All photos are copyright by George Elwood, from my collection with credit to the photographer or by the submitter. The photos may be used by individuals for their personal non-commercial use (screen savers, modeling effort, photo albums) without restriction. Reposting or other use REQUIRES permission from the owner of the image or data.
The following is the PRR Cleveland Division ETT 12, April 24 1949 from the collection of VG Aylward.
I have to apologize as I have misplaced the name of the person who sent this to me. This is book of PRR Interlocking in the Cleveland District.
The EL crossed the PRR in several areas. The following USGS charts are included in the EL Map Section.
Bob Rathke send me a PRR system map generated by the railroad for passenger train passengers. The map actually covers the entire US and shows the location of all National Parks. I have scanned parts of this map.
What's unusual about this scene is the appearance of ONE of the tunnels visible along the back wall. The tunnel to the right is the old PRR railroad tunnel that is now used by the PAT subway. The tunnel to the left, above the yellow power shovel, is an older canal tunnel that was UNDER the railroad tunnel. For a very short time in 1968, the canal tunnel was daylighted and visible.
The canal and its tunnel are shown on a copy of an 1830 map of downtown Pittsburgh that I have. In 1830, a full 24 years before the PRR railroad was completed between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, a water canal connected the two cities. The canal boats from Philadelphia were hauled over the Allegheny Mountains on incline railways, and then traveled by water to Pittsburgh. However, the boats didn't enter the city by river - they were floated on an elevated canal that paralleled the north shore of the Allegheny River (near the present Canal St.). The elevated canal crossed the Allegheny River on a BRIDGE near the present 11th Street, and near the site of the current Federal Bldg. it went into a tunnel under Grants Hill. The tunnel was not straight, but had an "S" shape, and emerged near Ross Street and the Monongahela River. However...at that point the canal was still some height above river level (remember that the canal crossed the Allegheny River on a bridge), so there were a series of locks near Ross St. that allowed the boats to descend to the level of the Monongahela River.
It's hard to believe that this canal and tunnel were constructed by hand and operated for several decades in the early 19th Century!
By the way, part of the canal's incline railway over the Allegheny Mountains has been reconstructed, and is operated by the National Parks Service along Rt. 22 near Altoona. - {Bob Rathke Photo & comments}
I noted your comment on the ID line for the photo I took at the lakefront station in Cleveland in 1958. I too have wondered about that location. In the 1950's I always thought that it was the PRR's downtown station (I knew about E. 55th St.), in fact I'm sure it was shown on street maps as "PRR Station". In the photo, there are plenty of what appear to be PRR passenger cars on the tracks toward the lake, and there seems to be a passenger train along one of the platforms to the far left. Maybe this was a downtown commuter station and car yard. This station was along the Memorial Shoreway between Municipal Stadium and the Cuyahoga River. By the time I was back in Cleveland (I lived in Lakewood from 1969-71), this station was gone. Let me know what you can learn about it.
I solved the mystery of the PRR station in downtown Cleveland. I just checked a 1951 PRR system timetable, and the "List of PRR Passenger Stations" shows the Cleveland station at West 9th Street and Lake Front - right where I took the photo in 1958. The EUCLID station is also listed...at East 55th St.
I suspect that the Lake Front station was the main PRR station in Cleveland until sometime before 1954 (this station was not listed in PRR system timetables after 1954, when the E. 55th St. station only was listed with the phone number that had been shown previously for the Lake Front Station; in 1951, E. 55th was identified as the "Euclid Station"). I also suspect that the Lake Front Station continued to be used as a commuter station through the 1950's, and maybe into the early 1960's. My 1958 photo shows what looks like a short passenger train on one of the platform tracks; there are lots of weeds around the platforms, and at least two platform tracks had been removed, so maybe 1958 was near the end of this station's use. I also assume that the passenger car storage tracks in the photo were used for long distance trains that ran out of 55th St.
The first PA Union station burned down 1864 and was rebuilt in 1866; last train to stop there was in Sept, 1953; station was torn down in 1959. There is a newspaper clip file at CSU from the old Cleveland News. I could go there and try to find the actual clips if you want.{Dick Bloss}
There's no way to determine from system timetables when the PRR had commuter operations in Cleveland since the PRR never showed such operations in system timetables. In Pittsburgh, the PRR had rather extensive commuter operations on 5 lines that radiated out of Penn Station, including one obscure line on a branch northeast along the Allegheny River. These 5 lines ran until 1964 when they were all abandoned on a single day; in 1964, the Allegheny County Port Authority took over all transit systems (30+) in Southwestern Pa., and they decided not to continue the PRR trains; the Port Authority did keep the B&O commuter operation, and actually improved it over the years, but it was abandoned in the early 1990's; the P&LE commuter operations continued, but remained outside the Port Authority operations until they were finally abandoned by the P&LE in the early 1980's.
Pre-Port Authority, the B&O ran its Pittsburgh commuter operations using RDC's between Pittsburgh and McKeesport/Versailles. They had one heavyweight trainset that made a single roundtrip during rush hours between Pittsburgh and Connellsville. This train was abandoned in 1965 (I rode the last evening run).
ADDITION COMMENTS
In the fall of 1950, Uncle Sam "invited" me to become involved in the Korean police action. I preferred to join the Navy, so was sent off to boot camp at Great Lakes Navy station in Waukegan. My means of transportation was the ride PRR from Williamsport, PA to Harrisburg, then PRR westward to Cleveland. Four years later, I became a resident of Cleveland, beginning to railfan in earnest.
At Cleveland, I stepped off the train at the platform shown in the photo. I would then hike the six or eight blocks to the Cleveland Union Terminal, to board NYC for the rest of the trip to Chicago. This trip was repeated a number of times during the next year. I can remember vividly arriving in Cleveland, (eastbound) on the NYC, suring a severe blizzard in 1951. The streets were deserted, no taxis, not even a streetcar was running. I swung my dufflebag over my shoulder and began the hike, through snow above knee depth, walking right down the middle of the streets. Arriving at the PRR station, there was a wicked wind blowing in from Lake Erie.
Of unusual interest, there was no street level access. The bluff along the left side of the photo was higher than the roof of the station, resulting in the second story appendage to the station roof. An open steel truss footbridge between the upper street level and the station entrance on the roof was the way into the station. Trust me, I still recall that chilly wind as I made my way across that footbridge.! There was a freight elevator for baggage, but only stairs for the passengers.! Unfortunately the footbridge does not show in the photo.
Now for a few observations from the picture: There were indeed more tracks at the station. The tracks ran a short distance beyond the station but terminated at the river. To my knowledge, PRR did not cross the river, unless it by was trackage rights over the two-track drawbridge across the river. (Just out of sight to the left, beyond the road bridge.) There was certainly some manner of agreement between NYC & PRR, because in later years I watched many ore jennys from PRR and hoppers of coal from the PRR, all making their way to either the Whisky Island Terminal, just across the river and also to the curved yard area in center right.
The two mainline tracks, (closest to the string of hoppers), were the NYC main heading west. The somewhat unusual curved yard had several functional areas. To the extreme right was obviously the coach yard for the PRR.
Next is a hopper yard for two large coal dumpers, used to transfer coal into the lake ore haulers. There were two such dumpers operating in 1956. Obviously these were alongside the slips for the ore ships to tie up. The cars were hauled up an incline to the dumper, then pushed out the far side, down a steep switchback which took them down an adjacent track. Notice in the exact center of the photo, there appears to be a switcher, dragging a cut of cars up the incline from a swayback "empty line". This would prevent a car rolling out onto the main. They would collect in the lower area of the swayback. The collection of hoppers further to the left would be for the second dumper. (Someplace in my un-cataloged archives, I have at least one view of the dumpers.)
Sometime in the mid 60's, the dumpers were torn out and the whole area in this picture became a huge U.S. Postal Service mail facility for Cleveland. Many of the curved tracks in the area of the coach yard became unloading tracks for RPO's. and plain mail express cars. The remaining yard facility just faded from history. During the 60's, I often would drive down to an access road, about along the line of hoppers, and park there with my old 110 volt tape machine and record eastbound ore transfers, grinding across the river from the Hewlett unloaders on Whisky Island.
(Yes, they did have inverters for 12v DC -> 110v AC back then!)
OK, now I'll close the book on memory lane and come back to the present. If any of this is in any way useful, feel free to edit as needed, as long as reasonable accuracy remains. I've enjoyed browsing your website. Keep up the good work.
Fred B. Cupp Williamsport, PA
The reference to the E.55th St station as "Euclid"......... It was still in the Cleveland city limits, located at East 55th Street and the intersection with Euclid Ave. which ran eastward from towntown. It was a pretty and substantial brick building. The "Euclid" should not be confused with the suburb city of Euclid, a bit further east.
Additional Comments - refer last operating date.
Now while that may be true, there were other indications of such a service in the "Guide," notably a morning inbound from Alliance (#353) and outbound evening run (#354) as late as my 1948 issue. By the mid-1950s, the morning inbound was elliminated (in favor of added local stops on "The Clevelander"), and outbound #354 had succumbed by 1959. "The Clevelander" continued to make local "commuter" stops in and out of Cleveland on weekdays after it became the lone survivor, a situation which I believe lasted until the train's discontinuance (1965?).
Cleveland-Alliance suburban service is shown on a passenger service map of July 1929. Last run of Cleveland-Alliance local was on 10/23/1959, leaving The Clevelander as the sole train. Last trip of The Clevelander as a through train was 4/25/1964. Cleveland-Youngstown local service continued to 1/23/1965. Chris Baer
Additional Comments
The PRR commuter train to Cleveland from Alliance and return in the evening were Nos. 253 and 252. Per Cleveland Div. ETT 6, 4/45. # 253 Lv Alliance @ 615a and Ar Cleveland (old U.S.) @ 750a making 14 intermediate stops. Returning L Cleveland @ 525p and Ar Alliance @ 708p also making the same intermediate stops. These trains were referred to as the "Dan Hanna Special". There was a newspaper article describing the origin of the name, but the story has slipped from my memory.
My first RR job was that of clerk/callboy at Kinsman St. E.H. at Cleveland in 1945. Since I worked third trick, I remember seeing # 253 passing the E.H. with L-1s 11 as power, the lowest numbered PRR engine I ever saw, not counting the former GN electrics.
Re Cleveland commuter trains, there weren't very many: Erie 628 and 629 from Youngstown and NYC locals 626 and 627 Toledo to Cleveland via the Old Road functioned as commuter trains, arriving 724a and departing 525p. Also NKP 9 and 10 which were Cleveland - St, Louis trains functioned as commuter trains arriving 740a and departing 630p for serving Rocky River and Lorain.
I'm sure there were others on years gone by; the above time period is 1945-1948.
Best regards, Ben F. Anthony
North Judson was a PRR tower that controlled the crossing of the PRR, NYC, EL, and C&O.
The following set of photos are not from my collection but are copyrighted. I received a bag of photos taken by Walter Wright, the father of a friend who worked for the PRR in the construction (B&B) department. This individual would take photos of the various projects he was involved in along with some general right-of-way photos. While I can't be sure, as there is little documentation included with the photos, I believe the first set of photos were taken at Brady Lake OH. This is the construction of an over bridge under the Erie. Note the stationary boiler used to provide steam for the clam shell buckets at each end of the site.
This second photo is closer to the actual dig site. Note the men working in the lower levels. The blurr on the left side is a moving man. Slow film.
This photo of a PRR 4-8-2 was taken at an unknown location. The photo I had was 12x18 and yellowed. Because the photo was so large, I elected to make it into two sections. The second photo shows the coaling tower. If anybody knows where this photo was taken, please let me know.
Below is a selection of photos of structures for the Walter Wright collection. All of these photos were taken in 1952 or 1953.
The old passenger station in Urbana has been purchased by R Kaczmarek. He hopes to restore the building to it past appearence. The following are a few photos provided to me of this building. I believe that the PRR and Erie shared this structure. See MAP section for USGS map of Urbana.
Larry Berger has send me copies of ICC accident reports. Below is the tagged vresions.
The following set of images were unlabeled. By studying the photos, I noted the firebox shape on the steam locomotives and this suggests that the trains involved were PRR. Howver, it may be a B&O train.
I'm quite sure that the wreck in question is the derailment of train #68 the "Red Arrow" on Benny curve near Gallitzin, PA in February, 1947. - Robert Oom
I am in possession of a series of 14 photographs of a GG1 with passenger consist that derailed and went over on it's side somewhere in the Baltimore/Washington area sometime in the 1950s. The photos were taken by my father who was an airplane enthusiast and always had a camera handy.
I am not certain of the location of the wreck but the series shows the accident as my father approached the site and follows through until the wreckers right the engine.
I can't quite make out the engine number but it appears to be 4011. I'm pretty certain about the 4 and the 11 but the second number could be 0, 3, 6, 8 or 9.
Walt Hiteshew
The wreck occurred Oct 17 1953 when the GG-1 hit a piece of heavy machinery that had fallen off a flat car around 11:30PM. You can find the ICC accident report at http://specialcollections.tasc.dot.gov/
Working with the original slides, I have been able to better define the wreck. Because of the use of both B&O and RF&P wreckers along with the PRR wreckers, the derailment was extensive. Because the RFP and B&O wreckers are working the GG-1, I would guess that the accident occurred fairly close to Washington DC.
I was looking thru your site and saw the pics of the PRR GG-1 wreck. The engine was No.4911. It was one of only a few GG-1s that were ever painted in Tuscan red paint.
The wreck it self is somewhere between Halthorpe, MD and the southwestern end of the B&P tunnel in west Baltimore. Its probably just north of Gwynn's run. The four tracks narrow to two just north of there for the tunnel. The rowhouses and businesses give the location away. Its not very hilly as you get closer to D.C. I'm from Baltimore myself. My dad was a conductor for PC,then later Amtrak . I've even ridden a GG-1 between Washington and Baltimore over the same trackage. Thought you might want to know.
Hank Mummert
Hello. I think your site is wonderful. I am a conductor for CSX transportation, and I travel frequently in the area between Baltimore-Washington on the NEC/former PRR. I also believe the site to be north of Halethorpe, Md. It cannot be close to Washington as the main reduced to 2 tracks before entering D.C. (at Landover, Md., where the frieght lines went south through SE D.C. to CP Virginia, and the passenger lines went north through NW D.C. through and to CP Virginia and the RF&P). You see the RF&P crane probably came from D.C. hence it is on the south end of the derail, the B&O crane probably came from Mt. Royal where the B&O and PRR interchanged. I could not find any mileposts or interlockings to cue me in on the exact spot. Great site!! David Goldsmith
Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society P.O. Box 460 Glenmoore, PA 19343-0460
Last updated - 01 Nov 2009
