Second Avenue/Tenth/Carson *also 11th street in town

[mrb190]

Now that IS definitely interesting trivia.   And like Ken responded (I didn't get
through all the e-mails yet) I'd say PAT did keep the rails in working order just
in case the Smithfield Bridge couldn't handle the traffic.

Part of me definitely wishes that the Smithfield would have been temporarily
closed in order for the 10th Street to be reinstated.   That would have been a
treat for someone like myself who only started to independently ride the cars in
1970 (prior to that I always had to be accompained by parent or older
brother/sister).

I do remember seeing that the 2nd Avenue tracks were still around in the early
70's (particularly when crossing over in an auto from the ramps off the Liberty
bridge), but I didn't know that the Carson Street tracks were still in working
order from Arlington Avenue to the 10th Street bridge.   THANKS for this
historical info.

Like Ken (I think) said, this DEFINITELY beats talking about "Survivor."  (I
never watched the show, but I'm tired of hearing about it.)

I remember seeing wire restrung on the streets bordering the Greyhound Station in
town (this was after the demise of 44 Knoxville which formerly looped there).  I
think this occurred some time in the very late 70's/early 80's?    I assumed it
was because PAT was re-routing in preparation of the new subway.  But this
re-wiring didn't seem to last very long - probably not even a year.
Another note on this area:  in the 60's, when shopping at Buyer's Mart, on
eleventh street across from Greyhound, I always remember seeing cars labelled CAR
HOUSE turning off Liberty onto that street, then out on Penn, to 12th (jeeez I
hope I got these side street names right) and back onto Liberty (or Grant).

Matt




HRBran99 at aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 9/27/00 1:16:07 PM Eastern Daylight Time, twg at pulsenet.com
> quotes kjosephson as saying:
>
> << Considering the information presented in this discussion thread, did PAT
>  consider retaining another bridge crossing just in case the Smithfield span
>  had to be closed or perhaps if more serious weight restrictions had to be
>  imposed? Ken J.
>   >>
>
> One interesting thing I noticed for many years during the early and mid 1970s
> was that every two or three months PATransit rail maintainence trucks would
> be checking the trackage along Second Avenue from Ross to 10th St. Bridge,
> the trackage on the bridge, and the trackage from 10th St, west along Carson
> to New Arlington. This even including welding sections of rail which were
> extremely worn. I never did ask why the always did this. There was no
> overhead wire in place along these stretches of rail. I first noticed this in
> 1973 when going home from SHJct and crossing the 10th St. Bridge was held up
> because traffic was shifted to the right hand lane only do to welding of
> rails taking place on the Second Avenue end of the bridge. Still a mystery
> why PAT did this. They really could not use the tracks unless they strung
> overhead.
>
> HrB