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{{Infobox rail line
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| name = Port Perry Branch
| color =
| logo =
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| image = PRR Port Perry Bridge.jpg
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| caption = The Port Perry Branch going over the [[Monongahela River]] on the [[PRR Port Perry Bridge]].
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| start = [[North Versailles Township, PA|N. Versailles]]
| end = [[Duquesne, PA|Duquesne]]
| stations =
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| open = 1877 ([[Pennsylvania Railroad|Pennsy]]), 1968 ([[Penn Central]]), 1976 ([[Conrail]]), 1999 ([[Norfolk Southern|NS]])
| close = 1968 ([[Pennsylvania Railroad|Pennsy]]), 1976 ([[Penn Central]]), 1999 ([[Conrail]])
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| gauge = {{RailGauge|sg|al=on}}
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| map = {{routemap
| title = Port Perry Branch
| inline = yes
| map =

CONTgq\exLABZr+r!~MASKa!~ABZq+l\CONTfq~~[[Pittsburgh Line]]
\TUNNEL1\~~[[Port Perry Tunnel]]
CONTgq\hKRZa\CONTfq~~''[[CSX]]'' [[Pittsburgh Subdivision]]
\hKRZWe\~~''[[Pennsylvania Railroad|PRR]]'' [[PRR Port Perry Bridge|Port Perry Bridge]]
CONTgq\ABZqlr\CONTfq~~[[Mon Line]]
}}
}}
The '''Port Perry Branch''' is a [[rail line]] owned and operated by the [[Norfolk Southern Railway]] in the [[U.S. state]] of [[Pennsylvania]]. The line runs from the [[Pittsburgh Line]] in [[North Versailles Township, PA|North Versailles Township]] southwest through the [[Port Perry Tunnel]] and across the [[Monongahela River]] on the [[PRR Port Perry Bridge]] to the [[Mon Line]] in [[Duquesne, PA|Duquesne]] along a former [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] line.

==History==
The [[Main Line (Pennsylvania Railroad)|Main Line]] of the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] (PRR) was originally constructed with the goal of providing a rail link from the [[East Coast of the United States|Eastern Seaboard]] to the waters of the [[Ohio River]] at [[Pittsburgh]]. By the 1870s, however, Pittsburgh was not just an endpoint; it had become a gateway through which all the PRR's lines to the Midwest passed. With the tracks in the city becoming increasingly more crowded, the PRR sought to bypass some of its traffic around the city. Moreover, all the traffic bound for the [[Panhandle Route]] needed to pass through the [[Grant's Hill Tunnel]] in downtown Pittsburgh, limiting and slowing traffic through the city.

Therefore, in 1871, the PRR planned a connection – later to be known as the Port Perry Branch – between its Main Line and the main line of a subsidiary, the [[Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston Railway]] (PV&C, today's [[Mon Line]]).<ref name="PortPerryBridgeHaer"/> This connection would contain new trackage, a tunnel and a bridge.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Daily Post|location=Pittsburgh|date=October 3, 1873|page=1|title=Pennsylvania Railroad – P. V. and C. R. R. Connection|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80248273/|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Together, this would provide a bypass via which traffic from the Main Line (today's [[Pittsburgh Line]]) bound for the Panhandle Route, and vice versa, could skip the heavy congestion in the city and avoid Grant's Hill Tunnel.<ref name="PortPerryBridgeHaer"/>

In 1877, the branch was complete between Brinton's Station on the Main Line and [[Port Perry, Pennsylvania|Port Perry]] on the north bank of the Monongahela River.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.prrths.com/newprr_files/Hagley/PRR1877%20Jun%2006.pdf |title=PRR Chronology, 1877 }}, June 2006 Edition</ref> The river bridge between Port Perry and the PV&C opened the following year,<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.prrths.com/newprr_files/Hagley/PRR1878%20June%2006.pdf |title=PRR Chronology, 1878 }}, June 2006 Edition</ref> completing the alternate route around the congestion of the Main Line and the [[Union Station (Pittsburgh)|passenger station complex]] in Pittsburgh.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://michaelfroio.com/blog/2011/07/22/prr-in-the-turtle-creek-valley|title = PRR in the Turtle Creek Valley| date=22 July 2011 }}</ref>

For some time, there was also a link from the Port Perry Branch to the main line heading westwards.<ref name=AnnualReport56_p23>{{Cite report | url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2555497&view=1up&seq=245 | title=Fifty-sixth Annual Report, The Pennsylvania Railroad Company | date=1902 | issue=56 | page=23 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Pittsburgh_Pennsylvania_Railroad_rail_freight_density_1921.png&oldid=393607170|title = English: Pennsylvania Railroad diagram map showing routing & density of carload freight movement in Pittsburgh, Pa|year = 1921}}</ref> This consisted of a curved bridge over Turtle Creek at Brinton, and was known as the Brinton "U".<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Pittsburgh Gazette|date=October 30, 1904|at=sec. 2, p. 7|title=Brinton 'U' Opens Tomorrow|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80230373/|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

The PRR leased the PV&C in 1879 as part of its Monongahela Division.<ref name="PortPerryBridgeHaer">[[Historic American Engineering Record]], [https://loc.gov/pictures/item/pa2947/ Conrail Port Perry Bridge, Spanning Monongahela River, Port Perry, Allegheny County, PA]</ref> The branch passed to [[Penn Central Transportation]] in 1968, [[Conrail]] in 1976, and was assigned to Norfolk Southern in 1999.

In the 1990s, Conrail began to use the Port Perry Branch, together with the Mon Line to Pittsburgh (including the former PV&C main line, a small portion of the Panhandle Route, and the [[Ohio Connecting Railroad Bridge]]) as a [[double-stack rail transport|double-stack]] high clearance route.<ref name=PortPerryBridgeHaer></ref> It continues to be used as such (as of 2019).

==See also==
*[[Brilliant Branch]], a similar cutoff across the [[Allegheny River]]
*[[Ohio Connecting Railroad Bridge]], part of the former Ohio Connecting Railway, another bypass the PRR built across the [[Ohio River]].
*[[Mon Line]]
*[[PRR Port Perry Bridge]]

==References==
{{commonscat}}
<references/>
{{Pittsburgh Metro Area}}
[[Category:Norfolk Southern Railway lines]]
[[Category:Pennsylvania Railroad lines]]
[[Category:Rail infrastructure in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Pennsylvania Railroad Through-freight Lines]]
[[Category:Railroad cutoffs]]
[[Category:Railway lines opened in 1877]]
[[Category:1877 establishments in Pennsylvania]]

Port Perry Branch - Revision history

imported>Citation bot: Added date. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Whoop whoop pull up | Category:Pennsylvania Railroad Through-freight Lines | #UCB_Category 10/10