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

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

brathke at juno.com wrote:
 
> I'm sure that the P&LE canopy clock was
> changed to DST in April - at least after 1958,

	That is  m-u-c-h  sooner than I thought - thanks for the update.
	Your following description of *facilities* around the P&LE station and
the Smithfield St. Bridge raise some interesting questions as I am not
at all familiar with the construction *down-under* at this location.
	1)--Where does the Smithfield St. Bridge proper start?
	2)--Behind 1676 is what looks like an arched thru truss - arches on
both sides of the double track - but this was earth fill as I remember. 
Used to be a location for a crossover used by the Carson Street shuttles
on pullouts until the turn was cut in at Carson.  So this part is on an
embankment, No?  It is not actually a trestle in spite of the arches, or
is it?  I would assume that the Smithfield St. Bridge itself starts on
the north side of those arches, Yes?
	3)--It seems as though the P&LE canopy itself was a small trestle with
first a pedestrian underpass and then the same used for autos.  But this
*trestle* is separate from the Smithfield St. Bridge itself, No?

	Will be checking your photos on the P&LE station.
	Do you have photos of the B&O station on the north side of the bridge?

	MANY  THANKS!

> 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
 
> ---------------------------------------------------------

> 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
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