After encouraging the development of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad (P&LE) east of downtown Pittsburgh to give competition for traffic from his Oliver Iron and Steel Company, Henry W. Oliver set about arranging for direct competition for the P&LE, looking back to the Pennsylvania Railroad to provide that.
Under an 1882 charter, sufficient for any railroad purpose but with the stated purpose of building a 7-mile passenger line to the future suburb of Whitehall, a line was constructed parallel to and across sidings of the P&LE serving industries from South 3rd St. to South 21st St.
[1] It connected to an existing branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad by traversing an easement in a reservation in the center of South 21st St. obtained from the heirs of the Ormsby estate.
[3] At the time, that part of the South Side was the independent community of East Birmingham and the street was known first as Oliver St., then Railroad St.[4] The Whitehall Branch consisted of the Pittsburgh and Whitehall, sold by the Oliver interests to the Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston Railway,[5] predecessor of the PRR Monongahela Branch, on March 27, 1888 (with a certificate of consolidation filed May 14, 1888),[6] including the trackage parallel to the narrow gauge coal line along South 21st St.,[4] and additional trackage along Mary St. running east from South 21st St. parallel to the Monongahela Branch until it joined it near 30th St. yard.
Later the PRR would lease back the stretch parallel to the P&LE to Oliver Iron's captive Allegheny and South Side Railway.