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

Sun Sep 17 22:27:50 EDT 2000

The canopy iteself was south of the P&LE tracks.  The thru-truss arches
were OVER the P&LE tracks - see my 9/20/75 photo at
<http://gelwood.railfan.net/other/gtw/gtw-s4070t.jpg>.   I believe that
the Smithfield St. Bridge began at the pier at the south edge of the
Monongahela River.

In my February, 1966 photo
<http://gelwood.railfan.net/other/lightrail/pat-1676r.jpg> you can see
the stairs to the east side of the canopy in the low structure to the far
right.  The stairs down to P&LE trackside on the west side of the bridge
can be seen through the trolley waiting platform at the left side of the
trolley tracks.

I recall a headline oin B&O timetables in April, 1958  that read, "B&O
timetables are now shown in LOCAL time -Daylight or Standard - whichever
is in effect at stations shown."

I have photos of the old (pre-1957) station on the website,  but the
trolley sign is not among them.  However, I have copies of B&O RR
Historical Society publications that may show such signs- I'll check them
and inform the list of my findings.

Bob 9/17

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On Sun, 17 Sep 2000 17:59:53 -0700 Jim Holland <pghpcc at pacbell.net>
writes:
> 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
> N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/

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