Thursday, September 8, 2022

Pitcairn, PA: NS/Pennsy Railyard, Power Plant, Roundhouse & Depot and Strip Mines

Railyard: (Satellite, a lot of it is now grass. There is an intermodal yard in part of it.)
Depot: (Satellite?, if you know where it was, please leave a comment.)

Bob Ciminel posted
Power plant at Pitcairn, PA, east of Pittsburgh, 1940.
John Ireland: They also had 2.5 roundhouses.
Chris Austin: Bruce-Macbeth gas engine made in Cleveland Ohio.

John Ireland commented on Bob's post
HistoricPittsburgh, Public Domain
In addition to the classification and receiving yards, the vast complex contained four outdoor repair yards and two roundhouses. One roundhouse was for passenger and freight car repair and the other, Panhandle Engine Roundhouse, was for locomotive repair. They were built on the Wall Avenue side of the yards by the federal government when it took over the railroads in World War I.
Pinterest

"The Borough of Pitcairn is named for Robert Pitcairn, a former superintendent of the Pittsburgh division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1880, Pitcairn ordered construction of a rail yard along Turtle Creek near Pittsburgh that would become the largest railyard in the world. He was instrumental in locating switching yards, an engine roundhouse and car repair shops in the yard.  With the expansion of the railyards, several plans of lots were laid out to accommodate railroad workers. As the village grew and with the residents desire to form their own community, in 1894 the Borough of Pitcairn was born. During World War II, more then 200 trains steamed through the huge Pitcairn railyards each day, carrying troops, supplies and material critical to the war effort.  In 1996 the 250 acre sight formerly occupied by the Pitcairn railyards was formally dedicated as the Conrail Pittsburgh Intermodal Facility. The Pitcairn site now handles more than 100 trains daily." [pitcairn-historical]


North is at the bottom of this photo.
Phil Jadlowiec posted
Sharing from another group.
HistoricPittsburgh
In addition to the classification and receiving yards, the vast complex contained four outdoor repair yards and two roundhouses. One roundhouse was for passenger and freight car repair and the other, Panhandle Engine Roundhouse, was for locomotive repair. They were built on the Wall Avenue side of the yards by the federal government when it took over the railroads in World War I.

Note the "Brick Kiln" label across the river from the northern roundhouse.
1953/55 Braddock Quad @ 24,000

In Illinois, the tattoos or land scars made by strip mining are long, narrow lakes. In Pennsylvania, it is flat mountain tops. That creates additional residential realestate.
Satellite

1904 Pittsburgh Quad @ 62,500

It was started in 1892. The hump was opened in 1905.
University of Pittsburgh via ogrforum
Finished in 1892, the Pitcairn Railroad yard included classification and receiving yards, transfer and assembly tracks, two roundhouses, repair shops, machine shops, and its own lumber yard and power plant. Cabinet shops, upholstery shops and paint shops were also set up to repair and refurbish passenger cars.
 
Tim Starr posted
Pennsylvania Railroad yard, car shops, 2 roundhouses, and 2 standalone turntables at Pitcairn, PA. 1956
Robert M. Milko: Conway helped put an end to Pitcairn. There wasn't enough space here to expand.
John Sobaszko: Pitcairn was still relatively busy in the mid 1970s. I remember visiting it with my uncle. The hostler let me run a three unit SD40/35/40 set down the fueling tracks. I was only 16. Can't do that anymore...

ogrforum this page has several more old photos
Circa 1945

HistoricPittsburgh
Over the years the railroad yard at Pitcairn steadily grew. The first receiving and classification yard was completed by 1892. By late 1905, the Westbound Hump yard was opened where rail cars were pushed up a hill (hump), uncoupled, and then rolled downhill into sorting tracks. Two years later, the Eastbound Hump near the site of the old Wall family farm was finished. A series of four tracks ran up to each of the humps and fanned into 35 others in the receiving yard.
 
ogrforum, cropped, this webpage has several more photos


MonroevilleHistorical, p32

According to Historic Bridges, the depot was on the railroad side of the river so it built a, now abandoned, highway bridge over Turtle Creek to provide access to the depot.
Satellite

26:00 video @ 1:37
"The largest railroad marshalling yards east of the Mississippi."
The hump yard was not opened until 1905.

The building on the left looks like the depot.
26:00 video @ 20:25


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