A freight train could not make rush delivery of a pair of 250-ton, $1 million transformers from Canonsburg to a Virginia nuclear power plant, while more than 1,000 tons of bundled old newspapers and cardboard still sit piled in the parking lot of a recycling company in Carnegie, stuck because a rain-swollen Chartiers Creek washed away the railroad bridge that provides shipping access.

Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Workers dump rocks Friday in an effort to bolster a Pittsburgh & Ohio Central Railroad bridge over Chartiers Creek on a lead line to Unipaper Recycling Co. In the aftermath of the Sept. 17 flood, which caused major damage to the bridge, the company has been unable to ship materials via rail. The firm has 75 employees. Click photo for larger image.

Everyone knows about the local homes, business districts and roads damaged and in some cases destroyed by the Sept. 17 flood. But the wheels of commerce also have ground to a halt for businesses that rely on Pittsburgh & Ohio Central Railroad to move their products. Parts of that railroad and two others literally went down the river with the raging waters, a largely overlooked impact of the flood that hit the region.

A survey finished last week by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's Rail Freight Division placed damage at $8.5 million to three regional short-line railroads -- the Pittsburgh & Ohio Central, Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad and Allegheny Valley Railroad.

The privately owned and operated small systems provide rail freight service for scores of speciality businesses and haul bulk commodities including scrap steel, chemicals, lumber, oil and finished products.

PennDOT's survey did not assess the supply and delivery aspects that a loss of rail service has had on those businesses.

"That's our lifeline," said Dennis Blake, general manager of Pennsylvania Transformer Technology Inc., the Canonsburg transformer maker that had received the emergency order from a Virginia nuclear plant. "If we don't have those tracks, we're out of business" and 350 employees would be out of work.

The hard-hit Pittsburgh & Ohio Central employs 11 and is 23 miles long, running from Neville Island south to Arden in Washington County, generally following the Interstate 79 corridor.

However, it serves 400 customers and moves about 8,000 freight carloads a year, such as produce for a Giant Eagle warehouse, raw materials for Washington (Pa.) Penn Plastics, the used paper from Unipaper Recycling in Carnegie and transformers from Pennsylvania Transformer Technology Inc.

"We had 1,200 feet washed out where tracks remained suspended 9 feet in the air, and you could walk under them," said Len Wagner, the Pittsburgh & Ohio Central's general manager. "We had debris that hit against the tracks with such force that it bent them. We had one landslide that came down from a 300-foot-high hillside."

He went on, telling where Chartiers Creek lodged a tractor-trailer against a bridge, where other bridges and tracks were washed out, where trees and debris covered the tracks, and where crews have been working around the clock to restore service.

Wagner estimated damages to its Arden and Scully branch lines at $2.5 million. The Arden line is still not open, but the railroad made temporary provisions for a special train to get the transformers out of Canonsburg last week when the Virginia plant reported it was an emergency situation.

"This has been devastating," Wagner said. "Some of the companies we serve are alarmed. If the railroad doesn't get up and running, they told us they're literally finished."

Trucking is not always an alternative because of costs, oversize loads and high-tonnage shipments such as the transformers.

"I'm concerned about the long term," Blake said. "When you're shipping a transformer worth $1 million, you need to worry about the condition of the tracks. You can't have loose soil and tracks giving way."

Like many homeowners, short-line railroad owners do not carry flood insurance.

PennDOT spokesman Kirk Wilson understands businesses are at stake as well as the railroads, so his agency is exploring ways to help.

"We have a rail freight grant assistance program that is a possible source of funding, depending on how serious the flood damage may be in keeping a railroad in service," Wilson said. "At this point, we haven't had any panic calls."

Allegheny Valley Railroad reported the most damage to PennDOT, about $3.3 million worth, mostly on tracks in the Etna area. Company President Russ Peterson does not talk to the media and could not be reached for comment.

Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad estimated its losses at $2.7 million on tracks that extend into Butler, Beaver and Armstrong counties. Its president, Dave Collins, also did not return calls.

Schenley-based Kiski Junction Railroad had minor damage that has been repaired. It has been able to start "Fall Leaf Rides" and said Halloween train rides would take place as scheduled.

The two major rail carriers, to which most short-line railroads connect, escaped most of Ivan's wrath.

"Some of the short lines got hammered but we were actually pretty lucky," CSX Transportation spokeswoman Jane Covington said. "We had water on tracks along the South Side and a short tunnel with some water for a while, but no major infrastructure damage."

Norfolk Southern Railways also experienced minor delays but nothing significant, spokesman Rudy Husband said. "The Mon Valley was a bit of a challenge, but we got things back on track fairly fast."