Robert Pitcairn (1836-1909). When it became apparent that the PRR’s Pittsburgh Yards at 28th Street were much too small to accommodate the large number of trains expected for expanded operations, Robert Pitcairn, Superintendent of the Railroad’s Pittsburgh Division, began to look for more open space to relocate the Pittsburgh yard. In 1874, he ordered the purchase of 215 acres of land in the Turtle Creek Valley. The new rail yards would grow into a sprawling works; the Yard, and the surrounding town, would come to bear his name.
