17-10-06 PHOTOS: HOME

CP-HOME is located in the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh (not to be confused bot Homewood, PA of strike fame) and is the last Main Line interlocking before the Pittsburgh Terminal complex about 4 miles to the west. It is the junction of the old Brilliant Branch, which served as a north side counterpart to the Port Perry Branch which turns off to the south at CP-WING *LINK*. Both of these branches were intended to diver freight traffic around the congested downtown passenger terminal and associated slow speed trackage. Today only the Port Perry bypass is still used by NS, the Brilliant Branch having been first abandoned before being reactivated by the Allegheny Valley Railroad. CP-HOME's other claim to fame is being the location of Pittsburgh's turning wye and every evening after Amtrak Train 43, the Pennsylvanian arrives, it reverses from the downtown station all the way to CP-HOME, then forward onto the Brilliant Branch then back over the west, non-interlocked leg of the way to re-join the main line and shove all the way back to the downtown station to be ready for the next day's departure.

Also included in this set are some photos of downtown Pittsburgh and of the often photographed MP 321 signal in Greensburg, PA.

The Pittsburgh Terminal corridor stretching from CP-WING through the Fort Wayne Bridge was rebuilt by Conrail around 1980 to eliminate redundant and slow speed trackage as well as manned interlocking towers. The 4 track right of way was turned into a compact 2 track bi-directional line with space left over that was eventually used to built the East Pittsburgh Busway in the 1990's. As a result we see things like this pedestrian overpass at Lang Ave also supporting a pair of PRR Position Light signals.

In addition to a crossover, CP-HOME featured an interlocked connection to a small freight yard on the south side and the Brilliant Branch on the north.While the interlocking looks fairly straightforward today, in the PRR era there was a 4 track crossover, a flying junction from the west, another 4 track plant on the Brilliant Branch and a 5th pocket track running to a seperate "west end" interlocking plant.

CP-HOME also remained a pneumatic interlocking after it's Conrail rebuild because back then it made sense to save money on hardware.

Three track bridge over Kelly Ave on the old Brilliant Branch. Today this is used for the daily Train 43 wye move and a couple of AVR local freights.

The north end of the wye is interlocked. Trains from the east remain within interlocking limits, while the west leg is an un-signaled track re-connecting with the main via a hand operated switch. The "Begin Block" sign indicates the start of DCS territory.

The north end of the interlocking has it's own pneumatic air plant, pumping up an ancient riveted air reservoir all to power the single #9 switch which is possibly thrown just once or twice per day.

The north end air infrastructure features a near historical relic in the form of an "engine tap". These devices, marked on the interlocking sheets, were installed to allow locomotives to supply a pneumatic interlocking plant with compressed air via a standard air brake hose connection. This was an occasional occurrence back in the days of unreliable power and air compressors and the PRR wanted to be ready for it.

Back on the main line, a westbound manifest freight led by NS C44-9W #9328 with two SD60E's, #6738 and #6742 behind, coasted through the interlocking.

On the rear of the train was a sequential pair of SD40E helpers consisting of #6332 and #6331. As trains have made better use of dynamic braking, many helpers are no longer cut off at the top of the slope in Galitzin, instead riding the rear all the way to Pittsburgh. Previously there was a helper base at Pittsburgh station, but today the trains stop past one of the area interlockings, CP-TRAFF, CP-WING or CP-HOME and then have the helper disconnect and head back to Altoona.

Here we see the helpers having just uncoupled from a long string of empty tank cars for their lite run home.

The same helpers passing by and taking the Medium Clear signal at CP-HOME to cross over to the normally eastbound track #1.

Moving towards downtown Pittsburgh, here we see Heinz Field from across the old P&LE main line.

 Ascending the Duquesne incline one can get a good view of the cars that have been transporting passengers for over a century.

View of the PRR's OC Bridge with the vehicular McKees Rocks bridge behind.The OC Bridge forms part of the southern bypass that rejoins the Main Line at CP-WING via the Port Perry branch.

Here we see a westbound Main Line train that used the Port Perry Branch bypass and is now re-entering the Main Line (NS Fort Wayne Line) at CP-BELL.

A short while later an eastbound Port Perry Branch train of doublestacks heads across the OC bridge with NS C44-9W #9238 and UP ET45AH #2617.  Due to clearance issues in downtown Pittsburgh, all doublestack trains are routed via the Port Perry Branch and the OC Bridge. 

View of the closer West End Bridge with the doublestack train passing in the background.  Depending on one's perspective this is the first, or last crossing on the Ohio River. 

Pittsburgh's Fred Rodgers memorial was built into one of the disused abutments for the demolished Manchester Bridge.

Eastward view of downtown Pittsburgh with the Allegheny River bridges.

The station in Greensburg, PA was built in 1911 featuring a Porte coch%25C3%25A8re and a clock tower.

NS C44-9W #978 passing under the Milepost 321 automatic signal east of the station. The steel beam construction of the signal bridge was a hallmark of the Penn Central era.

NS C44-9W #9678 again, passing through the station on track #2 with a train of autoracks. In the number 2 position we have SD70M-2 #2760.

The station is used by Amtrak's daily Pennsylvanian round trip.

Some of the old brick platform is still visible. In it's original configuration the station served four tracks with two island platforms.

Although NS built a fence to keep kids from the adjacent park off the right of way, their commitment only does so far and doesn't seem to do much to dissuade the locals. xD

Well that's it for this tour. See you next week as I head up to Harrisburg and HARRIS tower.