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

[mrb190]

When I was writing my post (listed below yours) I had an inkling I may have gotten
Millvale street names mixed.  I meant to say "North Ave." is what I saw being scraped.
Grant meets with North near Millvale Park & the Mellon bank, right?

Anyway, even though you didn't directly point this out to me, glad you cleared up my
confusion.

Yes, I forgot about the tracks still embedded in the old red-brick paving near the end
of Grant.   I walk across the 40th street bridge sometimes - I occasionally come into
Lawrenceville and hook up with my sister for a walk and we go as far as the old
Millvale loop from 44th street in Lawrenceville.  Long, but nice walk.  And we do hike
across the abandoned part of old East Ohio with the tracks still evident.  Makes us
kind of melancholy when passing through there.

Speaking of tracks still embedded -- in front of the old Post Office Musuem on the
North Side, there's a double-set of streetcar tracks in belgian block.  I think this is
also part of the original East Ohio at that point.   In the 70's when taking the 54C
bus to Allegheny Center Mall, I noted that originally only three rails were still
embedded.  At some point, someone decided that it'd be more historical, I guess, if the
fourth rail were put back in.

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.

Didn't Philadelphia recently (within last five years) end up re-using old rails they
uncovered somewhere in their city to do some re-routing of a certain car line?

Matt
Bob Schmidt wrote:

> Speaking of, and confirming, repaving:
>
> I moved to Millvale in the mid-50's about the time the Millvale Carbarn
> & Storage Yard at old East Ohio St. & Grant Ave. was leveled making way
> for the Rte.8/28 bypass construction.
>
> I too was rather surprised by the "covering over" of tracks from a point
> where the carbarn had stood....on out Grant and North Aves. to  the loop
> at Bauerstown. Must've had something to do with rail demolition funding
> on PATs part.
>
> No doubt a deal was cut with the Mayor and Borough Council of Millvale
> where PAT would pay for the better part, (if not all), of the 1.5 mile
> length of macademizing (Woops! ...that's "hardtopping" these days), if
> they could bury everything. Excavating paving bricks, track, and ties,
> would've added considerable cost for the new, budding Authority "bean
> counters."
>
> There remains a 60 ft. set of inbound/outbound track set in paving stone
> on a short section of the original old East Ohio St. that somehow missed
> the dozers blade. It's located in what is now a small parking lot area
> outside the West Penn Laco Store. All is adjacent to the bypass at the
> intersection of Grant Avenue and old East Ohio Street.
>
> In the early 50's before operations terminated, I watched M-701, 283,
> and Yard Crane 282 operating in the Millvale yard which was PRC's  rail
> and ties storage facility. There, many a PCC was transferred off
> railroad flatbed cars onto narrow gauge yard trackage which eventually
> sent them on down East Ohio Street to their various carhouse
> assignments.
>
> Just a bit of recall.
>
> Bob S.
>
>   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: Re: 62 Trafford - repaving
> Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 09:37:29 -0400
> From: mrb190 <mrb190+ at pitt.edu>
> Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> References: <Pine.LNX.3.96L.1000427212321.7469E-100000 at dyn03.trafford.dementia.org>
>
> 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