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Draft:Island Avenue Yard

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Island Avenue Yard

Located in Pittsburgh, PA's North Side, Island Avenue Yard is a small, 11 track interchange yard.

The yard was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad and is situated on the old PRR mainline from Pittsburgh, PA to Chicago, IL. It is strategically placed near the Ohio Connecting Bridge which would connect the mainline to the lines going to the Mon and Panhandle Divisions. It was also very close to (now demolished) Federal Street Station, where commuters to Pittsburgh's North Side would catch their train. The yard is also the start of where mainline would split off from the Conemaugh Division.

The yard is currently operated by Norfolk Southern. NS connects Island Avenue with local yards in Tarentum, PA, Pitcairn, PA, and NS's monster Conway Yard.

AVR Interchange:

One of the yard's main jobs is to interchange with Carload Express's Allegheny Valley Railroad. AVR run on ex Baltimore and Ohio trackage to Glenwood Yard in Pittsburgh's Glenwood, PA neighborhood. The B&O used to operate their own trackage through the various industries on Pittsburgh's North Shore. With the construction of Three Rivers Stadium in 1970, the B&O tracks were ripped up, but industries were still reliant on the B&O's services. A deal was made with the Penn Central Railraod (owner of the PRR lines and yards at the time) where the B&O would utilize Island Avenue to serve the industries, and return to B&O's Glenwood Yard.

Glenwood yard is now owned by AVR. AVR trains take the P&W Subdivision from Glenwood to CP BLOOM in Bloomfield, PA, where they transfer onto NS's Pittsburgh Line. They will then cross over the Allegheny River on NS's Fort Wayne Railroad Bridge and take the NS main through The Trench into Island Avenue.

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