The P&WV Hi-Line

[Pgh Mike]

I've been driving past these silos along the southbound (P&WV) side of route 51 in the Edgebrook section of Pgh for all of my life, and it just dawned on me that perhaps they may have been rail served from the "top" end for truck loading out the bottom. Can anyone out there in P&WV land lend a little historical background to these relics?

[ktrick45]

When I was a kid, I called these "the ruins." My grandfather, who grew up in the area, explained that they were the storage silos for the concrete batch plant that was used when present-day Route 51 was built. Apparently, at the time (late 1920s or early '30s, I think), truck-mounted concrete mixers weren't as plentiful, and the concrete for most of the road was mixed at the batch plant and taken to the job site in dump trucks.

As far as he knew, the plant was abandoned when the road was completed.

And, yes, it was served by the P&WV. There's even a picture in the Worley & Poellot book that shows a hopper on the bridge over the road there. The house in that picture looks almost exactly the same today as it did the day the shot was taken.

Peace
Kevin

[P&WV101]

The silos(5) were covered with a large wood barn-like building. WSB/P&WV would shove hoppers on the top for unloading. The switch for this operation was on the Oak storage/passing track. I remember seeing an old photo (late 20's) in the reference room at the Carnegie @ Oakland. Also have a copy of an old 16mm movie shot in 41'/42'? This was taken from a moving caboose and the film maker pans this structure for about 5 seconds or so. I have a large pile of snap shots from Dennis Malachowski, some taken in 52/53' of this area. When I get a chance, will try and find or dig these out and post them. These may, or may not help but we will give them a shot.