The Brown Line (formerly route 52) was a branch of the

Pittsburgh Light Rail The Pittsburgh Light Rail (commonly known as The T) is a light rail system in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and surrounding suburbs. It operates as a deep-level subway in Downtown Pittsburgh, but runs mostly at-grade in the suburbs south of the ci ...

system that ran from South Hills Junction over Mount Washington and across the

Monongahela River The Monongahela River ( , )—often referred to locally as the Mon ()—is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-cen ...

downtown Pittsburgh Downtown Pittsburgh, colloquially referred to as the Golden Triangle, and officially the Central Business District, is the urban downtown center of Pittsburgh. It is located at the confluence of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River who ...

, terminating at Gateway Center. It included the steepest

grade Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also ref ...

of any section of the Pittsburgh light rail system, of approximately 10 percent.

History

The 52 Allentown route was created in 1984 by renaming what was then the ''49 Arlington-Warrington'', itself created in 1971 by combining portions of the ''48 Arlington'' and ''49 Beltzhoover'' lines. In April 2010 the 52 Allentown was rebranded the "Brown Line" by the Port Authority. Prior to being discontinued, Brown Line service was severely reduced, operating only during Monday to Friday rush hours, with bus route 44 substitute providing service at other times. The Port Authority considered ending all Brown Line service, but this would have provided only limited savings unless the tracks and overhead wires were also decommissioned. More importantly, however, the Brown Line's tracks provided an alternate route when the Mt. Washington Transit Tunnel was closed (either due to planned maintenance or a stalled vehicle), allowing Red Line or Blue Line services to continue operating, albeit behind schedule since the Allentown routing took five to eight minutes longer than via the tunnel. On March 27, 2011, the Brown Line service was withdrawn due to a system-wide 15% service cut. The line is still used occasionally by Blue and Red line trains when the Mt. Washington Transit Tunnel is closed As of February 2021, The Port Authority's newly released 25-year plan includes the possibility of reviving service on the Allentown line due to continuing growth of the neighborhood.

Route

The Brown Line was much shorter and ran less frequently than the Red and Blue Lines. It provided service to the

Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them: *Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California *Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County *Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Taze ...

neighborhood of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, where dense housing and the hilly terrain make automobile transportation difficult—some area streets cannot be used at all during the winter. The route began at South Hills Junction, climbing upwards to Haberman and East Warrington Avenue. It continued along Warrington in an easterly direction until turning left onto Arlington Avenue, where it followed the sharply curving street northwards, over the shoulder of

Mount Washington Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934 ...

. At the intersection of McArdle Roadway it swung onto private right-of-way to reach the

Panhandle Bridge The Panhandle Bridge (officially the Monongahela River Bridge) carries two rail lines of the Port Authority "T" line across the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The name comes from Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary Pittsburgh, ...

(also used by the Red and Blue Lines) to cross the

and gain entry to downtown, stopping at First Avenue, Steel Plaza, Wood Street, and Gateway Center. The entire line operated within the city of Pittsburgh.

References

External links

Brown Line - Allentown schedule effective April 4, 2010Brown Line - Allentown Route MapSupplementary Bus Service to Allentown via bus route 46K - Schedule
{{Port Authority of Allegheny County Port Authority of Allegheny County 5 ft 2½ in gauge railways in the United States Light rail in Pennsylvania