South Hills Junction

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

Donald Galt wrote:
> 
> Just a general observation WRT to Jim's latest comments:
> 
> I do suspect that the city topo map fails to show a lot of crossovers . . .
> Therefore, I'm willing to accept that there probably would have been a
> connection from the single track on the south side of the triangle to the
> outbound 38/39/40/42 even though it isn't shown on the map.

	I think that maps from the early part of the century would be far more
accurate than those of the latter part of the century - but that is just
an assumption on my part.
	As I mentioned in another post, I have a map that is reportedly 1950
and the only difference from the 1927 map is the loop around the admin
building - absolutely everything south of the admin building is
identical except that the 38-39 do not use Warrington any longer.  And I
know that the yard was in its most recent configuration by 1950 so this
*supposed 1950 map* is not any where near correct!
	Nevertheless, I would use a map as *only one piece of evidence* in
determing alignment at any particular time - I would want at least 2-3
other sources to verify this map.  The most acceptable map - standing
alone - would be one by PRCo that is dated and imprinted with PRCo
identification.

	I do not believe that PRCo would use single-track operation for the
38-39-42 down thru the yard when so much space existed for a double
track main and when that double track main exists well into the yard.  I
do not believe that it is a matter of just a crossover missing from the
schematic.
	Additionally, PRCo had extremely few crossovers for the size of the
system!  I seriously doubt that PRCo would have used an x-over as a part
of normal daily operations for a single end car to change tracks (they
did use x-overs for a double ended car to change ends.)  The only x-over
for real daily operation that allowed single end cars to change tracks
was at the Kennywood siding inbound and that was to allow a car to pull
in front of another car sitting on the siding.
	On the 1946-1949 ERA maps (at a time when many double end cars were
still in operation), there were three x-overs at/near West View Park
that existed to the end and looks like one for the 9 near Perrysville as
well as one near East and Evergreen for the 12 as well as the outer
terminal for the 12!  There are none visible in the West End.  There is
a crossover on W. Carson near Smithfield for the 32, two on the
interurban right at Castle Shannon and one inbound of Elwynn.  There is
one on the 38 on West Liberty just inbound of the 42 wye (which was used
by a 42 car when his reverser would not work!)  On the 56 there is one
on Mifflin at Riverton, one at Lincoln Place for the 65 (and apparently
one at Amity and 8th on the other end of the 65), and appears to be one
on 5th near Sinclair in Mckeesport as well as one on Evans Ave near 5th
(in addition to a stub end terminal for the 99).  There are several
crossovers near Kennywood and one outbound of there as well as one at
Braddock and Draper for the 63 and one on the 81 Atwood near Forbes. 
That is a total of 22 crossovers for 75-80 streetcar lines.  Stub end
terminals for double end equipment are not crossovers and are not
counted.
	Compare that with San Francisco where there were 3 on the "J" - 1 on
the "K" - 3 on the "L" - 1 on the "M" - 5 on the "N" - 4 downtown and 2
on the pullout track to the "K" line as well as one in the Twin Peaks
Tunnel just inbound of West Portal.  That is 20 crossovers on five lines
in San Francisco!  This is the mid to late 50s in San Francisco - if we
were to compare the 1946-1949 era, San Francisco might have triple that
of Pittsburgh but still only 10-15 car lines!

> > Didn't the railroad go out
> > long before 1927?
> 
> Don't know when it disappeared

	May 01, 1912 - and the narrow gauge rail was promptly removed except
for curves and bridges where it was used as guard rail (that was the 9th
paragraph of my letter:  "Castle Shannon Car House; P&CSRR; SHJ; Date:
Tue, 16 Nov 1999 05:37:50 -0800".)  But maybe the corporate name
lingered on for a while - fifteen years until 1927???!!!

	Didn't PRCo exist as a corporate shell for many years before changing
its name to Pitway?

James B. Holland
------- -- ---------
        Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo), June of 1949 -- June of 1953
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