USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Pennsylvania lines west of Pittsburgh : a history of the flood of March, 1913 > Part 6
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CHAPTER 12. APRIL 6 TO APRIL 12, 1913.
Sunday, the 6th, was clear again, and the delays due to high water and the discomfort due to the rain were forgotten. In each of the reconstruction camps, all energy was directed toward restoring the broken lines. In the general offices all energy was directed toward restoring passenger and freight service as conditions would permit.
At 9:30 A. M. a second main track was put into service over Bridge 139, Loudonville, giving the Eastern Division two main tracks throughout.
At midnight the arrangement mentioned as having been made on the 5th for routing Pan Handle business eastbound from Columbus via the Sandusky Branch, and west- bound from Pittsburgh via the Akron Division, was put in effect.
Monday, the 7th, was clear and colder, with the streams below flood stage at nearly all points.
The Pittsburgh Division was opened from Dennison to Coshocton, with speed restrictions at points where washouts had been repaired. This left the gap in the Pan Handle road but the fourteen miles from Coshocton to Trinway, but conditions there were such as to require at least another week's work before it could be opened. The Richmond Division was opened from Camden to Somerville, but this left a gap of fourteen miles, from Somerville to Hamilton, which it was estimated would require nearly a week to close.
As the trestles put in at the numerous washouts had been built as rapidly as possible, and many of them were to be used for months by trains of heavy power and cars and of considerable length, arrangements were made to have these trestles all specially inspected to make certain that they were adequate, and to follow this up by weekly inspections during the time they were in use.
Tuesday morning, April 8th, found the bridge over the Scioto River, at Marble- cliff, again in service, and during the night the trestling of the Miami River at Dayton was completed for one track. This permitted the running of all trains between Columbus and St. Louis by their normal routes.
Rain on the 9th again interfered with the work at several points, particularly on the Richmond and Louisville Divisions, and at Muncie.
On the 10th the Richmond Division was opened for service except between Collins- ville and Seven Mile, three and a half miles. The White River Bridge at Muncie was replaced with temporary trestle, and service to Muncie passenger station resumed. It continued to rain all day, in eastern Indiana and Ohio, and the consequent rise in the rivers again seriously delayed the repair work everywhere.
On Friday, April 11th, the weather was again clear, and the fear of another flood and the wiping out of all the temporary bridges and new fills was removed.
Saturday, April 12th, saw the Richmond and Louisville Divisions opened throughout and service from Chicago to Cincinnati and Louisville resumed via normal routes.
79
During the night the Pittsburgh Division was opened by the completion of the trestling for one track at Bridge 100, over the Muskingum River, which was put in service early Sunday morning, the 13th.
This opened up all the main routes and closed all gaps in tracks except on the Zanesville Division and Walhonding and Dresden Branches, in the valley of the Muskingum and its tributaries, as shown on the map for the 12th.
80
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PENNSYLVANIA LINES WEST OF PITTSBURGH
FLOOD OF MARCH, 1913
SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 1913
RED Track, Roadway or Bridges damaged beyond use.
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CHAPTER 13. SUBSEQUENT TO APRIL 12, 1913.
With the opening of the Pittsburgh Division on the morning of Sunday, April 13th, the main line routes were all in service, a few hours over eighteen days from the destruction of Bridge 100, and the closing of the routes between Pittsburgh and the west. The repair gangs were still engaged in providing second track through several places where but one track had been rebuilt on the main lines, and in rebuilding the Zanesville Division bridges over the Muskingum at Ellis and Zanesville, and the Walhonding and Dresden Branches in the valleys of the tributaries of the same stream.
On the 19th the derrick car at work on the Zanesville bridge was upset while handling a girder, but it lodged against some flat cars on an adjacent siding and no particular damage was done. On the 1st of May, the pile driver working on the bridge at Ellis was precipitated into the river by the failure of one of the trestle bents it had just driven. Its place was taken by another driver.
On April 22d the Walhonding Branch of the Marietta Division, from Coshocton to South Loudonville, was opened for service, and on Sunday the 27th the Dresden Branch of the Akron Division, from Killbuck to Trinway, was restored to service.
On May 7th, the Muskingum River Bridge at Zanesville was reopened for service with a temporary structure, and on May 12th the Ellis Bridge was completed and put in service. Forty-eight days after the flood the last link in the chain was closed and service to all points on the Pennsylvania Lines West of Pittsburgh had been resumed by normal routes.
81
CHAPTER 14.
EASTERN DIVISION.
The Eastern Division, from Alliance west, lies in the zone of greatest rainfall, and while high water was experienced over the whole of the Division, the serious damage done was confined to the district between Lakeville and Lucas, Ohio, where the tracks occupy the valleys of the Jerome Fork of the Mohican River and the Black Fork and its tributary, Rocky Fork. These streams, uniting, form the Mohican River, which, uniting with the Kokosing River, forms the headwaters of the Walhonding River, which in turn, uniting with the Tuscarawas, forms the Muskingum; and wherever a rail- road crossed or paralleled any of these streams it was practically destroyed.
On Monday evening, March 24th, word was received that one track had been under- mined at Bridge No. 149, at Lucas, a stone arch, one wing wall of which had been destroyed. Work trains and men were immediately sent there to replace the damaged fill. Two hours later word was received that both tracks were washed out, twenty-five feet deep, a distance of 60 feet, at a point about a mile and a quarter east of Bridge No. 149. Work trains and a wreck train were started west to this point, but could get no nearer than Wooster on account of the depth of water over the tracks west of there.
Passenger trains were therefore detoured over the Big Four to Columbus and the Pan Handle to Pittsburgh, and vice versa. Freight traffic was stopped. Additional reports came in rapidly of high water and serious damage at numbers of places, and all available men, material and supplies were assembled and started towards the scene of damage. Four pile drivers were secured, two of which were sent to each end of the damaged section of the road.
About 1:00 A. M. on the 25th, Bridge No. 146, a 79 foot deck truss bridge over Rocky Fork, east of Lucas, was washed out; the masonry and superstructure being destroyed and the embankment on each side washed out, leaving a gap over three hundred feet long.
A little later, one track was washed out at the west side of Bridge No. 147, a fifty foot stone arch over the same stream, about two miles further west. By dumping bridge seats and other heavy stone into the hole, the water was prevented from under- mining the second track.
Bridge No. 145, a double span 65 foot deck girder bridge, was totally destroyed. The bridge is located just below where Rocky Fork empties into Black Fork, and their united streams cut a hole about sixteen feet below the normal bed of the stream, under- mining the pier and both abutments of the bridge. On both sides of Bridge No. 144 the tracks were undermined, leaving holes twenty to thirty feet long back of the abut- ments. At Bridge No. 141, a house lodged against the east abutment, causing an eddy which undermined the abutment and washed a hole sixty feet in length. This was a double span 96 foot deck girder bridge, and the east end of the east span settled when the
83
"'Arch
Bridge 147- Só Stane Arch NW Wing Destroyed oDriven-42 of 16 Piling !! Trestle Constructed. Hol Track in Service March 200
Bridge Destroyed- Embankment washed Out Runarounds Constructed. 259 Piling Driven 3 Frame Bents Erected Total Length of
No ! Track in Service April 4 th
Bridge To 143 Riveted Truss Two Spans of 83-9"
Road-bed Washed outfor 600 on offrom 2 to 5 Feet both Sides of Bridge at Depths Both Tracks in Service March 30th
ad Floor Span 18
Bridge No 128
BIG PRAIRIE
Gridga fio 127.
Plett Girder. 25'Spon.
Platz Girder 28 Span.
LAKEVILLE
Bridge Mo. 141-Riveted Truss Two Spans of91-7 East Abutment Destroyed & Embanm - ment at East End Washed out 68 Piling Driven- 14 Frame Bents Erected-Total Length of Trestle 219: Nº 2 Track in Service April 3cd Na | Trackin Service April 54
idge /1o.140
Bridge HISG - 12'Arch. Bridge and Ga Feet ofEmbenkment Destroyed 46 Piling Driven. ISG' of Trestle Constructed Not Track in Service March 200
Rood of Trick Washed out WestofBridge 132 Piling Driven to Span Breaks on Each Side of Bridge. Tracks in Service March 274
Thru Triss SpaniJo
LOUDONVILLE
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Clear
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Little
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EASTERN DIVISION SKETCH SHOWING POINTS OF GREATEST DAMAGE. MARCH 1913 FLOOD.
3
Scale of Miles
ROC
Bridge 146- 79 DECK
CER Truss
Black Fork
No 2 Trock In Service March 290 no | Track in Service Aprivate
15'of Embankment
Washed out
Bridge 144- 150Thru Truss East Abut Undermined
Water over Tracce from 1 to 3 Feet Chop
Bridge No. 142
1 8com-Lengh 14"
Black
Water over Trace an Average Depth of 3 Feet.
Dridge ond 600 ofEmbenk- Spans of 18 ond 24'
ment Destroyed .- 254 Piling Driven - 15 frema Bants Erecte Total Length of Trestle. 822'
Bridge No 138
Oridge ne 13
2 story Arch.
Plata Girder-42'Span.
Bridge rio. 131
ridge Fo. 129
>Water over Traces
Bridge no. 132.
PERRYSVILLE
Within Sheden Ares Water was over Traces ofan Average Depthof 3 to 4 Feet
for both Tracks
Tto ITrack in Service April 2% rio.2 Treck in Service April6
Plote Girder-24'Span.
5 - 1916 Span.
Thru Truss Spon 150'
Plets'Girder 24' Span
LUCAS
GLBridge 149- 16 Arch I showing Destroyed
acky
Bridge Destroyed-240 of Embankment Wyeshed out Runarounds Construered 241 PilingDriven-3FrameBents Erected Total Length of Trestle po fer both Tracks
Fork
-Bridge 145. Deck Girder. Two 65 Spans
Trestle : 5 8//for both Tracks
No 2Track in Service AprilAu
Bridge 148
84
Both Tracks in Service April 5th
Jerome
Bridge No 139 - Double Stone Arch
Fork
River
Mansfield, Ohio. March 25, 1913.
Yard tracks opposite Union Station building, which stands just at right of interlocking tower appearing at right of picture. These tracks are used for interchange with Erie R. R.
Lucas, Ohio, east of.
March 26, 1913.
Bridge No. 146, over Rocky Fork, both abutments and about 125 feet of embankment approach destroyed.
85
Lucas, Ohio, east of.
March 26, 1913.
Landslide at M. P. 167, after No. 1 track had been cleared.
Coulter, Ohio, west of.
March 30, 1913.
Bridge 145, over Black Fork, before any work had been done except construct a plank walkway and hand railing along one track.
86
abutment failed. Bridge No. 139, a double stone arch of 16 and 24 foot spans, was destroyed completely, and the twenty-five foot fill on each side washed out, leaving a gap seven hundred and fifty feet long.
All day long the water was too high to permit the work trains to get nearer the damaged bridge than Wooster. By daylight of the 26th, however, the water had gone down enough to start work westwardly through the district damaged by Killbuck Creek, between Wooster and Millbrook. At several points it was necessary to drive piling, as the current through the openings was too swift for anything else to hold against it.
From the west end, a driver started work at 10 A. M. (on the 26th) at the west end of Bridge No. 146, and made good headway during the day.
During the night the rain turned to sleet, and by daybreak it was very cold. The work trains which had been working between Wooster and Millbrook proceeded to Lakeville, and during the day of the 27th, drove piling on each side of Bridge No. 132 and repaired a gap of about 2,000 feet where the track was entirely washed out west of this bridge, and by evening were able to proceed to Bridge No. 136, where the railroad crosses Jerome Fork. A large force of trackmen and shopmen were engaged in filling up the damaged tracks west of Wooster. Another pile driver arrived at Lucas and was put to work at Bridge No. 147, a fifty foot stone arch over Rocky Fork, the west approach to which was so badly washed that it was necessary to build 42 feet of trestle to span the break. Considerable difficulty was encountered on account of the stone from a destroyed wing wall being left where the piling was to be driven. At Bridge No. 146, it was found necessary to build run-arounds to clear the old structure, requiring trestle 350 feet long for each track.
A Pennsylvania Railroad pile driver arrived at Lakeville on the evening of the 27th, and it was desired to use this instead of the driver then at work at Bridge No. 136, as it was equipped with a steam hammer for more rapid work. In bringing it up to position, however, it was overturned through the straightening of a guy-rope hook due to the strain caused by the unusual superelevation of the track on a curve. The foreman of the outfit was killed and an engineer severely injured and the pile driver was so damaged that it had to be returned to the shop for repairs. The work proceeded with the old driver after the wreckage was cleared up.
By this time the Ohio River had gotten very high at the eastern end of the Division, and some tracks at Conway were under water and No. 4 track, nearest the river, was put out of service on account of the embankment being badly washed. Landslides at Glenfield and West Rochester also required attention.
On Friday, March 28th, trestle for one track having been completed at Bridge No. 136, the pile driver proceeded to Loudonville, and started work at Bridge No. 139, where a gap 750 feet long was to be trestled or filled. The Division gangs were reinforced with men from the Pennsylvania Railroad and Cumberland Valley Railway, the latter road furnishing also a portable electric light plant, so that arc lamps could be placed across the gap to facilitate night work.
At the west end of the work, the division forces had been supplemented with gangs from the Western, Chicago Terminal, and Cleveland & Pittsburgh Divisions and some contractors' men. One track having been provided at Bridge No. 147, the driver advanced to Bridge No. 146.
87
On Saturday, the 29th, the work of repairing the washed tracks at Wooster and Lakeville continued; the old pile driver at work at Bridge No. 139 was replaced with a new and better one, and work proceeded rapidly there; one track was completed across the gap at Bridge No. 146 at midnight, and the pile driver immediately moved eastwardly to Bridge No. 145.
On Sunday, the 30th, the approaches to Bridge No. 144 were filled with coal and screenings which were on the passing track near by. Bridge No. 143 was in course of reconstruction before the flood, and was supported on temporary timbers which the water took away. These supports were replaced and the approaches at both sides, which had been damaged for several hundred feet, repaired with screenings. At Bridge No. 145, it was also necessary to drive run-around trestles to avoid the old structure, each about three hundred feet long. A driver was started at work on a second track at Bridge No. 146, and made good progress.
On Monday, March 31st, the work continued at the same points. A force of men was sent to Bridge No. 141 to start work of erecting frame bents under the east approach, so that when a pile driver could be sent there work could be immediately started on the bridge.
Tuesday, April 1st, saw trestle for one track nearly completed at Bridge No. 139, and entirely so at Bridge No. 145. On the 2nd the trestle was completed at Bridge No. 139, and the pile driver advanced to Bridge No. 141. Trains of filling material were then brought to Bridge No. 139 to fill the trestle and widen the embankment for a second track so that the second trestle need not be built for the whole distance.
On Thursday, April 3rd, Bridge No. 141 was supported by piling, which opened up one track through the entire flood district. Passenger service was at once resumed, and in addition to the usual trains, the trains of the Southwest System were brought to and from Pittsburgh by this route.
At 4:00 A. M., April 4th, the east abutment of Bridge No. 144 failed, settling about one foot and moving out about one foot. The east end of the bridge was jacked up and blocked, and stone dumped in front of the abutment to support it. This blocked the Division again for about twenty-four hours.
By Sunday morning, April 6th, second track had been provided at all the bridges, and the commissary trains, pile drivers and crews were sent to the Pittsburgh and Marietta Divisions, which were still out of service.
88
The work done in repairing the damage on the Eastern Division may be summarized as follows:
Location
Length of Trestle Built (Total for Two Tracks)
Number of Piling Driven
Frame Bents Constructed
Cars of Filling Material Used
East of Wooster .. .
20
West of Wooster. .
40 feet
16
100
Lakeville
30 feet
12
200
Bridge No. 136.
136 feet
46
Bridge No. 139 ..
822 feet
254
15
400
Bridge No. 141 ..
219 feet
68
14
Bridge No. 143 ..
10
Bridge No. 144.
37
Bridge No. 145.
581 feet
259
3
Bridge No. 146.
700 feet
291
3
10
Bridge No. 147.
42 feet
16
M. P. 167.
50
Bridge No. 149.
10
Total
2,570 feet
962
35
837
. .
. .
Lakeville, Ohio, west of.
March 31, 1913.
Repairing tracks at washout at M. P. 153. Water had been 5 feet 9 inches above top of rail.
89
Loudonville, Ohio, east of.
March 31, 1913.
Bridge No. 136, over Plum Run, arch washed out, with about 50 feet of embankment. Tracks supported on cribbing.
March 31, 1913.
Loudonville, Ohio, west of.
Bridge 139, over road and mill race, and 750 feet of embankment, washed away. Temporary trestle about half completed for one track.
90
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Loudonville, Ohio, west of.
April 2, 1913.
Bridge No. 139, over road and mill race; temporary trestle for one track completed, and about ready for service-looking west.
Loudonville, Ohio, west of.
April 1, 1913.
Bridge No. 139, over road and mill race; temporary trestle for one track about completed. Looking east.
91
Loudonville, Ohio, west of
June 27, 1913.
Bridge No. 139, from rear of passenger train No. 19.
March 31, 1913.
Perrysville, Ohio.
Bridge No. 141, over Black Fork. East abutment and about 100 feet of approach embankment destroyed.
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Perrysville, Ohio.
March 31, 1913.
Bridge 141, over Black Fork, showing east approach and abutment destroyed.
Perrysville, Ohio, west of.
March 31, 1913.
Looking west over Bridge 143, over Black Fork, showing fill washed away and replaced for service.
93
Perrysville, Ohio, west of.
March 31, 1913.
Bridge over Black Fork. No. 143, intact, but west abutment for a new bridge to replace this one was destroyed.
Coulter, Ohio, west of.
March 31, 1913.
Bridge No. 144, over Black Fork. Replacing approach, which had been washed out for about 75 feet.
94
Lucas, Ohio, east of.
March 31, 1913.
Bridge No. 145, over Black Fork; pier and both abutments and 100 feet of approach destroyed. Pile driver starting repair work at west side.
Lucas, Ohio, east of.
April 1, 1913.
Bridge No. 145, over Black Fork, from east end, showing break in abutment as well as general condition of bridge. One "run-around" track about completed.
95
Lucas, Ohio, east of
June 27, 1913.
Bridge No. 145, view from the rear of passenger train No. 19, showing "run-around " tracks on temporary trestles.
Lucas, Ohio, east of.
March 31, 1913.
Bridge No. 146, over Rocky Fork; both abutments and 125 feet of roadbed destroyed.
96
Lucas, Ohio, east of.
March 31, 1913.
Looking south at Bridge 146, over Rocky Fork, showing temporary trestle back of bridge destroyed.
Lucas, Ohio, east of
June 27, 1913.
Bridge No. 146, view from rear of passenger train No. 19, showing "run-around " tracks on temporary trestles.
97
Lucas, Ohio, east of.
March 31, 1913.
Bridge No. 147, over Rocky Fork; approach washed out for 50 feet, bridge uninjured, but wing wall destroyed.
Lucas, Ohio.
March 31, 1913.
Bridge 149, southwest wing wall destroyed. Fill at west side replaced ready for service.
98
CHAPTER 15. WESTERN DIVISION.
The Western Division suffered damage only in western Ohio. It there traverses comparatively level country in which the water found plenty of room to spread out. While the rainfall was heavy through all this district, and the eastern end of the Division lies within the belt of greatest rainfall, the only point where conditions were such as to interfere with traffic was just east of Delphos, where two insignificant creeks, flowing under the tracks toward the Auglaize River, found Bridges, or culverts rather, 182 and 183, too small for their accommodation.
Culvert 182, about one third of a mile west of Auglaize, was originally a 16 foot bridge, but in 1895 it was filled in, except for a twenty-four inch cast iron pipe which was placed in the bottom of the opening. This waterway was two small for the March flood, and when the water broke through the fill, it washed away about 120 feet of the embankment. For part of the distance it was necessary to trestle over the opening and this trestle will be replaced with a bridge of the original span.
Culvert 183, about one mile west of Auglaize, was a six foot stone arch, of which the east side under the older track was destroyed, and with it about forty lineal feet of embankment. The damaged arch was rebuilt in concrete.
Both of these openings were trestled for single track by six o'clock on the morning of the 27th of March, and the Western Division was ready for service. As the through passenger trains were being detoured via the Lake Shore, and no route was open for moving freight, nothing but local service was performed until the opening of the Erie detour route on the following day, and then only a very limited service for a week or more.
At Fort Wayne the St. Mary's River threatened damage, but did no more than flood a pump house. This was foreseen in time to provide a temporary pumping plant on high ground, and caused no delay to traffic.
An orphanage in the river valley was flooded, and four of the children drowned in attempts to get them out with ordinary row boats. To rescue the seventy orphans and caretakers, arrangements were made through the Chicago Terminal Division officers to send a life saving crew from Chicago to Fort Wayne by special train. Within an hour after its arrival at Fort Wayne, all who had been marooned in the building were safely landed on high ground.
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