62 Trafford - repaving

[mrb190]

No - not boring at all.   

I remember during the 70's, when Grant Street in Millvale was being
being scraped to be re-asphalted, I was surprised to see the tracks
fully in tact all the way from the side street where the cars turned up
to Evergreen Street (they're still under the asphalt of that side
street, too) to the right angle bend at Millvale Park and Mellon Bank.

I never had the chance to see the Millvale or Etna cars in action
(routes were abandoned about 5-6 years before I was around), so this was
surprising for me to see.  I figured that routes abandoned long before
PAT took over were REALLY abandoned to the point of  full track
removal.  E.g., I grew up in Lawrenceville and knew how quickly the city
ripped out the tracks on Butler Street once the 94 & 95 routes were done
in.  It seemed like after PAT, a once over with asphalt was the way to
go in a lot of cases.   E.g., not 100% sure, but I think a good bit of
the tracks are still under the long stretches of Fifth and Forbes
Avenue.

So anyway, your post WAS interesting.  

Matt 

Derrick J Brashear wrote:
> 
> For what it's worth, one of the Russells (Russell-Standard or Russell
> Industries, I think the former) has been repaving PA 130 between the east
> edge of Wilmerding and the west end of the Trafford bridge (which of
> course replaced the old viaduct the trolley tracks were on) since the
> beginning of April. They first scraped the old asphalt, and then put down
> a new coat. 2 places (at least) along this stretch the tracks of the 62
> line ran in the street: through the middle of Pitcairn, and coming off the
> Trafford bridge. In neither case were rails, or even something looking
> like a patch from when railheads were torched off, revealed. Doesn't
> surprise me at the Trafford bridge given that that stretch was closed
> during bridge replacement around 1976, but given what I did see in
> Pitcairn, including some cobblestones, I really expected to see some rails
> or evidence of location thereof in the street.
> 
> The "short" Trafford loop using Brinton, 4th and Viaduct Way can be traced
> through pavement cracks on Viaduct and 4th, and there's a
> between-the-rails sewer grate on the corner of those.
> 
> Probably pretty boring to most of you, but I figured I'd mention it.
> 
> -D