[PRCo] Re: Bethel Church Trestle

Mon Oct 29 00:36:46 EDT 2007

I agree with your corrections, Jim.  I just double-checked the locations on 
a 1975-era offical Bethel Park Borough map. Bethel Church Road intersects 
Brightwood Road about 1-1/2 miles north of South Park Rd. (from that point, 
Bethel Church Road goes south and parallels the 36-Drake line).  The smaller 
trestle near Mesta may have indeed been filled in.  I saw a B&W photo of the 
larger trestle over South Park Road (it was a view to the west), and it 
looked like the same trestle carrying the Savings Bonds trolley.

Bob 10/28/07

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Holland" <PRCoPCC at P-R-Co.com>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 11:11 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Bethel Church Trestle

>> Bob Rathke wrote:
>> .
>> .
>>
>>> Two to three blocks south of the location in the photo (to the left and 
>>> out of the view) is South Park Road which was/is two lanes. I recall 
>>> seeing an old photo of a larger, higher trestle over South Park Road. 
>>> Both trestles were removed by the time I lived in Bethel Park in the 
>>> 1970's.
>>>
>>>
>> .
>> The road leading to South Park  (so as not to confuse names of these 
>> roadways)  was directly across from the trestle in this photo and thus 
>> Could Be Considered a continuation of Bethel Church road or vice versa. 
>> Beeses came up and down Brightwood to this location to and from Mesta and 
>> South Park.
>> .
>> There was Only One Trestle here that was removed in 1960 with a shoofly 
>> to maintain operation during such.     The Interurban is on the west side 
>> of Brightwood and   I~F   South Park Road starts at Brightwood and runs 
>> east it is impossible for the Interurban to Cross South Park Road Itself.
>> .
>> .
>> .
>> Jim__Holland
>>
> http://tinyurl.com/2cq9tr
> .
> Look closely at the above  URL  again of 1463 heading south across the
> Bethel Church Trestle  --  across Brightwood we can see South Park Road
> distinctly.     Two or three blocks south of here puts us at Boyer or
> further.
> .
> I have gone a step further and am including a  GIF  map  (URL at the
> very bottom of this email)  of an isolated scan of Lindermere to Boyer
> from the drawing by Roy G. Benedict of the interurbans in 1963.
> Please Note Here that South Park Road runs East and West across
> Brightwood Road and underneath this trestle.     We had a discussion
> about this location some time back and John Swindler chimed in about the
> naming of the road  --  I remember him saying Bethel Church in relation
> to Drake but it seems what he indicated is that the  Car--Stop  at the
> South Park Trestle was known simply as  BETHEL    ----    I thus
> confused the naming of the Road and it stands as South Park Road east
> and West    ----    my apologies for this confusion.
> .
> There was a trestle before  Brightwood--Stop  two stops north of Mesta
> --  this was before the grade crossing  --  upgrade on the trestle
> southbound and obviously downgrade northbound.     This trestle remained
> to the end and is probably still there unless filled in  --  doubt it
> would be a grade crossing but I could be wrong.     It was still a
> trestle into the 1970s when I left the area to move to the left coast.
> .
> .
> .
> Jim__Holland
> .
> .
> .
>>> From: "Jim Holland" <PRCoPCC at P-R-Co.com>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hi Mark & Matt!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Glad you like the photos  --  always nice to go back in time to view 
>>>> the
>>>> TrolleyCars!!!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Don't know what it is called today but the road heading east does go to 
>>>> South Park  --  sure many motorists called the trestle unpleasant names 
>>>> before it was removed  --  only one lane of traffic beneath.     Rode 
>>>> over the trestle many times and over the shoofly many times as well. 
>>>> Believe there had always been an X-Over south of Mesta where DE cars 
>>>> could be turned if sent out on Fair trippers  --  this X-Over was used 
>>>> when the trestle was removed.       It was a single track shoofly used 
>>>> bidirectionally.      The shoofly was built while the trestle was still 
>>>> being used so they cut a switch into the outbound track for the fly. 
>>>> Less than a car length beyond the switch they cut the tracks and it was 
>>>> a steep drop off  --  Didn't Not Nohow like operating through that 
>>>> switch onto the shoofly  --  never any problems but the psychology of 
>>>> it was terrible~!~!~!
>>>> .
>>>> Once the work was complete the double track grade just north of the 
>>>> crossing had a distinct zig-zag to it and I surmised that this was to 
>>>> allow settling // expansion // contraction over time.       Took Many 
>>>> Years but the zig-zag Did Disappear~!~!~!       Didn't Not Nohow like 
>>>> the traffic signal installed here which caused the Interurban to wait a 
>>>> length time  --  they did that at several grade crossings along 
>>>> Library.
>>>> .
>>>> Early AM pullouts on Sunday would drop newspapers at this stop.      I 
>>>> would finish delivering my newspapers Very Early on Sunday and then 
>>>> jump on the TrolleyCars with an Sunday Pass for All Day Riding~!~!~!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Mark McGuire wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> This is near the Mesta stop, correct?  Another question:  What was the 
>>>>> name of this road before it became South Park Rd., or was it the same?
>>>>>
>>>>> -- Jim Holland <PRCoPCC at P-R-Co.com> wrote:
>>>>> ^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
>>>>> .
>>>>> .
>>>>> Jim  Holland
>>>>> .
>>>>> Studying Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo)
>>>>> .
>>>>> ..............................From 1930 -- 1950
>>>>> .
>>>>> Pennsylvania  Trolley  Museum  (PTM)
>>>>> .
>>>>> http://www.pa-trolley.org/
>>>>> .
>>>>> N.M.R.A.
>>>>> .
>>>>> http://www.nmra.org/
>>>>>
> http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/02-1719_35+OB_BethelChurchTrestle_19520703.jpg
>
>
> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
> -- Type: image/gif
> -- Size: 45k (46129 bytes)
> -- URL : 
> http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/Map_South_Park_Road_1963_RGBenedict.gif
>
>
> 