PAT Arch St. wye

[John F Bromley]

On my various and sundry visits to Pittsburgh between 1960-68, I saw several
cars use this wye in the earlier years, usually 13/14/15 late-runners
turning back, although I vaguely remember a 6 on it as well.  The crowning
glory, however, was the time around Christmas, 1962 that I saw it used by
Route 22-CROSSTOWN cars because their normal terminal was blocked by fire
trucks.  No pictures, it was too dark and I had no tripod.  I expect that
might be why it was kept long after the Jacksonia St portion of that cutoff
was abandoned.

JFB

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Rathke" <brathke at mediaone.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2000 3:13 PM
Subject: Re: PAT Arch St. wye


> The 1959 PERC map shows the Arch St. wye as a remnant of a single-track
line
> that ran on Arch and Jacksonia Streets, apparantly a bypass or alternate
route
> to the main double-track line on North Ave. and Monterrey Street.
>
> Does anyone know which route ran on Arch and Jacksonia, or was that line
> simply an alternate to North Ave., and if so, was that why the Arch St.
wye
> remained active into 1966?  Considering the speed with  which PRC and PAT
> removed the turnouts to abandoned lines, there must have been a more
> significant reason (other than infrequent fire reroutings) for the wye.
>
> In 1966, the short track on Arch St. could hold one - possibly two - PCCs.
>
> Bob 12/14
>
> ------------------------------
>
> mrb190 wrote:
>
> > P.S.   I didn't even know there was a wye there.
> >
> > Ah, if only the lines there had lasted a few more years...
> >
> > Bob Rathke wrote:
> >
> > > On March 19, 1966, while covering the last weeks of the 21-Fineview
and
> > > 6/14 Brighton/Avalon trolleys, I photographed an unusual turnback
> > > procedure.  There was a fire somewhere west of Federal St. that
required
> > > outbound 6/14 trolleys to be turned back to downtown via the North
> > > Avenue/Arch St. wye.  I took a sequence of photos of the procedure at
> > > that intersection, and two of those photos can be found on the
"Rathke"
> > > page of Derrick's website:
> > >
> > > http://www.dementia.org/~shadow/PCC/brathke/AvalonArchf.JPG  -  This
> > > view shows 1783 pulling northbound  onto Arch St. from North Ave.
Note
> > > the PAT worker behind the trolley getting ready for the back-up move.
> > > The view is toward the south - the 4-story dark brick building behind
> > > the trolley pole is Allegheny High School.  The 6-story building in
the
> > > right background is (was) Divine Providence Hospital.
> > >
> > > http://www.dementia.org/~shadow/PCC/brathke/AvalonArchb.JPG  -  Here
the
> > > view is toward the northwest.  The 1783 is backing out of Arch St. as
> > > the worker guides the trolley wheel.  The PCC will soon be on North
Ave.
> > > (foreground) and heading back to downtown (to the right side of the
> > > photo).
> > >
> > > Bob 12/14
>