Derails

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

	This subject has been visited before  b-u-t  since we have more members
now maybe they can help to shed light on this subject.

	I remember two derails in the 50s but really didn't start riding the
system (on my own, except for going downtown and back or to the dentist
on Carrick) until about 1957 or later, so many things were changed by
then.  These two derails were on the two leads northbound into the
MtWashington tunnel.  Bob Rathke remembers the one on the 5-line on Itin
being in service until the end.

	Both the 1944 and 1949 ERA maps show derails - many of them - with the
1949 map being the most detailed.

The 1949 map clearly shows the following derails:::
	 1- Three on 49-line on Arlington grade.
	 2- Two on 48-line outbound on Arlington where only
		the outbound track exists.
	 3- One inbound 53-line btwn Arlington and Sarah.
	 4- One on 40-line on Shiloh outbound near Grandview.
	 5- Two on the 9-Charles St *Transfer* - both nr Perrysville
		on either side of crossover, both tracks.
	 6- Three on 21-line on Henderson.
	 7- One on 21-line on Carrie.
	 8- One on 21-line on Lanark.
	 9- Two on 58-line inbound:
		a- Greenfield and Graphic.
		b- Greenville before Irvine.
	10- One 58-line outbound of Irvine.
	11- Two 59- & 65-lines both directions Amity near 8th.
	12- Four - two each direction - Library Street
		btwn Bell and Braddock.
	13- One 85-line outbound Fullerton.
	14- One 85-line outbound Bedford.
	13- One - a real *oddball* - outbound on the 42 just after
		it splits with the interurban.  This is shown on both
		ERA maps, has nothing to do with the strange 40-line
		connection (original 42 alignment 1910), and would
		seem much more logical closer to the tunnel to prevent
		a backward runaway from entering the tunnel!

	Does any of our more *senior* members remember anything about these
derails and when they were possibly removed?

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/