Nostalgia & History > Same Yard—Two Photographers

Both John Vachon and Ann Rosener shot the same yard from the 16th Street Bridge in Pittsburgh, PA for the Office of War Information. Vachon was there in June 1941, Rosener September 1942. A 1953 topography map shows this yard as belonging to the B&O, but the switch engine in Vachon's image sure looks to be PRR. Any additional information would be most appreciated about what appears to be a produce terminal. Please credit the Library of Congress for both images.
Be of good cheer,
—Mac
www.lowellamrine.com

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Great 80-year-old images.

Wow. Look at the funky single sheathed PRR box car with the rounded roof at the left in the second photo

Victor Baird



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/23 19:01 by wabash2800.

Wow, Great pics, incredible amount of ice that was used!

This is the Strip district of Pittsburgh - however I'm not sure if it was called that back when the photos were taken.  I believe this was all PRR trackage.  The pictures were taken from the 16th Street bridge, looking northeast. There are now brand new (built in the last few years) condominium complexes where the tracks are.  In the second photo, the low, long building on the right is the PRR's Fruit Auction and Sales building, which still exists and is now a multi-tenant marketplace.  The twin spires of the church behind it is St. Stanislaus Kostka RC Church, which also still exists.  Also the warehouse in the distance in both photos is extant as well.

Lot of work unloading those reefers manually.

Two first-class historical scenes - One is from a few months prior to World War II and the second is from early World War II.  
Think how many younger people haven't heard of refrigerator cars using ice or even of refrigerator cars!
Bob

wabash2800 Wrote:
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> Wow. Look at the funky single sheated PRR box car
> with the rounded roof at the left in the second
> photo
>
> Victor Baird

A veritable "sea-of-reefers".

Anybody have a clue 'bout what exactly it is that's next to the Great Northern
Western Fruit Express reefer in the way lower left of this image?

Pat from Littleton, Colorado

 

refarkas Wrote:
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> Think how many younger people haven't heard of
> refrigerator cars using ice or even of
> refrigerator cars!

Yeah, the word "reefer" means something completely different to the younger generation these days...

JG

Xtra276West Wrote:
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>
> Anybody have a clue 'bout what exactly it is
> that's next to the Great Northern
> Western Fruit Express reefer in the way lower left
> of this image?
>

It’s a flatcar loaded with Pennsy less than carload (LCL) containers. They had a coupon of different styles over the years, but a lot of them had the rounded top design. If you do a search for ‘PRR LCL containers’ you should be able to come up with some pictures of them pretty easily.

Scooter

Posted from iPhone

Thanks for sharing these magnificent photos.  All the trackage visible here is indeed PRR.  A 1952 map of the Pittsburgh Terminal District calls this complex the Produce Yard.  I've also heard it called the 16th Street Yard.  B&O's River Branch came close to this area.  It was on the south bank of the Allegheny River, and terminated at a produce yard and team tracks at 22nd Ave, much smaller than the PRR's Produce Yard.  The B&O facility was east of the Kroger Grocery warehouse that appears in this photo.  At one time, the B&O had a connection to the PRR, which would have been to the left of the Kroger warehouse in these photos.  B&O's Official List of Stations and Sidings from 1935 shows this as a connecting point with the PRR, but the connection does not show in B&O's 1956 Official List (also known as Form 6), nor does it show in the PRR's CT1000 of 1948.  (There were plenty of other connections between B&O and PRR in the Pittsburgh area).  Also of interest in the first photo is the PRR's bridge over the back channel of the Allegheny River, that connected the Conemaugh Division main line to Herr's Island, at upper left.  Herr's Island was the location of stockyards, slaughter houses and meat packing plants, jointly served by B&O and PRR.  

Steve Salamon
Valley City, OH

    





 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/23 19:01 by cr7998.

Thank you to all for the wonderful comments and the additional information.
—Mac