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

[SaturnV at webtv.net]

RE: PC&S

The PC&S ran adjacent to, and parallel with, West Warrington Ave. where
just before Haberman it looped to the left which took it around and to
the foot of the present Harwood steps at Harwood Stop. (This is a
portion of the PRC Hollow trolley loop previously discussed on the list
a year ago.) Also see old images of the hollow posted on Dietrich's SHJ
link/East Penn Traction website,
At the Harwood steps  the PC&S trackage veered slightly to the right and
ran along the hillside below the LIberty Tunnel Ventilation System
Building. The PC&S trackage paralelled the PRC trolley right-of-way from
arrington to SHJ, but at a higher elevation which took the PC&S just
below Albert Street, which is at least 100' up the hlll from the site of
the SHJ building. The PC&S tracks veered right once again which put them
parallel to, but uphill from, the South portal of the PRC tunnel.
The tracks contnued running to the South end, and downgrade of,
Westwood. About 150 feet North of where Westwood Street began was a
hillside where the PC&S tunnel was located. 

My father related this brief PC&S history to me and mentioned his
getting zapped with an ember from a PC&S steam loco as it passed beneath
him as he stood atop Harwood Stop. He told me where he remembered the
PC&S tunnel was located, but don't recall him saying anything regarding
the tunnels use, or where it went. I searched for some evidence of the
old portal but came up empty. Landfill and weed growth did its job.
Presently, 90 years has passed since the portal was sealed. It will
remain a mystery until a sinkhole appears, or an excavation machine does
its thing. There's a tunnel in there unless PC&S had tt filled in.    

Bob Schmidt