[PRCo] Re: Beaver Valley Transit

[Dwight Long]

Stephen

Perhaps it was not a park in the late 1920s when this BVT line was 
bustituted (one of the first ones to be so).  What I can tell you is that in 
the 50s and up til perhaps the 80s or 90s, the rails were still in the 
street and made the mentioned southeast jog but disappeared at the curb line 
of a park in the southeast quadrant.  Beyond that I can add nothing.

Beaver Falls-New Brighton--the 10th street bridge was used ONLY by the 
Riverview line.  It was not used by the main line and was not connected to 
it in New Brighton. Use of it stopped when the Riverview line was 
bustituted.

The Riverview line WAS a BVT line.  It was an early (I think the first, but 
would have to go to files which are at home to check) bustitution, in the 
late 20s.  In later years it was operated by Hilltop Motor Coach rather than 
Beaver Valley Motor Coach, which was the lineal descendant of BVT.

I am unaware of any bridge between BF and NB at 7th street (in either town). 
The "new" bridge (new in the 20s for road and BVT purposes) connected via a 
ramp down to the area of the Harmony Route freight station and the Patterson 
Heights Incline loop and ultimately on to 7th Avenue, the main street of BF. 
On the NB side it came off the river at 5th Avenue, which is the street in 
which the PRR tracks ran in the center.  Even into the 50s there was still 
one PRR track in 5th, to serve a local industry on that street.  The BVT 
tracks, as I said yesterday, curved down off 5th to 3rd, the main street of 
NB. This is the bridge that was replaced a few years ago by the current 
bridge, which has a somewhat different approach in lower BF.

I don't have any BVT maps here at work so can't speak specifically to the 
relationship between the Patterson Hts. track and the BVT, but they were 
close.

As to the Ambridge branch, if it did in fact exist, it must have been gone 
well before the 20s.  On the other end of Ambridge there was some trackage 
which deviated from the thru line to Edgeworth and formed (as I recall, 
without having map in front of me) a loop.

Now here is another puzzle.  In Monaca, the "main line" turned left onto 
Pennsylvania Avenue, the town's main street, and proceeded east (upriver) to 
the eastern edge of town.  But there was also a single track WEST on 
Pennsylvania from 9th Street.  No one seems to know what that track was all 
about, or if it were ever used.  Even the late Bob Richardson, who had 
relatives in Monaca and frequently visited them in BVT times, could not shed 
any light on it.  But the track was there in the 40s and 50s, in concrete 
and quite obvious until the street was blacktopped.  Any ideas?

Dwight




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stephen Titchenal" <stephen at titchenal.com>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2011 9:03 AM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Beaver Valley Transit


>>>>In Edgeworth: 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.
>
> The only park I see on the 1940 Hopkins is Way Park in the southWEST 
> quarter
> of the intersection bordering Beaver Rd, Quaker Rd. and Meadow Ln. The 
> 1906
> Hopkins shows a small pond in this location.  The Rohrbeck map shows a jog
> southeast at Edgeworth, but there is quite a ridge east of Beaver Rd. and 
> no
> parks identified.
>
>
> Regarding the bridges between Beaver Falls and New Brighton. From north to
> south, this is what I have been able to piece together:
>
> 10th Street Bridge just south of dam built in 1890 dismantled in 2001.
> Bridge abutments still visible. Used by the Riverview line.  Did the BVT
> eventually use the Riverview route? If so did it extend the Riverview line
> south along 14th St to meet up with the original line on 3rd Ave in New
> Brighton?
>
> 7th Street Bridge. Originally PRR main line, converted to highway in the
> fall of 1926 when the PRR was relocated to a new bridge south of this 
> point
> in June 1926. Replaced in ?
>
> Covered Bridge. (replaced by 1901 as New Brighton Panoramic View shows
> uncovered bridge.)
> This bridge must have been removed when the new PRR bridge was built and
> opened in 1926. Is this when the BVT started using the 10th Street Bridge?
>
> (Photos on pages 10,28,44 of Rohrbeck book.)
>
> The photo on page 44 also shows the Paterson Heights Street Ry. Loop. It
> must have run along side the BVT tracks on bridge street?
>
>
> The Rohrbeck map also shows a branch northwest at the intersection of 14th
> St and Merchant in Ambridge. It appears to follow Merchant St. around a 
> bend
> to the PRR by the Ohio River and Ohio View Ave. This area is now 
> obliterated
> by Rt. 65. The 1906 Hopkins plate 12 shows the Economy RR station and
> Harmony Society (dissolved in 1905) further south than the branch appears 
> to
> extend on the Rohrbeck map.
>
> Thanks for the help.
>
>
>
>
>