[PRCo] South Hills Jct Question

Fri May 23 20:54:05 EDT 2014

Herb

My guess is that the track dates back to when the T opened in 1987, when
both PCC cars and the new ones were on the property. At that time, the
line car was still being used and I know that they stored it in one of the
lower buildings. The wye behind the old shop was renewed at that time for
the crane, but I don't believe it was used very much before it left for
the museum. Why tear up good concrete when old rail really isn't in the
way?

George 

On 5/23/14 5:11 PM, "Herb Brannon" <hrbran at cavtel.net> wrote:

>Dwight,
>OK, here is how it works these days...............
>
>I can drive to work (108 Isabella Street) which is at the north end of the
>Seventh (Andy Warhol) Bridge. However, it takes 35 to 40 minutes to drive
>into the city during peak hours then you have to drive around hunting for
>a
>parking place. There is a parking garage on General Robinson Street which
>is the closest to the Burns White Building. So if I go directly there it
>takes about 45 minutes to get there and get parked. then it's a 10-minute
>walk to the building. The all-day parking fee is  $9.00. Getting out of
>the
>garage, through city traffic and back home takes 50 to 60 minutes plus the
>10 minutes to walk to the garage. I have also burned a lot of gasoline
>doing this.
>
>I can drive to the Castle Shannon Park & Ride lot which takes 15 minutes
>(20 minutes if a lot of "Dilberts" are using the roads). The parking is
>free as is the trolley ride downtown. I can get off the trolley at either
>Wood Street or North Side stations and get picked up by a Burns White
>vehicle and taken to the building. I also burn about one-third of the
>gasoline using the trolley as opposed to driving to the city. The trolley
>ride from the Castle Shannon lot to downtown takes 35 minutes each
>direction plus I always get a "single seat" which I prefer (this
>eliminates
>the "Dilbert Factor") over the double seats.
>
>Timewise, it's about the same if I take the trolley or drive. Moneywise,
>if
>I take the trolley everything is free except the small amount of gasoline
>used. If I drive to the city it's $9.00 for parking plus gallons of
>gasoline. My truck has a 4.1 liter engine with a turbo charger and it
>drinks gasoline like it was 1960 again. Also to be considered is the much,
>much higher "accident exposure" timeframe.  Therefore the trolley is the
>way to go.
>
>
>On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 11:03 AM, Dwight Long
><dwightlong at verizon.net>wrote:
>
>>
>> Herb
>>
>> Ha!
>>
>> But you did say you took the trolley home from work. I thought you lived
>> in Carrick now.  So how do you take the trolley home from work if there
>>is
>> no 47 (nor 53, nor 77/54?)
>>
>> Dwight
>>
>> From: Herb Brannon
>> Sent: Friday, 23 May, 2014 07:20
>> To: Western PA Trolley discussion
>> Subject: Re: [PRCo] South Hills Jct Question
>> Good luck getting on a 47 trolley these days.
>>
>>
>> On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 12:26 AM, Dwight Long <dwightlong at verizon.net
>> >wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > Fred
>> >
>> > I think he lives in Carrick.  If he takes the 47-Carrick via Tunnel
>>car,
>> > he would turn off at S. Hills Jct. before that building would come
>>into
>> > sight.
>> >
>> > Dwight
>> >
>> > From: Fred Schneider
>> > Sent: Thursday, 22 May, 2014 20:54
>> > To: Western PA Trolley discussion
>> > Subject: Re: [PRCo] South Hills Jct Question
>> > Are you possibly talking about the old trolley overhaul shop?   Brick
>> > building on the west side of the right of way?
>> >
>> >
>> > On May 21, 2014, at 9:10 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:
>> >
>> > > While riding the trolley home from work (yes, I'm working again)
>> Monday I
>> > > noticed a newer building in the South Hills Jct complex with
>>streetcar
>> > > rails coming out of one end but not going anywhere.
>> > >
>> > > I was able to check it out further yesterday (Tuesday) when going
>>home
>> > from
>> > > work. The building number is "5" and it is located about halfway
>> between
>> > > the South Hills Jct station and the Palm Garden station. The
>>building
>> has
>> > > five or six bays, with overhead doors, which extend from the north
>>end
>> to
>> > > the south end. The furthest bay from the current trolley tracks has
>>a
>> set
>> > > of rails coming out of the south end then running along the
>>retaining
>> > wall
>> > > (Mt Washington is above this wall) then turning toward the existing
>> > trolley
>> > > tracks. Just before reaching the trolley right-of-way there is a
>> > > "Y-switch". The track splits and starts curving both north and south
>> then
>> > > ends.
>> > >
>> > > There is no way the track could connect to the current right-of-way
>> > because
>> > > of a pronounced difference in elevation between the right-of-way and
>> this
>> > > track. Building 5 has, as I said, several bays. There are no other
>>bays
>> > > with tracks coming in and out, however.  Currently Building 5 has a
>>lot
>> > of
>> > > PAT heavy duty service trucks parked at the north end. These are
>>dump
>> > > trucks, salt spreaders, snow plows, etc.
>> > >
>> > > The question is does anyone know what Building 5 was used for in the
>> past
>> > > and why is there a track coming out of one of the bays? Perhaps,
>>before
>> > the
>> > > realignment of the trolley right-of-way in that area (for the
>> rebuilding
>> > > and relocation of the tracks above Saw Mill Run Blvd) was the
>>building
>> > used
>> > > for storage of maybe the line car or other work cars and was it
>> connected
>> > > to the right-of-way prior to the new elevation of said right-of-way?
>> > >
>> > > --
>> > > Herb Brannon
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > *In Pittsburgh.............................A City And.........A
>>State
>> of
>> > > Mind*
>> > >
>> > > Let's Go Bucs
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > -------------- next part --------------
>> > > An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>> > > URL:
>> >
>> 
>>http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/201
>>40521/42b2c305/attachment.html
>> > > _______________________________________________
>> > > Pittsburgh-railways mailing list
>> > > Pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
>> > > https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Pittsburgh-railways mailing list
>> > Pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
>> > https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > -------------- next part --------------
>> > An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>> > URL:
>> >
>> 
>>http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/201
>>40523/5b9ecb99/attachment.html
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Pittsburgh-railways mailing list
>> > Pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
>> > https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Herb Brannon
>>
>>
>> *In Pittsburgh.............................A City And.........A State of
>> Mind *
>>
>> Let's Go Bucs
>>
>>
>>
>> -------------- next part --------------
>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>> URL:
>> 
>>http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/201
>>40523/dec95cb2/attachment.html
>> _______________________________________________
>> Pittsburgh-railways mailing list
>> Pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
>> https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways
>>
>>
>>
>> -------------- next part --------------
>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>> URL:
>> 
>>http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/201
>>40523/e9ee04d0/attachment.html
>> _______________________________________________
>> Pittsburgh-railways mailing list
>> Pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
>> https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways
>>
>
>
>
>-- 
>Herb Brannon
>
>
>*In Pittsburgh.............................A City And.........A State of
>Mind *
>
>Let's Go Bucs
>
>
>
>-------------- next part --------------
>An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>URL: 
>http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/2014
>0523/ce6053c5/attachment.html
>_______________________________________________
>Pittsburgh-railways mailing list
>Pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
>https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways