NOTE: Given current economic conditions, some sites may withdraw by May and will be replaced. Undersubscribed tours may be cancelled, so be sure to rank your preferences on your registration form. As of this posting, hard-hats will be provided as needed and site photography has not been determined. Check your confirmation letter for final details.
1. DRAKE WELL & OIL HERITAGE BUS TRIP Full day tour. Join us on a bus trip planned to help celebrate the 150th anniversary (August 2009) of the drilling of the Drake Well, birthplace of the modern petroleum industry, and Pennsylvania’s oil rich history. Northwest Pennsylvania has a long heritage of oil drilling continuing into the present in places like the Allegheny National Forest. Some of the tour stops include Buckeye Pipeline and National Transit (Bear Creek), Tarr Farm, Coal Oil Johny Tour, and Titusville and Oil Museum. With the resurgence of natural gas drilling associated with the Marcellus shale, it appears that extractive industry exploration and development will continue to be an important part of Pennsylvania’s future. Our guides to this “black gold” tour will be Lois and Neal McElwee of the Oil Region Alliance. A documentary video presentation of Pennsylvania oil history is planned for the bus ride back to Pittsburgh. (Note: this will be a long-tour with several hours of bus travel. 8:00 am – 6:00 pm)
2. BEAVER VALLEY INDUSTRIES: TWO CENTURIES IN THE MAKING Full day tour. Tour USG’s Aliquippa site to see one of the most modern plants producing 40 different types/lengths of gypsum wallboard panels, and IPSCO Koppel Tubular Corporation Seamless Tube Mill with an annual capacity of 250,000 tons. After lunch at St. John’s Lutheran Church, built by the Harmonists in 1828, visit Old Economy Village, home of the 19th century Christian communal group, the Harmony Society, known for its piety, industrial prosperity, and ties to the region’s first rail transportation. We will conclude the tour with a brief stop to view the original American Bridge fabrication plant, once the world's largest steel fabricator and builder of landmark bridges and skyscrapers, and a tour of the new American Bridge Company facilities. (7:15 am – 5:30 pm)
3. LIGHT RAIL, TROLLEYS, PEOPLE MOVERS, AND INCLINES Full day tour. The year 2009 marks the 150th anniversary of public transportation in Pittsburgh. On this tour you will experience the range of transit technology from one of the oldest transit lines still operating in the United States to the latest in automated transit vehicles. The tour begins with a ride on Port Authority light rail transit system to the South Hills Village Operations Control Center and South Hills Village Maintenance Facility. The next stop is the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, an operating museum of streetcars and interurban cars which once served the Pittsburgh, Johnstown and Philadelphia areas. After that, we will visit Bombardier Transportation’s West Mifflin plant which assembles automated trains for people mover systems around the world. The tour concludes with a ride up Monongahela Incline dating from the 1870s to the top of Mt. Washington for a great view of Pittsburgh’s Golden Triangle. (8:00am – 6:00 pm)
4. MONONGAHELA RIVER NAVIGATION Full day tour. See one of the oldest and most successful river navigation systems in the nation by a combination boat and bus trip from Pittsburgh to Charleroi - 42 miles on the lower Monongahela River. The river tour will travel past numerous historic bridges, former and active steel mill sites associated with J&L and U.S. Steel, the Clairton Coke works, and will lock through Braddock Locks and Dam, the Army Corps’ most modern facility on the river. By bus, you will stop at Locks and Dam 3, the Corps’ oldest facility on the river (1907) and Locks and Dam 4, where new construction is replacing the 1930s vintage locks. Guides will assist both onboard and at the locks. Some walking will be required at the locks. The tour will be divided into two groups, both departing downtown Pittsburgh on Friday, May 29th, about 7:45 a.m. and returning by 5:15 p.m. Half will set out by boat and half by bus, each transferring to the other mode midway on the tour. (7:45am – 5:15 pm)
5. NEVILLE ISLAND Full day tour. This all-day tour will explore the industrial landscape of present day Neville Island, ranging from coke batteries and oil terminals to recycled factory buildings and a reclaimed Superfund site. Along the way we will visit an inactive cement plant, a modern FedEx distribution center, a major gasoline storage and distribution facility, a steel fabrication facility with rail, barge and truck transportation access, the site where D-Day landing craft were fabricated and assembled, and Robert Morris University's Island Sports Center which sits on a long time municipal and industrial dump and Superfund site which was known regionally for many years as 'poison park'. (8:30am – 5:00 pm)
