62 Trafford - repaving*Thanks, Bob!*also Philly question

[Derrick J Brashear]

On Sat, 29 Apr 2000, mrb190 wrote:

> I imagine that all around the city, there are many points where old tracks are revealed
> every now and then.  Most recent citing for me:  one rail leading into the old 56
> McKeesport/65 Munhall p.r.w. right off Mifflin Road across from Interboro Avenue.  I
> wonder just how much is left under the asphalt there.  Also, this past winter, two
> turnouts were evident along Main Street in Munhall when salt wore down the old asphalt.

-1 block of Chestnut north just after the part that was rebuilt north of
E. Ohio still had tracks
-Forbes Avenue just east of the Birmingham Bridge ramps has some track
visible from when the street was realigned either for the Parkway ramps or
the Birmingham Bridge: I don't know which; I assume the former.
-Second Avenue by the S. 10th St. bridge had visible tracks when I was in
high school but I'm pretty sure at this point they're under asphalt
-entrance to the 56 line prw when you're headed up the hill from the
Dravosburg Bridge (don't know if it's Richland Ave that far up the hill or
not)
-When Pittsburgh was last repaving Forbes Avenue near Schenley Park a
small bit of rail appeared in Forbes one block toward Sq. Hill from the
top of the hill, which may mean rail is buried on the entire hill.
-Electric Avenue in North Braddock/East Pittsburgh has some rail show up
when a heavy rainstorm blew out some asphalt

Much like the stuff archaeologists are after, a surprising amount of what
we consider heritage is now buried!

And then there are the places the track was presumably removed and the
area they were pulled from repaved, but not the whole road:
-PA 993 just east of Trafford had a crossing-spaced set of cracks where
the West Penn Irwin-Trafford line would have crossed; I didn't get to see
what was under it since when that was repaved about 3 years ago they
didn't scrape first.
-PA 130 on the east side of Jeannette has a set of cracks running down the
middle of the street, where the track ran (I know it did because somewhere
I have a picture)... near the bottom of the hill, closer to where Oakford
Park was the cracks curved off the edge of the road, leading perfectly to
a ramped area off the edge of the road which is also about track-sized.
-On the sides of Greensburg City Hall, the ex-West Penn station there were
track-cracks as well.

-D