Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS Signal Replacement at Leetsdale, PA.

Here it is the last day of the year. Track time for me has been sparse this year due to family and other commitments. Hopefully I can get out more this coming year. Anyway yesterday (Sunday) my wife and I decided to visit Leetsdale to check on the fate of the iconic PRR signals. It has been a year since my last visit. Sunday is a good time to visit this place because the Industrial Park can get quite busy. On our way west on route 65 I noticed the PRR signals at Hays are still there. A few more miles west we get to Leetsdale and we see signal work is in progress. One new structure near the 1st street overpass is up with the signals bagged. The PRR signals still stand and work. The other location several hundred feet east has the vertical aluminum structure in place with the new signals on the ground.  My guess is it won't be long before the PRR signals disappear. 

I also made a visit to West Brownsville on 12-27-18 as it has been a year since my last visit there. Not much going on. I heard a loaded Blacksville #2 coal train was on the move north on the Waynesburg Southern Branch and of course Bailey mine was loading. I did get and shot of a local at the signals at CP Jimbo with a SD-40 leading with one gondola and a big GE tier 4 (3660) bringing up the rear. 

1. Local C35 with #5132 leading heads East on track #2. C35 goes to Shire Oaks yard and occasionally to West Brownsville. The coil cars behind the power are destined for URR at Kenny yard. 

2. NS #9845 leads a tank car train east on track #1. Any help with a symbol for this train would be appreciated.

3. NS #9103 & 1040 lead a tank car train east on track #2. I have moved over into a parking lot and switched to my big telephoto to focus on the signal bridge in this and the next two photos.

More photos........



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/18 07:24 by jmbreitigan.

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4. NS #5801 & 5350 lead Local C28 east on track #3 from Conway to interchange cars at Island ave. for AVR (Allegheny Valley RR), Latrobe and West Tarentum locals and then back to Conway. This local would trip the DED at mile 12, a few miles east from here. In a short time the local was on its way. Nice to see a GP-50 and a GP-38-2. 

5. NS #9437  leads a possible empty grain train west to Conway yard on track #2. Clouds made this shot possible as it is a late afternoon shot with sun.

6. N80 local work train heads south at the signals at CP Jimbo. That is one big pleasure craft on the left.

Thanks for looking,
John Breitigan
Washington, PA.

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Great shots at Leetsdale.
I first saw these signals about 30 years ago and glad they survived as long as they did.
Gary

More than likely it will be in the Spring or Summer for the signals. The signals in Between CP Bell and Leets will stay up until they do the signal cutovers. So they have time left.

Marc

In that second to last photo, with the new overhead signal right behind the old signal bridge, it looks like the new signal is about to fall over!

Thanks for the update.  It’s been a while since I have been to Leetsdale. Maybe I will find the time to get there this winter.

spwolfmtn Wrote:
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> In that second to last photo, with the new
> overhead signal right behind the old signal
> bridge, it looks like the new signal is about to
> fall over!

This is being seen more and more with these SAFETRAN tower installations.  The concrete plug is not deep enough to counteract the arm's heavy weight.  If you look at the tower, you can see it has tilted downward compared to the old signal bridge tower AFTER the arm installation--I can't believe this is acceptable to NS.  So, what happens after the. passage of thousands of trains at this site, along with all the ground vibrations?  The earth around that new tower foundation will settle more, and the tower will probably lean more.  Now it's even more unsafe!  This is the difference between the old signal installations and the new ones--the old one used a BRIDGE, not a monstrous cantilver that is way heavy and over engineered.  The concrete  bases for the bridges were easily to set;  a huge cantilver tower with such a long arm needs a much deeper plug and compaction around it to prevent the tilting.  I mean seriously, if the arm needs to be that long, stretching all the way across the tracks, put in another tower, set the base and you'd be fine with a new bridge structure!  Now, at some tpoint, they'll have to go in and fix this new "Leaning Tower of Leesdale."

I'm seeing this all the time now, and it really surprises me.  We're talking basic civil engineering concepts here.  I say keep the old bridge and mount the new signals on it instead!!

Plus, it all looks SO amateur!!  It needs to look proper and PROFESSIONAL.  But that's missing in lots of these new SAFETRANS signal installations.  They're trash, by comparison, to the older stuff.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/18 10:54 by coach.

Sorry to see the old gals go.  I videotaped there 18 years ago.
Dick Eisfeller

Great pics and narrative John. I see three tracks there. Is there enough traffic to support the need for three sets of rails.
Not familiar with that area. Old PRR I think you say. Get the photos of them signals before they are gone.
Again nice series John!!!
 NSSpike

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA

Very NICE series!!

Larry

Going westward at CP Leets, it transitions from 3 to 4 main tracks to East Conway...the 2 center tracks are generally used for moves in/out of Conway Yard, with the 2 outer tracks usually used for trains that relay...with every train either going in the yard or recrewing, all 4 tracks are pretty well utilized.

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