[PRCo] Re: Northside rail

[Derrick Brashear]

On Friday, July 25, 2003, at 09:57 PM, Bob Rathke wrote:

> 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

Odd, now that you mention it I remember on an early (~1989) trip to 
Johnstown discovering the Maple Avenue bridge on the Franklin line 
having something that looked like short bits of rail over the expansion 
joints. The bridge was subsequently rehabbed and then got an asphalt 
overlay before I remembered to check on it.

The bridge was built circa 1958, surfaced with concrete. The first 
rehab was concrete deep patching, and it didn't particularly appear to 
have been done before. I laugh at the recent ads for the longevity of 
asphalt.

Incidentally, this is one of the lines in Johnstown where the loop is 
evident though the rail is gone.