolk Southern and created the modern Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway. In August 2025, FTAI Infrastructure, Inc. acquired the modern W&LE for $1.05 billion.

Modern operations and cities served

The modern W&LE is a Class II regional railroad, headquartered in Brewster, Ohio, that operates over 840 miles of track. The company primarily hauls freight, carrying more than 140,000 carloads annually. The freight includes a diverse range of commodities, such as steel, aggregates, chemicals, grain, lumber, and products from the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.

The W&LE’s network covers large portions of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, and includes significant track mileage in states like Maryland. Key cities served or connected to include:

  • Ohio: Brewster (headquarters), Canton, Cleveland, Huron, Orrville, Smithville, Toledo, and Zanesville.
  • Pennsylvania: The Pittsburgh area, connecting with the Union Railroad.
  • West Virginia: Wheeling.

Interchanges with CSX and NS

As a regional railroad, the W&LE depends on connections with larger Class I railroads to extend its reach nationwide. It interchanges with CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern (NS), the two major Class I railroads in the eastern U.S..

  • CSX: The W&LE has various interchange points with CSX across its network. For example, the W&LE uses trackage rights over a portion of CSX’s line between Greenwich and New London, Ohio, to connect different sections of its own Carey Subdivision.
  • Norfolk Southern: As the railroad that originally sold the W&LE trackage, Norfolk Southern maintains several interchange points with the regional railroad.

Through these strategic interchanges, the W&LE functions as a critical link in the nation’s rail network, efficiently connecting local and regional customers to national and international markets.

For More Information – Sources and Resources

The following are excellent resources for those of you wanting to explore and learn more about the history and operation of the Appalachian Railroads. These sources of information also serve as reference and historical materials for Appalachian-Railroads.org. Much of the collective railroad history data points on this website are verified across multiple sources.

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