My father was born in 1905 and lived on the street in Glenshaw where it ran. He rode it a few times before they moved to Dormont around 1920. Wikipedia has a very detailed description of the route.
The line ran to downtown Pittsburgh, not just to Boggs & Buhl, which was on the North Side. That's not a power station on Harmony Drive. It's a substation. It did not provide power to the line. There were multiple brick substations along the RoW where AC was changed to the DC voltage the cars used.
My mom lives right off that intersection of sloop and highland. Crazy that a bridge was once almost right over her house. You definitely can follow the line all the way north to warrendale in google maps. But once you get to I-79, the alignment is less clear. Heading towards the city, I'm unsure of the alignment south to PIttsburgh unless it followed babcock boulevard all the way to Millville then to the city?
I agree. I used to mountain bike many times but always got lost north of warrendale. Many tunnels/bridges under/over roads. Example: highland road mccandless: 40°33'47.12"N, 80° 2'28.81"W
Would love to see a part 2 of the Harmony short line. There was also a medium size bridge that crossed over Cemetery lane at the bottom that then turned and ran down now Mcknight road into downtown Pittsburgh. The bridge embutments are still there.
This is not the not the only place where an Interurban right of way is now a road. On the west side of Cleveland Ohio there is a road called electric road. It is the former right of way of the Lakeshore Electric Railroad. Just outside of Donora Pa, there is a small road called Trolly road at street. It is built at least on part of the Pittsburgh Railway right of way that last ran in 1953. My mother road it from Charleroi, my home town, to Pittsburgh numerous times. Unfortunately it was abandoned two years before I was born. I do remember the tracks in the streets as a small child.
All of that infrastructure built and it only ran somewhere between 10 to less than 20 years. I'm unfortunately quite a bit too young to have been a part of any of the interurban lines, but it must have been something else in their heyday.
I agree. Growing up in the east side of the North Hills - I can't imagine all the places crisscrossed by trolley lines. It's a shame that the South Hills got to retain some trolleys - plus add with the addition of the T, but the North Hills got absolutely nothing but the widening of 79.
Sandra Barbieri Yeah, I was raised in the South Hills, so I always at least had the experience of the T. Occasionally I've come across remnants of streetcar lines here and there, including rails that have managed to remain embedded in streets despite their long disuse or incidentally exposed during construction projects. It's difficult to imagine now how far out some of these lines went. I heard that at the peak of the streetcar era you could more or less hitchhike across the country by jumping on various interurbans along the way. Not sure if that's 100% accurate, but it's fun to imagine the sort of adventure that might have been.
I have a book about a streetcar/interurban group from western New York who took Interurbans all the way into Indiana and down to Kentucky and around the general area into Ohio. They talked about being able to take trolleys and Interurbans from Boston to Chicago. That was in the 1920s.
My Father took us round to many of these places 50 + years ago . Thank you for showing some of what the western Penn area grew on. Keep up the great video anthology of my old home town of Irwin, PA. You have only touch on a very small portion of things that are gone.
I would have much rather rode on the interurban than to fight the traffic that is seen today. I just don't understand why these modes of public transportation had to be discarded and dismantled for what we have today. It's also upsetting that this system lasted for only a short time. What were we thinking?
In. Indiana the motorbus lobby and eventually state highways nudged. Out traction lines. At present. Duke. Energy is the vestige of. The power generating source of the. Fort. Wayne. And. Wabash. Valley. Traction. Line. In. That part of the state.
It shut down in 1931. Roads and automobiles had improved to the point that the short lines were not being profitable. They also had started a line from Butler to New Castle and never completed it.
I wonder how fast the Harmony Line cars went, how long it took from New Castle to Boggs & Buhl and how frequently they ran. I live near the T and the trains start in the morning at about 4:30am and they run at night until about 1:00am, every 10 minutes or less during rush hours.
I save all my filming in 1080 HD. I'm sorry if you you're having a hard time watching it. I suggest you don't check into my channel if that is the case. Thank you
That pipeline is the H-152 line that belonged to Equitable Gas. I have surveyed that pipeline the whole way along the Harmony right-of-way to where it ends in Bradford Woods.
Can you do some in Cambria county on where the tannery was near hastings back in the mid 1930s until sometime in late 1940s when my great grandparents moved away from living on the tannery grounds in one of the company houses ... i had been shown where it was many years ago as a child by my grandma an her brothers an sisters where the tannery once was but the memory of it i do not remember please sir if you can please do a video on it
Yeah I wouldn't trespass anywhere around where this line used to be. All people's backyards and such. I grew up right here. It's interesting to think of. The railway wouldn't solve all the problems of the road but it would be cool to have still.
Great stuff, really enjoy watching it. If you ever visit the Chambersburg to Carlisle area to film I'd like to see how that turns out. Was curious about your thoughts on Interurban type service ever returning to active use and if so where do you think it might work. Western PA? Metro DC? Jamestown to Buffalo or Rochester?
With your help from this video I was sort of able to put together a rudimentary layout of the right of way from the Harmony Trestle all the way to Bradford Woods... May take a walk through some of the legal spots haha
Ok I know for a fact that I posted a comment earlier this week on this video and for the second time it's been removed. I even took a screenshot. What gives?
Pretty cool. I love stuff like this. So does my sister.
Potters pond back in there in the 80's 4:55 ish
The video is beautiful.
My father was born in 1905 and lived on the street in Glenshaw where it ran. He rode it a few times before they moved to Dormont around 1920. Wikipedia has a very detailed description of the route.
The line ran to downtown Pittsburgh, not just to Boggs & Buhl, which was on the North Side. That's not a power station on Harmony Drive. It's a substation. It did not provide power to the line. There were multiple brick substations along the RoW where AC was changed to the DC voltage the cars used.
My mom lives right off that intersection of sloop and highland. Crazy that a bridge was once almost right over her house.
You definitely can follow the line all the way north to warrendale in google maps. But once you get to I-79, the alignment is less clear. Heading towards the city, I'm unsure of the alignment south to PIttsburgh unless it followed babcock boulevard all the way to Millville then to the city?
I agree. I used to mountain bike many times but always got lost north of warrendale. Many tunnels/bridges under/over roads. Example: highland road mccandless: 40°33'47.12"N, 80° 2'28.81"W
Love the old pics,and the history of what once was, amazing the amount of labor that was put into this Nation...
Found the remnants of that Pine Creek Road trestle by complete accident the other day.
Very interesting, thank you for sharing this
that is one video that i enjoyed
Did you spot any old overhead electrical line support poles?
from the way the roads cracked in its center at 2:05 to 3:00 I'd say they left the tracks down
You think it would be possible to pull up some of the asphalt to reveal some of the tracks?
I love Pittsburgh all the old history. lived here all my life on Coal Hill. Thank you for these great and very informational videos. Great Job!!!!
Would love to see a part 2 of the Harmony short line. There was also a medium size bridge that crossed over Cemetery lane at the bottom that then turned and ran down now Mcknight road into downtown Pittsburgh. The bridge embutments are still there.
This is not the not the only place where an Interurban right of way is now a road. On the west side of Cleveland Ohio there is a road called electric road. It is the former right of way of the Lakeshore Electric Railroad. Just outside of Donora Pa, there is a small road called Trolly road at street. It is built at least on part of the Pittsburgh Railway right of way that last ran in 1953. My mother road it from Charleroi, my home town, to Pittsburgh numerous times. Unfortunately it was abandoned two years before I was born. I do remember the tracks in the streets as a small child.
All of that infrastructure built and it only ran somewhere between 10 to less than 20 years. I'm unfortunately quite a bit too young to have been a part of any of the interurban lines, but it must have been something else in their heyday.
I agree. Growing up in the east side of the North Hills - I can't imagine all the places crisscrossed by trolley lines. It's a shame that the South Hills got to retain some trolleys - plus add with the addition of the T, but the North Hills got absolutely nothing but the widening of 79.
Sandra Barbieri Yeah, I was raised in the South Hills, so I always at least had the experience of the T. Occasionally I've come across remnants of streetcar lines here and there, including rails that have managed to remain embedded in streets despite their long disuse or incidentally exposed during construction projects. It's difficult to imagine now how far out some of these lines went.
I heard that at the peak of the streetcar era you could more or less hitchhike across the country by jumping on various interurbans along the way. Not sure if that's 100% accurate, but it's fun to imagine the sort of adventure that might have been.
I have a book about a streetcar/interurban group from western New York who took Interurbans all the way into Indiana and down to Kentucky and around the general area into Ohio. They talked about being able to take trolleys and Interurbans from Boston to Chicago. That was in the 1920s.
My Father took us round to many of these places 50 + years ago . Thank you for showing some of what the western Penn area grew on. Keep up the great video anthology of my old home town of Irwin, PA. You have only touch on a very small portion of things that are gone.
Stuff That’s Gone: excellent video. A number of remains are up in Lawrence County.
The Harmony Line ran past the Boggs and Buhl store and continued into downtown Pittsburgh. Operating years were 1908 - 1931.
I would have much rather rode on the interurban than to fight the traffic that is seen today. I just don't understand why these modes of public transportation had to be discarded and dismantled for what we have today. It's also upsetting that this system lasted for only a short time. What were we thinking?
William Charles The Rockefeller crime family is a bunch of useless hoarders.
Before rail, there were networks of canals built. They had a real short service life. Rail put them out of business.
I'm not sure that what "we" were thinking was taken into consideration by those in power.
In. Indiana the motorbus lobby and eventually state highways nudged. Out traction lines. At present. Duke. Energy is the vestige of. The power generating source of the. Fort. Wayne. And. Wabash. Valley. Traction. Line. In. That part of the state.
It shut down in 1931. Roads and automobiles had improved to the point that the short lines were not being profitable. They also had started a line from Butler to New Castle and never completed it.
I wonder how fast the Harmony Line cars went, how long it took from New Castle to Boggs & Buhl and how frequently they ran. I live near the T and the trains start in the morning at about 4:30am and they run at night until about 1:00am, every 10 minutes or less during rush hours.
Well that sure was an abrupt end, but interesting video!
Too bad it was all out of focus...
I save all my filming in 1080 HD. I'm sorry if you you're having a hard time watching it. I suggest you don't check into my channel if that is the case. Thank you
I grew up in that area. Highland Road actually. We used sled ride down that ravine when we were kids. Thanks for the memories.
Very interesting and great to see some history from that area!
I grew up there in the late 70's and one can walk all the way to past bradford woods and beyond.
Interesting vid as always.
been on sloop and highland many times, never knew this. thanks for sharing!
That pipeline is the H-152 line that belonged to Equitable Gas. I have surveyed that pipeline the whole way along the Harmony right-of-way to where it ends in Bradford Woods.
Nice researching Thank you
Very cool as usual stuff man....real neat.....
Cool video!
Can you give directions to these areas?
Have you ever considered a 'walk about' ?
Can you do some in Cambria county on where the tannery was near hastings back in the mid 1930s until sometime in late 1940s when my great grandparents moved away from living on the tannery grounds in one of the company houses ... i had been shown where it was many years ago as a child by my grandma an her brothers an sisters where the tannery once was but the memory of it i do not remember please sir if you can please do a video on it
Yeah I wouldn't trespass anywhere around where this line used to be. All people's backyards and such. I grew up right here. It's interesting to think of. The railway wouldn't solve all the problems of the road but it would be cool to have still.
great job
you need to be a tour guide these videos are great
That is so cool!
Great stuff, really enjoy watching it. If you ever visit the Chambersburg to Carlisle area to film I'd like to see how that turns out. Was curious about your thoughts on Interurban type service ever returning to active use and if so where do you think it might work. Western PA? Metro DC? Jamestown to Buffalo or Rochester?
With your help from this video I was sort of able to put together a rudimentary layout of the right of way from the Harmony Trestle all the way to Bradford Woods... May take a walk through some of the legal spots haha
Ok I know for a fact that I posted a comment earlier this week on this video and for the second time it's been removed. I even took a screenshot. What gives?
what did u say? well this one is still here lol..