Today we check out a pretty awesome lookout over a giant bend in the Allegheny River, a rail trail, a former rail turntable, an old tunnel, and more. Brady's Bend is home to quite a few scenic and awesome things to check out at this point, 62 miles from the point in Pittsburgh. The Allegheny River twists and turns through some rugged mountains northeast of Pittsburgh. Brady's Bend is one of the more scenic areas of the Allegheny River's path through New York and Western Pennsylvania.
Brady's Bend Overlook
Coordinates: 40.988056, -79.582778
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"You haven't lived until you've looked down on a hawk" - Richard P Thomson
I have to say that I fully agree! Did not see any hawks at the overlook, but I would imagine that this is a great spot to watch them. |
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| The overlook has many places to observe the awesome views, in addition to picnic tables to sit and relax at. |
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| You can see the snow blowing throughout the bend. |
Our next stop takes us down to Phillipston to hike the Armstrong Rail Trail to see this old turntable and a tunnel that was built to bypass the giant bend on the old Allegheny Valley Railroad.
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| Phillipston Turntable |
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| There are not many turntables that remain. It is awesome to see this mechanism still around. This turntable was utilized on the old Allegheny Valley Railroad until this section of rail was shut down in the 80s. |
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| The view of the frozen Allegheny River at the level of the trail. |
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| The converted rail right-of-way into trail. |
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| There were so many different birds out. I always love bird watching. Here is a Cardinal |
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| And here is a Blue Jay! |
Now on to the Tunnel!
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| The cliff served as a coal mining operation. Here is an old artifact from the mining. The bridge crosses over the top of the Brady Tunnel. |
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| Yeah, don't even dare attempting to go across the bridge. It definitely fails a visual safety inspection ;-). It is awesome seeing these old relics sitting and being reclaimed by nature. |
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| Yeah definitely leave appreciation of this bridge to your eyes only. Do NOT attempt to cross. |
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| Here is the bridge portal. This is also a place that you must appreciate from the outside. Not only is access to the tunnel not allowed, the freezing temperatures also show the structural integrity of the tunnel where there are serious water issues that hurt the structural integrity of the tunnel. There are lots of chunks of stone lying on the ground. Entrance into this tunnel would not be wise, considering how unstable the tunnel is, especially with all of this ice. Regardless though, appreciating this tunnel from the outside is pretty awesome. |
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| The tunnel dates back to 1915. This tunnel was problematic from the start, with cave-ins seriously injuring workers during the construction. The tunnel measures in at 2468 feet and bypassed seven miles of rail around the Brady's Bend Oxbow. |
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| A view of some of the crumbling and collapsing tunnel. The ice formations are spectacular to look at from the outside of the tunnel. |
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| Piles of ice and rubble from the crumbling tunnel. It is easy to understand why this tunnel was not kept open for the rail trail. |
I highly recommend visiting the area of Brady's Bend. There are so many scenic things and industrial history that cannot be missed.
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