[From nobody Mon Jan 14 08:17:51 2013 Return-path: Fredbruhn@aol.com From: Fredbruhn@aol.com Full-name: Fredbruhn Message-ID: <dc.dcfb0d.25bbc240@aol.com> Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 21:32:32 EST Subject: Fantasy or not, why we lost the street car To: pittsburgh-railways@dementia., Org@aol.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Windows AOL sub 28 The excitement over the volatile fantasy question will bring some interesting responses, although 87 Ardmore as most of us remember it won't ever pass as a "high speed light rail line" in spite of those old memories of chasing a PCC in a 39 or 40 Chevy at race track speeds. Ed Lybarger keeps telling us that to fully understand the demise of the street car system in Pittsburgh, and I will add Wheeling (an ex West Penn company), and most other systems had little to do with the physical plant, the cars, the routes, and almost everything to do with the politicians, the perception of an outdated mode of transportation, and the urge to "get modern" with Yellow Coach or GM buses. Ed has been researching the Connellsville systems for sometime by using the newspaper records and has suggested that to do a Pittsburgh book, or books, it will take much more than some photos and maps thrown together to be accurate (although another book like Hal Smiths Touring Pittsburgh by Trolley is always welcome) I got a taste of what Ed is trying to get across when I did some research on the final three years of Co-Op and what led to the demise of the trolley in Wheeling and rapid switch to bus. Three of the routes, Moundsville, Barton, and Bellaire/Shadyside had legitimate track renewal needs. Moundsville came before the war when ridership was declining and Barton had a mine slip during the war which Felix Reifschneider investagated and decided not to repair. Shadyside by wars end was in terrible shape and Co-Op refused to put any money in track replacement. Beyond that the routes that remained after the war became a political football. Co-Op's equipment was not in that bad condition and they even considered borrowing a Pittsburgh PCC for tests in Wheeling. (This info from Bill Gwinn when he was living). Lets look at a few tid-bits I gleaned from the Wheeling News Register from 1946 to 1948 regarding the routes in service after the war. Actually lets go back to 1939. Panhandle Traction, successor to West Penn's Wheeling Division using the 700 class center entrance cars that were never one manned filed for abandonment. Competition from Penn Bus Co. and declining revenues forced the decision. West Penn had held a bus franchise since 1926 for the local service north from Wheeling to Warwood on the Panhandle line. Penn Bus wanted the franchise, but it was reported in the News Register (remember this is 1939, less than 9 years from when we will hear a different story). "Public Service Commission urged to "Save" Warwood Street Car Service, local residents told the commision local service was "unusually good"". Co-Op prevailed. By 1944 the paper reported "State Plans Postwar Road Program Here" The steel bridge over the Ohio to be replaced with modern bridge. (This bridge carried all cars to Ohio) The war is over, automobiles are again available and on January 20, 1946, the headline reads: "Trolley Cars to Remain As Problem in Traffic" The following article prased the street cars service during the war, keeping schedules in ice that buses couldn't keep up, but added... "The street cars are becoming outdated and must eventually be relegated to the realm of memories -- happy and otherwise" "I'll be glad to see them go," says Police Sergeant Albert Sailor, head of the traffic division of Wheeling Police. "They are at their worst in North Wheeling where the tracks run double. The motorists are not allowed to pass on the left and parked cars keep them passing on the right." Also on January 20, 1946, "Blaine Car Track Removal Probable." When and if the tracks are removed, widening of the National Road is assured. (This line, a cut back of the Barton line was side of the road along US 40.) By SEptember 16, 1946 we read "Outdated Street Cars Are Stumbling Block to Flow of Traffic." Three bullet points: 1 - congestion in the business section has grown within the months since gas and tires became plentiful to the place that every important corner requires a policeman to maintain traffic flow. 2 - the greatest single project to ease Wheeling's traffic problem would be the abolition of street cars in the city's business section. (Wheeling's street cars ran on one way streets, and didn't buck traffic) 3 - any driver who has followed a street car through Benwood with the line of traffic led by a truck that cannot pass the trolley can tell you that the street cars are one of the greatest stumbling blocks to an efficient traffic flow. By early 1947 several lines had been converted to bus with no opposition. Then in April the City Council yields this headline "City Council in Move to Give Islanders Service upon Buses" The franchise that Co-Op held prohibited buses on Ohio routes from servicing the Island which had two routes and is in West Virginia as the Ohio River borders Ohio on the OHio bank. The mayor heard that acaaar service on the island was "probably better than in any other part of the city", but that residents complained that they often had to waait due to loaded street cars while buses went by partly filled. (Is this a street car problem or an outdated franchise problem?) On October 31. 1947, the paper reports"Warwood Will Get Bus Service Soon" It claims public pressure (the same folks who 9 years earlier demanded the trolley be retained) to discontinue the line because the trolley is obsolete and the road is in bad condition. The trolley ran beside St. Route 2 from Wheeling to Warwood, not in the road. Granted discontinuance allowed for some wideing, but 50 years later the road is not mucher wider than it was in 1947 and in damn poor repair. Then we hear on Nov. 28, 1947 another reason for substituting buses. Safety islands caused numerous accidents and buses will allow their removal. After Warwood there were the island lines and Martins Ferry, Rayland lines left in early 1948. Interesting that the company was now pushing total bustitution and the remaining communities began to fight the change. The riding public wasn't buying that street cars slowed down traffic, and of course the local politicians took up their cause. Council President Nick Taflan of Bridgeport "I don't want to see the street cars go off. Yet I believe any action on our part now would prove futile because we have started too late. In my opinion we should attempt to regulatge the matter by demandidng better service and reasonable rates. The towns of Bridgeport and Martins Ferry sent a delagation to the Ohio PUCO to fight any further changes, but the company came back with a 5 point proposal. 1 - Buses will provide service equivalent to the street cars, 2 - there will be sufficient buses to handle the transportation needs of mill workers at change of shift without overcrowding and excessive waiting 3 - a part of the cost of repaving streets will be mete by the co. 4 - a route change will be made to accomodate the present street car route to stop 4. 5 - co. will remove all poles and cables. At the PUCO meeting the co. president McCune, and a local lumber dealer in Bridgeport told the commission 1 - street cars are antiquated in communities of this size 2- there is not enough room for a car to pass between streetcars and other autos parked along the curb - 3 buses would take up about hald as much room on the highways as streetcars, 4 - in case of fire buses can turn onto another street 5 - traaffic jams on Route 7 would be solved by the bus. Enough - the end came, and I have just hit some highlights from some interesting newspaper reports from the period. Co-Op was abandoned by the politicians and after all of the bally-hooing the replacement buses operated under the Co-Op name for another 30 + years, but service was never as good, and the streets that the car lines ran on for the most part have never been changed. Route 40 is still a 2 lane road and improvement only came when Interstate 70 was created across Ohio. Route 7 in Ohio wasn't changed for at least 25 years, and only one of the bridges carrying car lines was torn down, although in the last two years; the remaining two bridges have been taken out of service. Why bore you with all this and throw rain on the volatile fantasy. Only because this group likes to work with facts and is detail oriented. I didn't get to ride the West End but with the new tape from TGM I can see that it could have existed for many more years without congesting traffic, and as has been reported the south side lines too. That could fit for a volatile fantasy. Granted 87 gets bogged down and would have a time getting downtown, and as Ed reported today, McKeesport wanted 56 gone. Got to be something there, and as soon as my copy of the McKeesport book arrives maybe I will find out why. Toronto has managed to keep the surface lines running, but with a generous government subsidy. I have managed to drive Pittsburgh and Toronto without hitting a safety island, unlike those drivers in Wheeling. Wheeling wanted the street car gone because it perceived it as being outmoded and they used many different tactics to prove it was. I don't have ridership figures to compare 1947 to say 1953-54 when buses were handling the system, but I don't think they ever grew year by year after the war. I hope you get some pleausre out of this little diversion from Pittsburgh, but I'm not so sure researching PRCo. might yield some of the same results. Ed is going to push as all to do our homework. In the meantime, I'll be interested in some of the ideas the group submits from those who know Pittsburgh better than I. Fred ]