http://gelwood.railfan.net/other/lightrail/pat-1676r.jpg P&LE Canopy & Clock -- Smithfield St. Bridge

[brathke at juno.com]

I believe the railroads (at least the B&O) started to produce timetables
in Daylight time in 1958.  I'm sure that the P&LE canopy clock was
changed to DST in April - at least after 1958, but whether or not the
railtoad adjusted the clock pre-1958 is a good question.  I took photos
at the location in the early 1960's, and relied on the clock - I don't
recall ever having to adjust in my mind the time to DST.

The east (inbound) side of the canopy had a staircase that went down the
east side of the bridge structure, then you walked through a pedestrian
tunnel, past the taxi driveway to the course level of the P&LE station;
this tunnel is still there, but ioday it is used by automobiles going
from Station Square to the parking lot on the east side of the bridge. 
Going back to the old canopy: people on the west side of the canopy
(outbound) simply walked across the auto lanes of the Smithfield Street
Bridge, entered the main doors of the station and walked down the grand
staircase to the concourse level: or...you could walk down a staircase to
the outside walkway along the railroad tracks(this walkway has been
enclosed and is now a dining room at the Grand Concourse Restaurant). 

If you'd like to see some of my photos of the P&LE station, go the "P&LE"
page on the website 
<www.dnaco.net/~gelwood>.  I also have photos of the PRR and B&O stations
on those railroad pages.

The P&LE canopy contained a large sign showing the numbers and names of
the trolley routes that stopped there.  There was a similar sign at the
Liberty Avenue trolley stop at the PRR Station.  And, there MAY have been
a trolley route sign at the old B&O station (torn down in 1957) on the
downtown side of the Smithfield St. Bridge.  I'll have to check my
photos. I assume (hope) that these signs were saved.  Does anyone know
their whereabouts?  I took a photo of the P&LE sign, but never
photographed the sign at the PRR station.

Bob 9/17

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On Sun, 17 Sep 2000 15:24:50 -0700 Jim Holland <pghpcc at pacbell.net>
writes:
> Greetings!
> 
> 	This URL 
> http://gelwood.railfan.net/other/lightrail/pat-1676r.jpg shows
> the P&LE Canopy.  It appears as though there were stairs leading 
> down to
> the railroad tracks so one might assume that P&LE built the canopy.
> 	The sign under the clock reads *Eastern Standard Time.*  The 
> railroads
> *in-the-good-old-days* always ran on standard time so if this canopy 
> was
> owned and maintained by P&LE, then I assume that this clock remained 
> on
> Standard time 365-days a year - at least thru the end of PRCo and
> probably into the next decade!
> 	Good assumption or No?!?!
> 
> James B. Holland
> 
>         Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
>     To e-mail privately, please click here: 
> mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net
> N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/

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