[PRCo] Re: Liberty Avenue (and tunnel under PRR tracks)

[Harold Geissenheimer]

Bob and all   I may be the only person on the list to have used
this 12/14 st tunnel.  For several years in the early 1950's, the US 
Post Office
borrowed National Guard two and a half ton combat trucks at Christmas
as long as a National Guardsman was employed to drive it.  I worked
extra for 3 years helping to move mail between post offices.  That included
loading in this tunnel.  Looking back now, I sure had a diversified 
life.  I enjoyed
it all.  With money made then, I made my first trip to Florida after 
Christmas.
Used my 1950 DeSoto and went to Daytona, St A and Silver Springs,
I was joined by anothetr Sgt..Sgt Ronald I Kerr who now owns Kerr's Auto
Body in Castle Shannon abutting the trolley r/w.  Later I joined his church,
Bethel First Methodist, at King School Road on the Library Line.  At that
time they were meeting in a small one room school house before they
built the present. church.  Bethel Park was a simple place compared to 
today.
Ronald Kerr also drove a USPO truck for several years.

Harold Geissenheimer

Bob Rathke wrote:

>When the PRR station and platforms were rebuilt in the early 1950's, an
>alcove was built in the new concrete retaining wall along Liberty Ave. just
>east of 16th St. (and possibly at other trolley stops east of there).  The
>sidewalk was very narrow - maybe non-existent - there, and so the alcove
>allowed people to wait for trolleys. Farther west of this point, the
>sidewalk on Liberty Avenue was wider, and so there was normal waiting space
>at 14th St. and at the PRR station stop between 11th and 12th St.
>
>The tunnel under the PRR wall and tracks was between 12th and 14th, and
>allowed railroad vehicle access to the lower level of the station which was
>used by baggage wagons and service vehicles.  The tunnel entrance wasn't
>used after the mid-1960's and was fenced in.  The opening may still be
>there.
>
>Wasn't Liberty Avenue a 2-way street until the late 1940's?  That might
>account for the second trolley track there.
>
>Bob 7/20/04
>
>-----------------------------
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Joshua Dunfield" <Joshua_Dunfield at mlist-0.sp.cs.cmu.edu>
>To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
>Sent: Monday, July 19, 2004 5:17 PM
>Subject: [PRCo] Re: Liberty Avenue (and tunnel under PRR tracks)
>
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>>Matt Barry wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Hello all,
>>>
>>>Liberty Avenue, from 16th street to____?  is currently being scraped for
>>>eventual asphalt repaving.   Travelling over it yesterday afternoon, it
>>>was fairly easy to see that all of the rails that former PRC routes
>>>77/54, 88 Frankstown, 87 Ardmore, and 94 Sharpsburg used, are in tact.
>>>This includes the rails that turned in and out of 23rd and 24th streets
>>>(I may be off a street or two) from Penn Avenue to Liberty Avenue.
>>>      
>>>
>>[...]
>>
>>OK, I just rode the 54C out there.  Turning rails visible at 23rd and
>>22nd, as follows:
>>
>>    22nd        23rd
>>     :           :
>>.....:...........:.............Liberty
>>   \ : /         : /
>>    \:           :/
>>     :           :
>>
>>The tracks going from Liberty outbound onto 22nd are truncated
>>(exposed track-ends, without continuing under the pavement on 22nd).
>>
>>Since there's no real sidewalk on the north side of Liberty, I wasn't
>>in a position to see the main tracks.
>>
>>They've finished resurfacing as far as 17th, so if anyone wants
>>to take pictures they should do so ASAP.
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Just interesting to see this history uncovered.
>>>
>>>On that same trip yesterday, we were on the North Side, and drove up
>>>Chesnut Street from Spring Garden.  There on Chesnut, almost from the
>>>intersection with Spring Garden, was the original red brick street with
>>>car tracks in tact.   The wheels on my Ford rode the rails quite well.
>>>      
>>>
>>Yes, the Chestnut tracks are very well preserved.
>>
>>Also, regarding the tunnel under the tracks on the 1923 map, there is
>>a suspicious-looking alcove (strewn with trash and blocked by
>>chain-link fence) in the right place (just east of I-579, which is
>>between 14th and where 13th would be if it now intersected Liberty).
>>It's quite wide, which fits the 1923 map.  I didn't feel like getting
>>myself killed crossing Liberty, so I didn't get a closer loo.
>>
>>-j.
>>    
>>
>RR
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