[PRCo] Re: an unknown Pittsburgh coal haulage trolley line?

[Donald Galt]

On 6 Jan 2007 at 11:20, John Swindler wrote:

> 
> 
> At the terminal of the rt. 33 trolley (how's that for bringing topic back to 
> list theme (:>)) it shows the Pgh & CS incline #2 (back incline along 
> Haberman St.) crossing Bailey and stub ending next to the Castle Shannon 
> incline on north side of Mt. Washington.  Lines up with what was probably an 
> adjacent freight incline?????????
> 
> Was this a replacement of the coal tunnel.
> 

The two Castle Shannon inclines did indeed replace the tunnel-cum-incline. 
Somebody within the past fortnight or so posted a P&CS historical bit saying as 
much.

As to the exact location, go to the latest source unearthed by Sweet Old Bob:

	http://tinyurl.com/w3q3k

and check out sheets 4 and 15. (Caution: I'm looking at my own copies dating 
from the 1920s and haven't bothered to look at the maps online which could 
possibly be more recent)

Sheet 15 shows SHJ and the Warrington Avenue area. Sheet 4 includes the upper 
slopes and the north face of Mount Washington. The Castle Shannon (south) 
incline r/w crosses both sheets, in the reservation between Laclede St. and 
Haberman Ave.

On Sheet 4 the contours show the old incline r/w to the west of the existing 
Castle Shannon (north), rising only to about the 1025-foot level. This agrees 
with older maps showing the rail line from the old tunnel curving in from the 
west to the head station of the original incline at about that elevation. The 
contours likewise show the old rail r/w leading from a point directly above the 
Sycamore Street hairpin.

Everything I've seen indicates that the later inclines were single operations, 
handling both passengers and freight. So they were always offset where they met 
at Bailey Avenue.

The booklet "Pittsburgh's Inclines" published by Samuel R Ohler in 1971, I 
would characterise as Interesting And Useful And Sometimes Reliable. On p.14 is 
an illustration taken from "Fleming's Views of Old Pittsburgh" bearing the 
caption "On Carson Street, South Pittsburgh, 1875". Looking past what might be 
an earlier P&LE station, it shows an incline rising part way up the hill to a 
head station prominently advertising "Pittsburgh & Castle Shannon RAILROAD" and 
also shows the tunnel portal some distance to the right.

Here is what Mr. Ohler writes about the picture:

"...The north portal (arrow), once a coal mine, was converted to a 1700 foot 
tunnel under part of Mt. Washington carrying the Castle Shannon narrow gauge 
railroad through the mountain after its run in from the south to Warrington 
Avenue and Haberman Street. Up the easy grade it went to Smith Way [this may be 
more accurate than my earlier indication of Eutaw Street - DG] through the 
mountain to some feet east of the real sharp bend of Sycamore Street, and down 
the northern slope to Carson Street, for a horse-car ride to South Side or 
Downtown. A spur of the railroad ran to the location of the Mongahela Incline 
of today. [actually, to a coal tunnel under the east end of Grandview Avenue - 
DG] The Castle Shannon Incline of this century ran up to the top of Mt. 
Washington 25 feet (?) to the left of this railroad."

Whatever my reservations about Mr. Ohler elsewhere, this paragraph strikes me 
as essentially accurate.

Don G