Gastonville...a now forgotten place of many along the ol'e P&WV that made its debut in the mid 1950's when longer passing sidings were needed for those Alphajet freights replacing Froman Siding a few miles to the East. Gastonville Passing Siding was last used in the 1980's and was retired and removed from service about 1990. One of my first observances of Gastonville was back in December 1975, just about dusk when westbound N&W WJ-01 went into the siding to meet eastbound CJ-12. Both trains were well over a mile in length requiring westbound WJ-01 to cut the engines away from the train along with several head end cars running west to the Clairton Branch at Pierce to clear up. From a opposite hillside this winters night, we watched the meeting of both trains at Pierce, all carring consists of solid Western Maryland power. Gastonville passing siding was over 6,000 feet in length, had power switches on each end as well as CTC signaling and was used nearly every day for meets. The other remarkable feature about this forgotten place of Pittsburgh's back woods, back about the center of this passing siding, prior to the 1960's all within a half mile proximity of eye-sight, four railroads passed through the area. There you had the P.R.R.-Peters Creek branch, the Montour RR, B&O's "Pike" and the P&WV.
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Nice composition!
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