Panhandle

[Fred Schneider]

That Aerotrain was in interesting critter.  I managed to talk the PRR into a
cab ride on it from Harrisburg to Altoona when I was a junior in high
school.  That was far enough back in history that water troughs or track
pans were active all the way across the Middle Division but 1957 was the
start of a recession after the memorable economic activity in 1955 and 1956
... the pans were there but we didn't pass a live steam locomotive on the
trip.  My host in Altoona was great ... took me up to the Horseshoe Curve
and let me wander (while he sat in the car listing to the ball game on the
radio).  The Great Northern motors were sitting outside the Altoona Shop ...
they would enter service the next summer.  The ride home included dinner in
the diner (ugh.  The PRR and their bloody canned peas).  

		-----Original Message-----
		From:	Dietrich, Robert J. [mailto:bob.dietrich at unisys.com]
		Sent:	Friday, January 07, 2000 8:15 AM
		To:	'pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org'
		Subject:	RE: Panhandle

		My favorite recollection of the Panhandle Bridge was
watching them turn the
		AeroTrain while slowly walking my paper route.  The train
came into the
		Pennsy Station from the east and after unloading was brought
through the
		tunnel and across the bridge and turned at the wye at the
south end.  I
		don't think the panhandle Bridge was ever out of operation,
just not needed
		and not used much due to lower traffic volume.

		There were a couple books put out recently about the Pennsy
in the Steel
		City that had some detail about the whole Panhandle
Division.

		Bob

		 -----Original Message-----
		From: 	Donald Galt [mailto:galtfd at att.net] 
		Sent:	Thursday, January 06, 2000 7:59 PM
		To:	pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
		Subject:	Re: Panhandle

		On 6 Jan 00, at 18:39, HRBran99 at aol.com wrote:

		> You will note I said "Conrail", not Amtrak. I used to
watch the trains
		cross 
		> the bridge as I was operating a PCC just to the west on
Smithfield St.
		Bridge.
		> 
		Chances are I too saw trains on the bridge during the three
or four times I 
		was in Pittsburgh during the '70s. Then again, maybe not -
somehow I think 
		it would have registered in memory, going in the face of my
first
		impression.

		My first real memory of the bridge in use is of the LR cars
ca.1986.

		D2