[PRCo] Re: 1936___Flood -Verona

[Fred Schneider]

I could look it up in the route cards ... again, that means lifting and I
don't do that well right now.  Give me time.

Yes, there was a fairly substantial trestle over Sandy Creek.    The trestle
was on the north side of Verona Road and therefore not over Sandy Creek Road.
There were two roads that went up to two different points on Frankstown Road;
one was Coal Hollow Road and the other was Lime Hollow Road.  They came
together about a block from Verona Road, and I'm not sure what name prevailed
out to the intersection.

Track on the hillside in the 1980s?  Urban rumor.  It wasn't there in 1966
when I walked the decaying right-of-way.   Ties?  PRC believed in
non-creosoted ties.  I doubt that any of them survived 30 or 40 years beyond
abandonment.

Sorry to burst the bubble but I also fail to comprehend how a connecting link
on Frankstown Road from Laketon Road at Eastwood to Homewood would have made
the line any more viable.  That area was suburban with widely spaced houses.
There wasn't enough business to warrant Mr. Deere to run a bus more often than
every hour.  That area was the second fastest growing suburb in Pennsylvania
(second to Levittown, Bucks County) after World War II.  But it was farm
country in 1937.  I lived there!



Matt Barry wrote:

> You mentioned the Verona line, Fred.
>
> I believe the Verona line was abandoned in 1937.
>
> What does the group know about this line?
>
> I know bits and pieces, and please correct me if I am wrong about these.
>
> It began it's routing at Braddock and Forbes Avenue.  Travelling through
> Wilkinsburg to Laketon Road, then up Monitor and then onto prw alongside
> Verona Road.   My nephews, who used to romp through that section of Penn
> Hills in their youth in the 1980's, tell me there were still ties and
> some trackage on the hillside next to Verona Road, between Frankstown
> Road and Sandy Creek Road.  That portion also held junked automobiles at
> that time -- perhaps it still does to this day.   (Hmmm...junked
> automobiles on abandoned trolley tracks, how ironic.) A map in the
> waiting room of  McCrackin Ford on McKnight Road in the North Hills
> shows a the carline pathway in that area,  and it is labelled "old
> Verona carline."
>
> When the line neared the intersection of Verona Road and Sandy Creek
> Road, it would seem to me that there may have been a trestle to carry it
> over this intersection.   Anyone know?
>
>  From there, I believe the line crossed over Verona Road and went down
> Third Street either directly on Third or on paralleling prw.  It dipped
> down into Verona and from there, I don't exactly know how it made it's
> way into Oakmont.  I have read stories in Oakmont and Verona history
> booklets that briefly describe some stories about the bridge or bridges
> that carried the cars into Oakmont from Verona, as troublesome.
> Apparently they were wooden and prone to fires.   The stories are sketchy.
>
> In the late 1960's, I distinctly recall seeing the last segment of
> Allegheny River Blvd,  in Oakmont near Hulton Road, as being yellow
> brick with a section of black asphalt going straight up the middle of
> it.   Seeing this, I assumed that beneath that asphalt lie a single line
> car track.
>
> I also know that early route planners were considering connecting up the
> 88/87 trackage on Frankstown Avenue in Homewood, with the Verona
> trackage.  Of course, it never happened, but had it it happened, one
> wonders if the route would have lasted beyond 1937.
>
> Matt
>
> Fred Schneider wrote:
>
> >My parents lived in a rented home in Oakmont at the time.   Dad took
> >quite a few pictures of Oakmont and Verona in the flood.  Sadly, as he
> >got older the mind was no longer clear.  He threw everything out without
> >the slightest question about their value.   There is a common picture
> >that the Pittsburgh Press published (the marooned photographer probably
> >walked out of their inbound loading dock onto the Pennsylvania Railroad
> >elevated) showing a streetcar on Liberty or Penn in water up to the roof
> >carlines (that would be something above nine feet of water on the
> >street).   I think I may have the newspapers but finding them in this
> >pit is problematic.
> >As I recall from the route cards, every route was shut down which
> >implies not that every line was under water but that the Duquesne Light
> >plant on Brunot's Island was inundated.   The Oakmont - Verona line was
> >never restored to service but that needs more research to determine if
> >it was flood related or not.  The actually route was mostly above flood
> >stage and also in paved streets in the Allegheny River valley.  If there
> >was any flood damage, it might have been from gullies that fed
> >tributaries to the Allegheny such as Sandy Creek.  I think think that
> >line had simply expired from an overdose of gasoline.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >