Trolley tracks, “menagerie of pipes” found at Coal and Walnut site

By Kaylee Lindenmuth

SHENANDOAH – A “menagerie of pipes” and tracks from Shenandoah’s former trolley line were found today where crews are working to repair a collapsed drainage culvert at Coal and Walnut Streets in the “Flats” section of the borough.

The matter was discussed at today’s meeting of the Shenandoah Sewer Authority, where engineer M. Christopher McCoach detailed the project, and distributed photos of the site to authority of members.

“It started out with a hole opening up and, as they looked in, there’s a culvert that goes under it. There’s also a menagerie of pipes there,” said McCoach. “There’s two water lines, there’s a sewer line that goes underneath the two water lines. off to the left, there’s a storm water line. All of this was in this culvert.”

He also said tracks and wood timbers from a trolley line were also found.

“As they opened this up to figure out what to do, the original thought was ‘let’s fix the issue, let’s move the water line that’s hanging in mid-air,’ and they just kept finding these other lines,” said McCoach.

McCoach said the contractor, A One Service, Shenandoah, will “drop the sewer line,” which he said had a break in it, which will also be repaired.

“Hopefully by the end of today, a lot of [the line repairs] will be done, and then they’ll have to come back and fill them in,” McCoach said.

According to authority chair Leo Pietkiewicz, the culvert is being replaced by flex pipe, and he expects the project to take about a week and a half. The project will cost the borough around $18,000, he said.

Workers from A One Service, the Municipal Authority of the Borough of Shenandoah, and George Link Plumbing were at the site Wednesday afternoon. Some residents in the neighborhood said their water service was interrupted as a result of the project.

The intersection has been closed to traffic as a precaution since February after a small hole opened up in the roadway.

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Kaylee Lindenmuth

Kaylee Lindenmuth is a Shenandoah native with a passion for journalism and the community she calls home.

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