PRR Operations on East Carson Street in Pittsburgh

I will check some PRR books but not too sure if that will help. The track ran on the hillside above(now NS) but they had tracks in the city too.

There was a PRR station (Baldwin) on East Carson Street south of Beck's Run Road.

The PRR Technical & Historical Society published at least 2 books on Pittsburgh.  They might offer a clue if you can get your hands on them.  Here's one:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Penn...iangle/dp/0966319109

I think there's a map in them.  I'm not at home so I can't look.

George

A little history of the box. This box was shipped to my grandfather, his name is the entire 2^rd line of the after the C/O so I am good there. He must have received a lot of stuff for the PRR to make a stencil of his address to place on boxes rather than hand writing it each time.

Here is what I see and the under lines are the missing data.

DA ______ON, MANAGER

C/O E H SCHWARTZEL

M.B ______ ST _____ PENNA R.R.

33 ____ E. CARSON ST

SOUTH SIDE PITTSBURGH

The 3^rd line is puzzling, looks like STORE but is there enough room for the R and the tape removes the other letters.  Maybe STUE, but what does that mean?

OK, a little more info. Do you have a date on the box??  They changed things all the time. I have the two PRR books and could only find a  three sided shelter at Smithfield St,  with the P&LE building in the background-as they phrased it.  There was a roundhouse and yard at 28th St. The box might have gone to the 33rd block. Sure it wasn't a PRR storeroom or office ??

no date that I can see as it relates to the shipment but there is a date information from the box manufacturer. I will look when I get home.

OK. I suspect it was shipped to somewhere/something near the 28th St. yards depending on a date. They tore them out in 1952-I think. The partial letter next to the ST looks like it might be an O   ??

or a U. Look at the U of Pittsburgh, it is similar.  I think there are 4 letters.  O or a U then a E or F because of the small amount showing on top like the E below in the word SIDE.  So what would STOE, STOF, STUE or STUF mean? There is not enough room for an R, I could see STORE.

I think the top is a name of DAVIDSON, there is a little part of the V next to the A.  V is the only letter that has a point in the middle, so it must be a V.

Correction-I was wrong on the 28th St yards -not there.  It has been so long since I have been in that area. There was a Pgh Terminal Bldg alog Carson St that had wholesalers & distributors in it.

Google the Pittsburgh Terminal Warehouse. Their address is 3300  E. Carson St. Big place.

OK.  Found that the PRR signed a contract with the Pgh Terminal Warehouse and they were putting in 6 lines.  This was the PRRs Lines West. Couldn't find a list of old tenants just current.

If you want to track down all the industries, try getting a track chart for that section of track.   One of the PRR sites may have one.   Also, I have a CT 1000 which lists all customers.    I can look it up if you can name the branch/line and town.     Is it Pittsburgh or some suburb name?

Here is an exerpt from the 1945 CT1000 that seems to cover that area.

I think it was shipped to the Pgh Terminal Warehouse at 3300 East  Carson St. Pittsburgh. Possibly a PRR office of some sort.

There is a PRR Yahoo Group which just recently had a thread about PRR locations on the South Side.  Here's a link.

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/g...nversations/messages

 My grandfather was a car inspector at the 30th St. Shops.

Bill

WFT, I wonder if they knew each other.  I could not follow the link, I will need to ask to get in because it is a restricted group.  Thanks.

Here is more pictures of the box.

Now there is a second box for a different location, Thomson Yard. That one was easy and information in plentiful.  Here are some pictures of that one. But what is funny is that they made another stencil. So was that standard practice?  I don't know the dates of this one either.  Had to be the late 40's / 50's.  Neat pieces of family history.

prrjim posted:

Here is an exerpt from the 1945 CT1000 that seems to cover that area.

the pages were blank.

I found this and this makes sense.  This was the 30th st OB yard on Carson St. There was a footbridge and a shop.   What does OB (out bound?) stand for?  That 3rd line of the address is such a mystery. Any thoughts?   M.B ______ ST _____ PENNA R.R.

The Terminal Buildings are located on the river side of Carson Street near the PRR panhandle bridge and the B&O/P&LE mainline (now CSX) runs right behind them.  The PRR is located on the other side of Carson Street and is elevated, so they couldn't have just run a spur across Carson St. to get there.  Aerial photos going back to the 40's do not show any bridges carrying tracks over Carson in the area except the panhandle bridge and that went from the elevated PRR tracks across the Mon River taking the trains to the main PRR passenger station in the city.  The P&LE had a big freight depot a couple of blocks away at what is now called Station Square, but I am not aware of any PRR freight depots in that area.  

Ormsby station is a possibility:

This station was on the SE side of South 30th Street between Sarah and Larkins Streets (those two streets do not cross here anymore and the tracks are gone) (GPS: 40.423955,-79.964274).

http://www.west2k.com/pastations/allegheny.shtml

You are right, that was blank.   The file I have was not.   I will try again.

I will have to look at my Googled site again but they tell about 6 sidings going in to the Terminal Bldg. and a contract with the PRR. Plus the M &B probably stand for M. Berger which was an industrial park there is an old Republic Steel facility. The Terminal was a big deal in its day.

I think this set of pages is not blank now!    It was a struggle to get this to work.

I was reading the  NPS website on the Pgh. Terminal last evening when our power went off and couldn't finish it or look at it closer.  What most people don't realize is that it was a large operation financed by some of Pgh's wealthier businessmen and they had 6 RR sidings in to the building.  Whether maps etc show them or not.  The PRR could have used the B&O for access. Also the PRR could have had a freight office and agent in the complex.  The warehouse had 6  big floors.

moed321 posted:

WFT, I wonder if they knew each other.  I could not follow the link, I will need to ask to get in because it is a restricted group.  Thanks.

Here is more pictures of the box.

 

You should be able to get Read-only access by just opening a Yahoo email account which is free.

Bill

I was looking through my copy of "The Pennsy in the Steel City" by the PRR Tech. & Historical Soc. On page 70 there is a diagram of the PRR's  Ormsby Yard or the 30th St. Yard as it was renamed.  On describing this yard, it says, "the 30th St yard  providing freight service to many of industries  scattered throughout the South Side  including the LARGE PGH> TERMINAL WAREHOUSE  complex". M. Berger was an industrial wholesaler that sold anything they could make a dollar on.