Thursday, September 9, 2021

1903 W&LE/N&W/P&WV/Wabash Greentree Tunnel under Mt. Pigsah in Pittsburgh, PA

West Portal: (Bridge Hunter; pghbridgesSatellite, earlier, I saw an image with locomotives going into the tunnel.)
Rook Yard: (Satellite)


While looking for a second W&LE bridge that goes over I-376, I lost the track in the trees. And then I realized that the track went into a tunnel.

BrooklineConnection Photo via BridgeHunter-east, License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike (CC BY-SA)
[I think this view is of the west portal taken from the Trumbull Drive Bridge.]

Ken Caine commented on a post
Here is a picture of the tunnel entrance on the Parkway side, the other side is Rook. I did NOT venture into this tunnel, too dangerous with active tracks.

This 4,225' long tunnel was built in 1903 as part of George Gould's effort to extend his Wabash railroad to Pittsburgh and the east coast. The vertical-wall horseshoe profile was bored through rock, but it has a concrete lining.  [pghbridges]

I had trouble finding the east portal, so I first consulted a topo map. The road at the south side of Westwood points to the portal.
1951 Pittsburgh West Quadrangle @ 1:24,000

Satellite plus Paint
Dennis DeBruler commented on Shane Welling's post
Between these two I-376 bridges is the 4,225' long Greentree Tunnel.

Since I could not find the east portal because of trees, I fired up Google Earth to find an image that did not have trees. That is when I realized that the "black line" that shows up in the satellite view was caused by a cut in the hillside.
Google Earth, Apr 2016


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