Little Saw-Mill Run Railroad Company's Tipple, South Pittsburgh

1884

Medium

Collotype

Dimensions

9.2 × 16.6 cm

Status

In Museum Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-843651

A coal tipple extends from an elevated embankment on the right side of a river out toward the water. A pier runs from center right to center. Four figures, all in silhouette and wearing hats, stand on that pier. A large coal car at center right rests on the same level. A train passes between two of its dense supports, hauling several cars full of stone. Cross-hatched wooden beams support the entire structure. Metal-roofed sheds at the left end of the pier are suspended over dense support structures. A frame extends further left from a base beneath the sheds, suspended by wires and holding up a heavy cart or bucket with an elaborate pulley system; another figure stands in the bucket. Boats (truncated in the foreground and many in the background) indicate the surface of the water. Power poles and other buildings occupy the riverbank on the right side, extending behind the central tipple structure into the background. The left side vanishes into high exposure.