South Hills Junction

[Dietrich, Robert J.]

Jim:  Thanks for the response about South Hills Junction.  Your comments
trigger more questions.

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Jim Holland [mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net] 


	I don't believe that the loop around the admin building was there
from
the beginning but it was probably added very early on.  Some very early
drawings I have seen omit this loop.  But the track behind the admin
building might have preceeded the loop and was originally connected to
the inbound 38-39-40-42 lines.  And if the loop that passed under the
44-48 lines was in place, then pullouts in the morning left the yard,
turned behind the admin building, used the Warrington loop and returned
to go outbound on the interurbans etc.
This is confirmed by a couple pictures.  The second pix on my web, the old
one from the P&CS article, shows no loop track and no track behind the
building.  A have another pix that I haven't posted yet showing tracks in
the back but still no loop.

	Early on, the route through the yard was quite convoluted and the
east
side yard was very poorly defined and had very little storage.  The
routing through the yard was probably reconfigured some time after the
38 and 39 lines started using the ramp to the Palm Garden Trestle
(instead of entering and exiting the yard off Warrington). 
Where was the access to Warrington Ave.?
	But what really stumps me is the track that joins the outbound 40
line
from a point just south of the tunnel portal.  I can only assume that it
was a temporary bypass, possibly part of the original configuration,
while some of the other junction tracks were reconstructed.  Photo #PI
0303 from Harold A. Smith shows 3813 signed for CHARLEROI and at a point
near the boarding point for interurbans southbound with this track
apparent as well.  The angle is extremely shallow and there doesn't
appear to be any points but the car could be sitting on them.  The angle
of the rails belie the fact that this could be the normal switch for the
38-39-40-42 to take.  The date of the photo is 1936.  In the 1950s, this
was just a stub track off the 40 line to a point just south of the
restaurant; all the other rails in this track were removed
Could it be that the 40 was originally single track out of the junction?
There was a short section of single track before it got to Boggs Ave.  Was
it possible that the single track extended all the way onto the junction at
one time?  

Another perplexing thing about this track is the location of that newsstand,
or resturant.  On the map I posted, taken from a '30s copy from the museum,
this track appears and it is right in front of the newsstand.  But later pix
(http://www.voicenet.com/~dietrich/SHJ/cd10.htm) don't allow room for that
track.  Was the building and steps moved or rebuilt?


I'm currently trying to make drawings of the Admin Building, it appears to
have quite an evolution also.  Does anyone know when the roof overhang was
removed?  Also was the first floor "porch" on the rear (the side facing the 
single track) ever enclosed?  Some pix after 1950 appear to have it bricked
in but none I've seen are clear.

Thanks.

Bob Dietrich 
Member of only EPTC.