A most unusual work shop in a tunnel formed when railroad trestles where buried in slag in North Bessemer to protect them from Nazi sabotage ?

Yes hard to believe but during WWII  many railroad trestles where buried in slag and such all the way up to the tracks to protect them from Nazi Saboteurs but we seem
We have a classic example near where I live  where a double set of trestles was buried and the Plum Creek Railroad which ran underneath  the trestles track section was made into a tunnel to allow it to keep operating  out to the coal mines in Renton.
Before trestle was buried


After trestle was buried
The twin trestles which where curved  can be seen covered in slag in above picture and where of vital importance during WWII as they belonged to  Andrew Carnegie's Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad  which hauled Iron Ore down from ships which hauled it from iron ore mines in Minnesota  as well as limestone and coal and other commodity needed to make steel from many locations along the line as it snaked north to Erie.
Seeing how impossible it would be to post guards everywhere along these tracks which had many trestles along them  it was decided to bury them so Nazi saboteurs could not place explosives on them and knock them down which could take months to replace instead of a couple days when you just blew up tracks . While another explanation is the trestle where buried to strengthen the trestles to carry heavier loads but if this was the case why was the Allegheny  river bridge not reinforced   as well as other areas along route .  Approach Trestles where also buried about a mile up from these near where a magnificent steel bridge goes over the Allegheny river  in Harmarville as a way to help when the new bridge was built . and this bridge was guarded during WWII




Possibly the open sections under a concrete aqueduct which took the B&LE thru East Pittsburgh where also possibly filled in for same reason as where many smaller areas all along the route.
East Pittsburgh trestle you can see where openings where




Thou the Steel mill activity in Pittsburgh has greatly decreased the B&LE is still an active railroad now owned by Canadian National Rail



However the Plum Creek branch stopped service service in early 60's  and the abandoned railroad tunnel has now become the workshop for an older gentleman who runs several small oil wells in the area. 

Some additional pictures of trestle and burying of it








Now a 2nd man goes missing from the South Side of Pittsburgh Joesph Kamon 52 from Shaler Twp.

Its bad enough one young man missing from the south side area now a 2nd man 52 year old Joesph Kamon has disappeared
Photo credit WPXI web site




Again just gone they found his truck in the south side near where he works. 

This makes the 2nd man to disapear in south side and 3rd time in 2 years men in 40's and 50''s who have just disappeared  and  there trucks found .

Something very very wrong is going on over 20 some individual in past 3-4 years just up and totally vanished for no reason all over Western Pa.

Just what is going on   a serial  killer ?  kidnappings ?  or are they just not wanting to be found and have started new lives.

No wonder there has been an increase in number of people applying for gun permits.

All I can say is stay safe and be aware of your situation at all times.  as Police try and figure out what is going on. and if you hav a tip call local police or 911.