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What Do You Think? Missing Disk?


Muzikman

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Well, after the Falls Race in Ohiopyle, PA this weekend I did atlittle hunting. There were two disks right in down and one had been found by two people (though I am pretty sure they found the wrong disk) and the other was not found.

 

These are the two disks;

 

JW0587

JW0588

 

Where the description states JW0587 should be located there are two round marks in the concrete. It looks as if disks might have been removed and the small idents filled in with concrete. This seemed odd that there would be two markings and that they would go through the trouble of filling in the indents, but from what I can tell, this would be the location.

 

5e6a0b36-33b1-49f2-80ec-1a674ecea49c.jpg

 

3f80f7d6-3ef2-4282-8835-ece759a3af83.jpg

 

JW0588 I think was destroyed with the original bridge. The current bridge is no way from 1941 and one of the original stone wing walls remain. On the new bridge roughly where the old mark should have been located there is now a "PA Department of Transportation" disk.

 

So what do you guys think? Possible that one (or both) of the circles in the top of the abutment could have been the disk?

Edited by Muzikman
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Hi, Muz:

 

On JW0588, is it associated with the highway bridge, or a railway bridge over the highway? From the description:

 

AT THE OVERPASS OF WESTERN MARYLAND RAILWAY OVER HIGHWAY 381, 27 1/2 FEET WEST OF CENTER LINE OF HIGHWAY, IN THE TOP AND 20 FEET NORTH OF SOUTH END OF WEST CONCRETE ABUTMENT OF OVERPASS, 1 FOOT WEST OF EAST EDGE OF ABUTMENT, AND ABOUT 3 FEET ABOVE LEVEL OF HIGHWAY.

 

I see what appears to be a railway bridge in the background of your photo. I'm curious. Did they relocate the railroad on the south side of the river? The aerial photo shows a trestle spanning the river, but the tracks appear to be interrupted--exactly at the place where the new bridge was built.

 

As for the other mark, clearly there has been a bridge replacement. You are correct that "they didn't build 'em like that in 1941". :P

 

-Paul-

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The "overpass" you see in the photo is now a rails to trails bridge, but it was once the Western Maryland Railroad. From looking at old photographs from the late 1800's this bridge is in the same location. From that photo, behind me about 75ft is the B&O railroad which is not a bridge, Highway 381 (road shown in the photo) crosses the B&O at a railroad crossing.

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Ok, I just looked at the terraserver photo and I see what you mean. The RR trestle spans the river, but then just stops when it hits the highway. My guess is that the photo was taken when they were referbing the tracks into rails to trails and that the part over 381 was removed and rebuilt, but I think the location is the same. If you look at the left side of the photo you see what looks like a newer cement abutment (on top of the older stone abutment) that the overpass connects to. At that point there is the Ohiopyle visitors center. This building was originally a train station.

Edited by Muzikman
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A couple of notes: first JW0588 is a PADH disk and is unstamped. The description does not mention a PADH disk so you are correct in thinking the bridge was replaced. Even until recently PADH would replace disks on bridges that were rebuilt but most of them didn't get stamped. Newer ones more closely resemble the USGS disks we find, so I am guessing your bridge was replaced before the 1990s as it has the smaller, older style disk.

 

As for KW0587, did you look all along the abutment? The spot you have the arrow pointed to is at the end of the abutment, but the description says 20 feet north of the south end. Since we are looking south in the picture, the disk would be 20 feet from the right (in the picture, south in real life) end of the abutment. I would think that put the mark more in the middle of the abutment. If it was where your arrow is the measurement would have been stated from the north end. Catch my thought processes here?

 

Matt

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I did look as much as I could without climbing on top of the abutment. There did not appear to be anything there besides what looks like spots where old trestle supports might have been located at one time (aka: large indents and marks in the concrete). Though I did not have a tape measure with me, the abutment is not all that long and 20 ft would put it pretty close to the northern end of the abutment. The next time I am down there I'll climb on top and take a close look.

 

I just found that the Western Mayland RR bridge was rebuilt and complete in Oct of 1999. http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/polycomm/nov/o...pbridge1199.htm

 

I have been looking, but I can not seem to find the date that the Route 381 bridge was replaced. I have been coming down here for years, but to be honest, never paid much attention to the bridge:)

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Even if the bridge was rebuilt, I bet that is the same abutment. However, if they were doing work on the bridge and damaged the disk they may have removed it and filled in the spot, especially if they were afraid of getting in trouble. I agree that the abutment is pretty short, but it would be pretty strange for them to measure the longer distance. Not that I haven't seen that, just that it would be odd. I think your only option is to get up on it and look it over.

 

As for the highway bridge, nothing about that description fits any more. I think you found a reset disk that was never measured or stamped. My remark was that it was not a 1990s reset, as the newer disks are larger. See KW1854 for a picture of a newer PADH disk (also unstamped).

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I gotcha. I was actually thinking back to what PFF said about the section of the trestle over Rt 381 missing on the Terraserver photo. That Sat image was probably taken some time in 1999 before the new bridge was complete.

 

I plan on heading back down there this weekend to see if I can finish looking for the 34+ marks along rt 381 and 711. I'll swing by and take a closer look at the top of that abutment.

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I'll swing by and take a closer look at the top of that abutment.

 

M:

Rather than crawling out on the abutment, try looking down from the Rails-to-Trails bridge.

 

We don't want to see you on the evening news, being fished out of the river! :)

 

Paul

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