Main Lines of Commerce

The location of this autumn scene is about six miles west of Johnstown,

Pennsylvania. In the foreground, the Pennsylvania Railroad's main line tracks between East and West parallel the scenic Conemaugh River, and on the far side are tracks of the Sang Hollow Extension Branch. From this website we learn the following information about Sang Hollow: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/prrthsdiscussionweb30239/sang-hollow-branch-t1074.html Sang Hollow extension was sort of the fourth track on the four track mainline. The Sang Hollow Extension was (and still is) used to service power plants near Seward (but on the other side of the valley) but it was also an extension of the Conemaugh Division which was used as a one way freight only bypass of Pitcairn yard and much of Suburban Pittsburgh. Because of Sang Hollow, slow moving westbound frieghts could depart the Mainline a few miles further east at Johnstown instead of New Florence. The Mainline was reduced to three tracks through the unstable Conemaugh Gap between Johnstown and Seward creating a traffic bottleneck. The Sang Hollow Extension relieved this congestion. If the Mainline was not overly congested at the time, freights kept to the Main, which returned to four tracks at Seward, and, if they were bypassing Pitcairn, entered the Conemaugh Division via Con-Pitt Junct. Con-Pitt is now an interlock for just three tracks (there were six once): two for the Mainline and one for the Sang Hollow/Conemaugh Division.

The post card is published by American Colortype. They were a publisher of books and tinted halftone postcards that included views, greetings, expositions, and various military subjects. They merged with the Rapid Electrotype Company of Cincinnati to become Rapid American. They had offices in New York and Chicago and existed from 1904 to 1956.