[PRCo] Re: Beaver Valley Transit

[Derrick Brashear]

On Sep 26, 2011, at 19:40, "Dwight Long" <dwightlong at verizon.net> wrote:

> 
> 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.  

i was under the impression the 
Sharon Bridge had trackage at some
point. I'll see if I can find a reference


> 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.

install Google Earth

> 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
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
>