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.]

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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