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

[Ken and Tracie]

Correct, Herb. I was questioning why the relatively modern transmission line 
was built to carry the wires at a height to allow ship/boat passage when the 
power line was built long after that section of the river was no longer used 
by large/tall vessels and the swing section was no longer operated.

I believe John Swindler's response made sense.

K.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Herb Brannon" <hrbran at cavtel.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 04, 2009 10:47 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: For Those Who Venture West of Pittsburgh


> Many of the old bridges across the Cuyahoga River were "swing" bridges to
> allow the passage of ships/boats up and down the river. Maybe, by the time
> the Ohio Turnpike bridge was built, navigation by large ships had stopped 
> on
> that river and bridge height was no longer a concern.
> On Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 12:21 PM, Ken and Tracie
> <ktjosephson at embarqmail.com>wrote:
>
>> 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?
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> -- 
> Herb Brannon
> On America's North Coast
>
>
>