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<b>Ed and I discussed this the other evening ... I just came from my second
week at Arden.</b>
<br><b>There are several points not necessarily discussed. First
is that double end cars could have run to Finleyville but I do not ever
remember it appearing in the route cards as a separate and regularly scheduled
route.</b><b></b>
<p><b>Riverview was the normal destination sign in my lifetime for extra
cars out of Pittsburgh in the rush hour. I have no idea what kind
of sign the 4200s / 4300s working Donora <i>normally </i>carried on those
rush hour trips that were extended north from Black Diamond through Monongahela
to Riverview Loop. We do have a rush hour ca. 1951 or 1952 picture
of 1444 and 4359 at Riverview ... the PCC, which was not normally used
in interurban service, had a paper RIVERVIEW sign rammed into the sign
box in front of the linen roll; the side sign was centered between CHARTERED
and 38 MT LEBANON. The double end car had a DONORA sign, slightly
miscentered in the box because it took two men to set one of those room
signs. At least in this instance we have proof that the DONORA sign
meant either Black Diamond or Riverview and it was incumbent upon the passenger
to learn how to read a timetable!</b><b></b>
<p><b>Second: Pittsburgh favored route signs instead of destination
signs. When you put the sign box on the roof of a car so that it
takes one man and a large mirror, or two men without a reflection, to change
a sign, it is highly impractical to constantly change signs to reflect
terminals. Short turn cars had different route numbers in the
city, e.g. 43 NEELD or FRANKSTOWN SHORT or 9 PERRYSVILLE or 62 TRAFFORD.
On the interurbans, something had to be done to reflect actual terminals,
such as WASHINGTON, CANONSBURG, SHANNON, ROSCOE (This sign did exist),
DONORA, CHARLEROI (used instead of ROSCOE for many years), LIBRARY and
RIVERVIEW. Inbound trips normally used the same sign as outbound
runs, except that in the very late 1940s (up to perhaps 1951) the PITTSBURGH
signage could be used. If you've trained a man not to change a sign
on a low floor, why bother with changing it on a PCC?</b><b></b>
<p><b>Third: Perhaps most realistic of all is the possibility that
there was room left on the linen to add FINLEYVILLE and a sign painter
simply made them up that way one day!</b><b></b>
<p><b>Fourth: Perhaps the company was thinking of running tripper
cars to Finleyville.</b>
<p>"Edward H. Lybarger" wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>The cars turned at Riverview Loop, as Jim says, as
there was no place to
<br>turn between (West) Library and there. I'm not entirely sure
of the logic
<br>of the Finleyville destination curtain, unless it was used just on
<br>southbound cars, leaving Riverview as the destination for northbound
cars
<br>from Donora.
<p>Ed
<br>-----Original Message-----
<br>From: owner-pittsburgh-railways@dementia.org
<br>[<a href="mailto:owner-pittsburgh-railways@dementia.org">mailto:owner-pittsburgh-railways@dementia.org</a>]On
Behalf Of Jim Holland
<br>Sent: Friday, August 18, 2000 4:15 PM
<br>To: PRCo -- WP -- JTC -- The Big *3* --
<br>Subject: Finleyville
<p>Greetings!
<p> I have several photos of
single end low floor cars displaying the sign
<br>FINLEYVILLE. Turn around facilities do not exist at Finleyville.
The
<br>cars would have to continue to Riverview to be able to turn.
Was this a
<br>valid destination sign?
<p>James B. Holland
<p> Pittsburgh Railways
Company (PRCo), 1930 -- 1950
<br> To e-mail privately, please click here: <a href="mailto:pghpcc@pacbell.net">mailto:pghpcc@pacbell.net</a>
<br>N.M.R.A. Life member #2190; <a href="http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/">http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/</a></blockquote>
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