Minor Pittsburgh light rail derailment

[highgreen]

A minor derailment sent a portion of a Pittsburgh Port Authority "T" light rail car off the tracks at Washington Jct. on Tues., 8/4, shortly after 4:00 p.m., according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. No one was injured among the approximately 60 riders aboard the two-car train. The cause was not clear, according to a Port Authority spokesperson, the P-G stated. Only routes 47L - Library and 47S - South Hills Village, both via Overbrook, were affected. Riders on these lines experienced 20-25 minute delays outbound. Bus shuttles took passengers from Washington Jct. to the next station. (42S - So. Hills Village via Beechview does not operate in rush hours. Rush-hour only 42C - Castle Shannon via Beechview terminates north of Washington Jct.) The Port Authority of Allegheny County Website reports that light rail service resumed normally this morning, Wed., 8/5. Crews worked to re-rail the LRV and move it by 2 a.m. this morning [presumably to the So. Hills maintenance facility]. Pgh's light rail routes (except 42C) merge southbound at Overbrook Jct., then split again at Washington Jct, where one line heads to Library, PA, on the Allegheny County border, and the other to So. Hills Village. Port Authority operates a fleet of articulated LRVs by Spanish manufacturer CAF, either recent-builds or recently refurbished cars originally built by Siemens-Duewag. Derailments are extremely rare and the cars have proved very dependable in daily service.

[aricat]

No visit to Pittsburgh is complete without a ride out to Library Road. I was lucky enough to ride out there on a PCC in 1992.

[daveklepper]

And I was lucky enough to ride to Charleroi-Roscoe, Washington, and Donorra in 1949, as part of a high school graduation present.   Also rode two of the four Washington local lines.

And later on Sewickly and Trafford, and Fineview, and Evergreen, and Holmsdale, and Carnegie, and Mt. Washington.

 

Also all post-WWII West Penn, inlcuding the one Cincinnati Currved Side lightweight on South Connolsville.   Their one air-braked car!   All other West Penn cars, up to total closure about 1954, used a combination of regenerative, magnetic track, and hand brakes.