[PRCo] Northside rail

[Bob Rathke]

I suspect that a lot of route 4 rail is still under the asphalt on Troy
Hill.  Most of the old Belgian block or concrete pavements were simply
overlayed with asphalt after trolleys were discontinued.  However, some of
these streets may have been rebuilt, and the rail removed, in later years.

The 16th St. Bridge is another story.  The deck was totally rebuilt at least
twice, and maybe a third time, after trolleys were abandoned.  In the
mid-1960's rebuilding they removed most of the rail, and left only the rail
that was attached to the expansion joints.  These small sections of rail
were probably removed when the bridge was more extensively rebuilt in later
years.

I know that most of the route 5 streets on Spring Hill were never
extensively rebuilt, although Itin St. was totally rebuilt near Diana St. in
1969 when part of the hill there collapsed.

Bob 7/25/03

-----------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Swindler" <j_swindler at hotmail.com>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 9:18 AM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Northside rail


>
>
> Interesting.  Thanks, Bob
>
> What about the Troy Hill route?  Any suspicions on whether rail removed or
> do you think it might still be in place under the pavement???
>
> What about 16th St. Bridge?
>
> Just wondering.
>
> John
>
>
>
>
> >From: "Bob Rathke" <bobrathke at comcast.net>
> >Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> >Subject: [PRCo] Northside rail
> >Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 21:55:50 -0500
> >
> >The Northside rail is on Chestnut St., north of E. Ohio St.  This was the
> >rail for routes 1 and 5, and it exists exposed and in good condition,
> >including turnouts (at least until recently) as far north as Spring
Garden