Tag: Steel Plaza

  • Steel Plaza

    Steel Plaza from the mezzanine

    Some pictures of Steel Plaza taken on a weekend when it was momentarily almost empty. The largest and most complex of our subway stations, Steel Plaza was built as a transfer station between the main line and a short spur to Penn Station—which, although it is not in regular service, is still kept up for special events and emergency detours. In the picture above, the Penn Station spur is in the foreground.

    Steel Plaza

    Here we see the two lines converging toward their junction in the tunnel beyond the station.

    Steel Plaza
    Lower-level platforms

    To add to the complexity, the station was designed to take the old PCC cars as well, which had only street-level doors. These lower-level platforms have been out of use since 1999, when the last PCC cars were retired, but the space isn’t useful for anything else, so the platforms are still there.

    Lower-level platforms

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  • Steel Plaza Subway Station

    Steel Plaza subway station

    Following the example of Montreal, Pittsburgh had each of its subway stations decorated by a different artist. The neon installation in Steel Plaza, called “River of Light,” is by Jane Haskell.

    Blue Line car entering Steel Plaza
    Steel Plaza

    The style of the station itself combines Brutalism with Postmodernism.

    Steel Plaza
    4201 car
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    Trolley Number One, the very first car in the sequential numbering of current Pittsburgh trolleys.


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