[PRCo] Re: Beaver Valley Transit

[Dwight Long]

Stephen

BVT used 14th Street from Duss to Merchant.  If you look closely at the 
satellite view, you can see where the tracks were located in the middle of 
the street.

In Edgeworth it turned off Beaver Road and entered a park.  I do not know 
what the trackage arrangement was in the park, but since all BVT cars were 
double end, it likely was just a dead end.  I also do not know how far into 
the park it went.  The park was in the southeast quarter of the 
intersection, and until at least the 1960s, the rails were still there from 
the curve to the curb fronting the park.

I can't help you on the Baden question;  this has always been a mystery to 
me as well.

BVT had two separate crossings of the Beaver River between Beaver Falls and 
New Brighton:  the Tenth Street Bridge, and the one to which you refer, 
which was for their mainline and was in use up until final abandonment in 
1937.  The "new" highway bridge (from the 20s, not the current "new" one) 
was used.  Evidence of the tracks was eliminated in the 50s, as I recall, by 
repaving--may have been grating--memory a bit foggy on that.  From the New 
Brighton end of the bridge, which did not line up with 3rd Avenue, the 
tracks swung around a gentle curve to the right and then to the left onto 
3rd.

The "new" bridge route in Beaver Falls caused some track to become 
non-passenger track down near the P&LE Beaver Falls-New Brighton station. 
It was used by the Harmony Route to reach their freight house until that 
line crumped in 1931, but was still in the street into the 1950s and perhaps 
later. All of this got obliterated when the current "new" bridge was built a 
few years back.

FYI, AFAIK, there are but two bits of BVT rail still showing:  in West 
Bridgewater just below the P&LE overpass on the old route from Beaver to 
West Bridgewater, which fell into disuse following the opening of the new 
Beaver-Rochester bridge in the late 1950s, and in Rochester near the former 
Rochester Brewery.  Until about 2000 (I have the exact date in my files) 
most of the track from that point east toward Freedom was still intact, but 
it was ripped out in a repaving of the old Rochester-Freedom road at that 
time.  I have pictures of the removed rail before it was carted off to rail 
heaven.

The kml link will not open in this computer.

I would be most interested in your research on BVT and if I can help in any 
other way, let me know. I have copied my brother on this, and he may be able 
to add further details.

Dwight

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stephen Titchenal" <stephen at titchenal.com>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org>
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011 12:47 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Beaver Valley Transit


> I'm trying to locate the route of the Beaver Valley Transit System in the
> Ambridge - Edgeworth area.
> Attached is a kmz (Google Earth file) and a screen shot with my best guess
> based on information from Beaver County Trolleys (Rohrbeck 1985) and 
> various
> historic topos, aerials and county maps.
>
> What was the route through Ambridge? Rohrbeck's map shows it leaving 
> Beaver
> Rd/Duss Ave for Merchant St. My guess was using 14th St., because 11th was
> not yet built based on the 1908 topo. It is also possible that BVT used 
> its
> own right-of-way.
>
> Where did it end in Leetsdale/Edgeworth?
>
> I am not sure when State St/Duss Ave/Beaver Rd was straightened south of
> Baden. The early maps show a jog east near current Ehman Ave. Was BVT's
> route changed? Rohrbeck's map does not show the jog, but the topo and 
> county
> maps do.
>
> In the Beaver Falls area the original bridge used by the BVT across the
> Beaver River (Bridge St to 3rd Ave) must have been removed at the time of
> the PRR relocation in 1926. How did the BVT cross the river after that?
>
> Thanks for any help with sources.
>
> If you wish to keep up with my right-of-way research in the Pittsburgh 
> area,
> I am sharing a Google Map file and updating it irregularly. If you have a
> smart phone that supports Google Earth, you can add this shared file to 
> your
> "My Maps" and actually follow it in the field. There are many paths, so 
> the
> web-based Google Maps does not displays them in sections. It is better to
> use the kml link to view in Google Earth.
>
> http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=204661335735556483333.0004a5a0f22a
> bfa17cc00
>
> This is a continual work in progress, but new sources of information are
> always welcome. Some routes are more fully researched than others. I am
> still struggling with the easiest way to manage changes to routes over 
> time.
> When I convert this to a GIS database, changes will be easier to manage.
>
>
> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
> -- Type: application/vnd.google-earth.kmz
> -- Size: 9k (10236 bytes)
> -- URL : 
> http://lists.dementix.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/Beaver%20Valley%20Traction.kmz
>
>
> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
> -- Type: image/jpeg
> -- Size: 200k (205244 bytes)
> -- URL : 
> http://lists.dementix.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/BeaverValleyTransit.jpg
>
>
>