Brilliant Branch

The Brilliant Branch, also known as the Brilliant Cutoff, is a railway line in Pittsburgh and Aspinwall, Pennsylvania. It connects the Pittsburgh Line to the Conemaugh Line and to Allegheny Valley Railroad's Allegheny Subdivision.

Brilliant Branch
Freight cars can be seen on the Brilliant Branch in this 1913 photograph
Overview
OwnerAllegheny Valley Railroad, Norfolk Southern Railway
Termini
Service
TypeFreight rail
Operator(s)Allegheny Valley Railroad
History
Opened1904 (1904)
Technical
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Route map
Conemaugh Line
Brilliant Branch Railroad Bridge
across Allegheny River
AVRR Allegheny Subdivision[1][2]
Highland Drive
Lincoln Avenue
Brilliant Cutoff Viaduct
Pittsburgh Line

History

The line was built in 1903–04[3] by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) as a cutoff to avoid the busy Union Station and its yards.[4] After the collapse of the Penn Central Transportation Company (the PRR's successor company) in 1976, the Brilliant Branch was abandoned.

In 1995, the Brilliant Branch (aside from the southernmost wye section) was leased and/or purchased by the fledgling Allegheny Valley Railroad (AVRR). The segment south of the Brilliant Branch Railroad Bridge was used as AVRR's main link from the Pittsburgh Line to its Allegheny Subdivision along the south shore of the Allegheny River.[5] The Brilliant Branch Bridge was subsequently repaired and was used by AVRR to access the AZCON scrap yard on the north side of the river.[6][7] In 2003, a segment of the P&W Subdivision was leased by AVRR[8] and became their main link between the Pittsburgh Line and the Allegheny Subdivision, leaving the Brilliant Branch to be used for local traffic only.

In 2015, the AZCON scrap yard, the last remaining customer on the line, closed.[9]

In 2016, the line was used as a detour from AVRR's usual route over the P&W Subdivision between the Allegheny Subdivision and the Pittsburgh Line while a trestle on that route was repaired.[10][2] The line was to be used as a detour again during another phase of the trestle repair in 2019.[11]

Current status

There is no regular traffic on the line as of 2019,[12] aside for at the wye on the south end of the line which is used to turn around Amtraks's daily Pennsylvanian trains.[13]

There are proposals to turn the Brilliant Branch into a rail-with-trail or rail-to-trail.[14][15][16]

See also

References
  1. "Allegheny Valley Railroad - Carload Express, Inc". carloadexpress.com. 21 April 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
  2. "04/21/2016 - Filing - 240535". www.stb.gov. Archived from the original on 2019-02-28.
  3. "Cut-Off Ready for Service". Pittsburg Press. October 28, 1904. Retrieved November 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "The Railway Age". 1903.
  5. "Federal Register".
  6. "Allegheny Valley Railroad".
  7. "Brilliant Branch RR Bridge - Bridges and Tunnels of Allegheny County and Pittsburgh, PA".
  8. "Federal Register".
  9. "Former UY Tower location - AVR Brilliant Industrial". 1 September 2015.
  10. "Federal Register".
  11. "Federal Register".
  12. "PRR Brilliant Branch bridge Aspinwall, PA 4-22-2017". 22 April 2017.
  13. "Jersey Mike's Rail Adventures: 17-10-06 PHOTOS: HOME". 6 October 2017.
  14. "A brilliant plan for bikes? Brilliant Branch Rail-to-Trail would connect Pittsburgh neighborhoods, and beyond". 17 July 2017.
  15. "Brilliant Branch Envisioning Study by AE7-Pittsburgh - Issuu".
  16. "Aspinwall to east liberty rail line=rail trail?".
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