Monessen Junction

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

EDWARD H. LYBARGER wrote:
> 
> Signal numbers on the Washington Route were consecutive from Washington Jct.
> They were indicative of mileage from/to Grant & Liberty on the Charleroi
> Route.  Signal 140 was at Morganza and faced timetable south.  Signal 105
> was/is at Brookside facing north.  The photo IDs are correct but the
> rationale is not!

	I don't understand your last sentence.  It is nice to know that my ID of the locations is 
correct, but what rationale is wrong?  I couldn't see the signal number in the Brookside shot but 
know the location *very well* from memory.  In the Morganza photo, while I don't distinctly 
remember the location, I do have other photos in the same area.  I then surmized that signal 140 
might fit that location mileage wise.

	This is what is confusing about both photos:::::::  The article is about the Charleroi 
interurban  ONLY  --  but the photos used are from the Washington interurban line.  One would 
naturally expect that photos included with an article on the Charleroi line would be photos from 
that line.  Being uncertain about the second location because of no particular memory of this 
section and then rationalizing that the mileage indicator on the signal mast has to fit Morganza 
and  NOT  Charleroi because the latter is still double track 14 miles south of Pittsburgh seems 
like good rationale!  *******I don't have signal mast information but would gladly accept such if 
you wish to send it!!!!!!!*******

> The photo at Morganza is part of a series shot by Union Switch & Signal soon
> after they installed the system
> 
> A company stop list from the late `30s/early `40s reads:
> 
> Black Diamond
> Glendenning
> Eldora Park
> Log Cabin
> Eldora
> Summit
> Bridge 3 NE
> Bridge 3 SE
> Bridge 2 SE
> Bridge 1 SE
> 
> The map in the INL piece appears to be a company map, perhaps from a tariff?
> It shows the fare zones and the track features.
> 
> Ed
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jim Holland <pghpcc at pacbell.net>
> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> Sent: Saturday, June 05, 1999 2:42 PM
> Subject: Re: Monessen Junction
> 
> > Greetings!
> >
> > Don Galt wrote:
> > >
> > > But, then, Lockview station was on the hillside right smack above Old Lock
> > > 4, and just north of the Lock 4 School. Yet my maps show Lockview itself
> > > farther up the road (and, undeniably, more remote from the interurban
> > > line.)
> >
> > Many times I have noticed that *stop names* seem to have no relationship to the immediate
> > surroundings, but can't come up with a good example right now.
> >
> > > Were there stops at Bridge#1, Bridge#2, Bridge#3? Barring these, I see no
> > > note of any stations between Lockview and Eldora.
> >
> > YES - that linear map you have shows stops on the south side of each of the Bridges with
> > Bridges #3 and #2 having telephones - the underline shows telephones.
> >
> > > >From Jim Holland:
> > >
> > > >> I have an absolutely super photo from John Brinckman <<
> > >
> > > Certainly sounds super, from the description.
> > >
> > > Those of you with photographs, of course, are singularly blessed.
> >
> > YOU  can purchase these photos as well; there are some super ones out there.  Another
> > excellent source of photos are the calendars put out by PTM.  They might have some for 1997 and 
> > 1998 yet but all other back dated calendars are gone.
> >
> > > Parting shot: what is the location of the photo on the first page of the
> > > 1944 INL article by Ira Swett, showing a car just beyond a section of
> > > double track?
> >
> > The photo of a 3800 approaching a siding actually *appears to be* entering Brookside siding
> > with the car heading south on the Washington line even though the article itself deals only 
> > with the Charleroi line!!!!!!!  And the snow photo on the page with the map appears to be along 
> > Morganza Road on the Washington line with the car heading northbound.  If the direction is 
> > correct the signal mast indicates a location 14 miles south of Pittsburgh which would make
> > Morganza possibly correct.
> > Fourteen miles south of Pgh on Charleroi should be north of Lanks yet and that would still be 
> > double track as Lanks, the beginning of single track on Charleroi, was 16 miles south!  (But it 
> > looks like the scenery along 88 near Mingo or Crookham on the Charleroi line.)
> > --James B. Holland
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              PITTSBURGH  RAILWAYS  COMPANY  (PRCo),  June of 1949 -- June of 1953
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