Brilliant Branch

Brilliant Branch
Freight cars can be seen on the Brilliant Branch in this 1913 photograph
Overview
Termini	Pittsburgh Line at Homewood Conemaugh Line at Aspinwall
History
Opened	November 27, 1904 (1904-11-27)
Closed	2024 (2024)
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map Legend Conemaugh Line Brilliant Branch Railroad Bridge across Allegheny River AVRR Allegheny Subdivision Highland Drive Lincoln Avenue Brilliant Cutoff Viaduct Pittsburgh Line [1] [2] This diagram: view talk edit

The Brilliant Branch, also known as the Brilliant Cutoff, was a railway line in Pittsburgh and Aspinwall, Pennsylvania. It was opened by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1904 and abandoned in 2024. It connected the Pittsburgh Line to the Conemaugh Line and to Allegheny Valley Railroad's Allegheny Subdivision. There are plans to convert it into a rail trail.

History

The Pennsylvania Railroad built the Brilliant Branch as a cutoff to avoid the busy Union Station and its yards. ^[3] The northern end was on the north side of the Allegheny River in Aspinwall, Pennsylvania, where it connected with the line of the Western Pennsylvania Railroad. It then crossed the Allegheny and connected with the main line of the Allegheny Valley Railroad. Finally, it continued south to connect with the main Pittsburgh–Harrisburg line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. ^[4] The line was built with four tracks at a cost of $3.6 million. ^[5] It opened on November 27, 1904. ^[4]

The Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central Railroad merged in 1968 to create the Penn Central Transportation Company. The Penn Central entered bankruptcy in 1970, and the Brilliant Branch was conveyed to Conrail in 1976. ^[6] Conrail activated Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) on 150 miles (240 km) of lines in western Pennsylvania in 1978, including the branch. ^[7]

Conrail sold the branch to the Allegheny Valley Railroad in 1995, aside from the southernmost wye section. 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. ^{[8] [9]}

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. ^{[10] [11]} In 2003, a segment of the P&W Subdivision was leased by AVRR ^[12] and became their main link between the Pittsburgh Line and the Allegheny Subdivision, leaving the Brilliant Branch to be used for local traffic only.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2015, the AZCON scrap yard, the last remaining customer on the line, closed. ^[13]

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. ^{[14] [2]} The line was to be used as a detour again during another phase of the trestle repair in 2019. ^[15]

Rail trail

The Allegheny Valley Railroad abandoned the line in 2024 and sold it to the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County in 2025. The county plans to turn the former right-of-way into a rail trail. ^{[16] [17]}

See also

• Brilliant Cutoff Viaduct
• Brilliant Branch Railroad Bridge

Notes

1. "Allegheny Valley Railroad - Carload Express, Inc". carloadexpress.com. April 21, 2014. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
2. "04/21/2016 - Filing - 240535". www.stb.gov. Archived from the original on February 28, 2019.
3. Railway Age (1903), p. 463.
4. Coverdale & Colpitts (1946), p. 54. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFCoverdale_&_Colpitts1946 (help)
5. Churella (2013), p. 727.
6. USRA (1975), p. 274.
7. Graff, Bill (May 24, 1978). "Centralized Computer To Control Western Pennsylvania Rail Traffic". The Indiana Gazette . p. 28. Retrieved June 6, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
8. "Federal Register". November 16, 1995.
9. Lewis (1996), p. 21.
10. "Allegheny Valley Railroad".
11. "Brilliant Branch RR Bridge - Bridges and Tunnels of Allegheny County and Pittsburgh, PA".
12. "Federal Register". November 26, 2003.
13. "Former UY Tower location - AVR Brilliant Industrial". September 1, 2015.
14. "Federal Register". May 6, 2016.
15. "Federal Register". May 10, 2019.
16. Bohnel, Steve (August 17, 2023). "Allegheny County reaches an agreement on land eyed for Brilliant Line trail project". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Retrieved June 7, 2025.
17. Esposito, Laura (April 19, 2025). "Former Brilliant Branch rail line to be converted to public trail". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Retrieved June 7, 2025.

References

• "The Pennsylvania low-grade line and cutoffs". Railway Age . March 20, 1903. pp. 463–465.
• Churella, Albert J. (2013). The Pennsylvania Railroad: Volume I, Building an Empire, 1846–1917. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN   978-0-8122-4348-2. OCLC   759594295.
• Coverdale & Colpitts (1946). The Pennsylvania Railroad Company: The Corporate, Financial and Construction History of Lines Owned, Operated and Controlled To December 31, 1945. Volume I: The Pennsylvania Railroad Proper. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane & Scott. OCLC   858982132.
• Lewis, Edward A. (1996). American Shortline Railway Guide (5th ed.). Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN   0-89024-290-9. OCLC   35286187.
• United States Railway Association (1975). Final system plan for restructuring railroads in the Northeast and Midwest region pursuant to the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 (PDF). Vol. 1. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office. OCLC   2889148.

External links

• The Engineering Record, Building Record and the Sanitary Engineer, Volume 51
• PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD, BRILLIANT CUT OFF, SOUTH WYE