Panhandle

[brathke at juno.com]

Yes, the PRR Aerotrain had a very fast turnaround.  Westbound, it arrived
in Pittsburgh around 2:30 PM, unloaded passengers, then went through the
Panhandle Tunnel and over the bridge to the wye.  It quickly returned to
Union Station for an eastboiund departure around 3:30 PM.  

I have a couple of 1956 photos on the Aerotrain on the Fallen Flags
website.  I also have some photos of the Panhandle Tunnel exposed to
daylight during the excavation for the USS Bldg. in 1968.  Interestingly,
the photos also show the earlier canal tunnel UNDER the railroad tunnel
at that site.

Bob 1/9

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Fri, 7 Jan 2000 08:15:28 -0500  "Dietrich, Robert J."
<bob.dietrich at unisys.com> writes:
>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

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