Derails -- SHILOH!

[Robert E. Rathke]

The derail near the south end of Itin St. on the 5 Spring Hill line was
still there on the last day of trolleys, October 5, 1957. (I suspect that
the derail is still there -  although the signal is long gone - since the
city simply put about 3" of asphalt over the tracks and old pavement in
1959.)  The PCC's replaced low floor cars on route 5 when the loop at the
end of Rhine St. opened in 1946, so the derail lasted 11 years into the
PCC era there.  Among many memories of the PCCs and low floor cars on
Route 5 was always watching for the car to stop at the derail, throw the
switch, and then proceed.

Bob 7/23

On Thu, 22 Jul 1999 23:02:48 -0700 Jim Holland <pghpcc at pacbell.net>
writes:
>Greetings,
>
>	The ERA map I refer to was originally drawn in 1946 and was 
>supposedly 
>corrected to June of 1949; they were probably thinking of more major 
>revisions 
>for the corrections so I don't know if every single derail was double 
>checked.
>	The derail noted on the 40 line is outbound on Shiloh 
>somewhere before 
>turning onto Grandview.  Remember this is 1949 at the very latest.
>	MY  ASSUMPTIONS  CONCERNING  THE  DERAILS:::::::
>		Although any equipment could experience a freak 
>runaway, it 
>would seem that the PCC car would be less prone to such a problem.  
>The older 
>low floor cars with their air brakes could easily run away.  I assume 
>that the 
>derails disappeared with the old cars.
>	THE  ONLY  DERAILS  that remained in the late 50s, that I know 
>of, 
>were the two before entering the tunnel northbound from South Hills 
>Junction. 
> Let's make that three:::::::
>	One which was forgotten because it is not on the map is the 
>yard track 
>southbound on the west side of the 38, 39, and 42 prw approaching Palm 
>Garden. 
> Because cars were stored here ready to head outbound on these lines 
>for the 
>AM rush hour, a derail was in place in case any rolled away to prevent 
>them 
>from running onto the main line.
>	But again, to my knowledge, the derails were probably gone by 
>the mid 
>1950s except for the above three locations  --  and other yard tracks 
>where 
>cars might roll onto the main line!
>	The track map that I have is for the complete system and shows 
>the 
>configurations but does not give lengths, radii, elevations etc.  The 
>museum 
>might have that!  Would be glad to send a copy of what I have.
>
>Derrick J Brashear wrote:
>> 
>> This bounced:
>> 
>> From: "Dietrich, Robert J." <bob.dietrich at unisys.com>
>> To: "'pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org'"
>>          <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
>> Subject: RE: Derails
>> Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 07:41:50 -0400
>> 
>> Jim:
>> 
>> This is a block from where I grew up, I rode, walked, and drove all 
>over
>> that track and don't remember no derail.  Where exactly was it 
>located?  You
>> say you have an original PRCo map of that area?  I'm in the planning 
>stage
>> of a module of the top of Southern Ave. and Shiloh St., I'm guessing 
>on the
>> trackwork.  Can you share the map?
>> 
>> Bob Dietrich
>> 
>>  -----Original Message-----
>> From:   Jim Holland [mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net]
>> Sent:   Saturday, July 17, 1999 6:25 AM
>> To:     pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> Subject:        Re: Derails
>> 
>> Greetings!
>> 
>>         Found another one, bringing the total to a *possible* 31:
>> 
>>         1 on Shiloh outbound, 40 Mt. Washington.
>> 
>>         Found the above on a blow up of the original map.  Could be 
>a dot
>> for the "i" in Shiloh, but looks more like a derail!
>
>-- 
>James B. Holland
>       PITTSBURGH RAILWAYS COMPANY (PRCo), June of 1949 -- June of 
>1953
>       To e-mail *off-list,* please click here: 
>mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net
>N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/

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