[PRCo] Re: For Those Who Venture West of Pittsburgh

[Ken and Tracie]

That be it! Thanks, Derrick.

I wonder why the utility built the their tower line so high over the river 
if the swing span wasn't used after the early part of the 20th Century? The 
Ohio Turnpike bridge was built at the same level as the railroad bridge 
during the 1950s and I am guessing the transmission line was built between 
the 1930s and 1950s.

A couple years ago, China was paying over $200 per ton for scrap metal. I am 
surprised a damaged bridge of this size managed to survive.

K.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Derrick Brashear" <shadow at gmail.com>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 04, 2009 8:43 AM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: For Those Venture West of Pittsburgh


> On Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 11:37 AM, Ken and
> Tracie<ktjosephson at embarqmail.com> wrote:
>> I was doing some satellite roadbed chasing of various railroads and
>> interurbans in Northern Ohio. I discovered the line using the bridge in 
>> the
>> attached photo was abandoned. I traced the right of way into Toledo and
>> found sections of this line are still in place to serve sidings, but the
>> through trackage is mostly gone. The entire right of way, from the Maumee
>> River bridge into Toledo is also a transmission line corridor.
>> I remember seeing this this bridge, which is parallel to the Ohio 
>> Turnpike
>> bridge, during our many trips between Pittsburgh and Milwaukee.
>>
>
> This looks like the picture:
> http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Bridges/TTUpperMaumeeRiverSwingBridge.htm
> history on the page.
>
>> Tracing the right of way, it appears the rail line was a branch which
>> switched industries and fed various main lines.
>>
>> Now to the questions. Which railroad built this bridge, when were the 
>> tracks
>> removed, why wasn't the bridge removed during the scrap metal frenzy of
>> 2004-2008 and are there plans for making it part of a recreation trail?
>