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<DIV><FONT size=4 face="Century Gothic">Ed</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=4>Compounding the felony, so to speak, was the fact that it was
built to a non-standard gauge. This meant even though it participated in
the CERA freight interchange network, any interline freight at New Castle had to
be physically transferred between vehicles, producing a high cost to perform the
service that became the life blood of most of the Midwestern interurbans in
their last years. One thinks it would have made more sense to spend the
extra money to lay a third rail along PRC track to attain downtown
access.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=4>But when one builds a railway to transport pax to one’s
department store, or to satisfy one’s ego, what can be expected.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>As you say, if we were talking about sense, it would have made
more sense not to build it. The P&W was hardly making a fortune
hauling pax between New Castle and Pittsburgh and intermediate points back in
those days—even before there were many autos. An additional railway line only
diluted the available pool further.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Dwight</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=trams2@comcast.net
href="mailto:trams2@comcast.net">Edward H. Lybarger</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Friday, 08 November, 2013 17:24</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org
href="mailto:pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org">'Western PA Trolley
discussion'</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: [PRCo] First Harmony Car Enters
Pittsburg</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV
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<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none; DISPLAY: inline">You
have to wonder how many other companies nationwide were built, like
the<BR>Harmony Route, to satisfy the gigantic ego of the guy behind it. It
went<BR>the long way to Butler (and probably drew just enough traffic from the
Short<BR>Line to render it insolvent); New Castle was a long way off and
although it<BR>had people, not enough of them wanted to go to Pittsburgh.
In between was a<BR>lot of nothing, plus Evans City and Ellwood City. Oh,
yes, there was also a<BR>nice camping area along the Connoquenessing that Mr.
Boggs favored. He also<BR>favored the most expensive construction that
could be had...only the best.<BR><BR>Mr. Boggs built the line with the
expectation that everyone adjacent to it<BR>would come to his department
store. This just didn't happen. David<BR>McCahill compounded the
misery by acquiring the Short Line out of<BR>receivership in about 1919...now he
had two companies that couldn't earn a<BR>living, and when the bonds came due,
there was no money. Some of the<BR>bridges sat for years after abandonment
because no one could earn enough in<BR>scrap value to justify the labor cost of
dismantling them.<BR><BR>Just another company that never should have been
built.<BR><BR><BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From:
pittsburgh-railways-bounces@mailman.dementix.org<BR>[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounces@mailman.dementix.org]
On Behalf Of Fred<BR>Schneider<BR>Sent: Friday, November 08, 2013 4:05 PM<BR>To:
Western PA Trolley discussion<BR>Subject: Re: [PRCo] First Harmony Car Enters
Pittsburg<BR><BR>The scary thing is that they were set up to haul a maximum of
52 passengers<BR>per hour and we know they didn't even accomplish
that.<BR><BR>What would they have had to have charged each rider in order to
amortize all<BR>the fixed and variable costs? My guess is
somewhere in the 4 to 8 dollar<BR>range back in 1908 and they were probably
charging a few cents a zone<BR>because that was what they could get.
<BR><BR>Rather than have mortgages like you and I do on our houses where you
pay<BR>back part of the principle and interest every month, the
interurbans<BR>deferred the principal until one huge balloon payment at the
end. They<BR>simply paid interest for 25 years (or whatever the term
of years), and then<BR>had to come up with the principle and interest at the
end. They bargained<BR>on cheaper dollars thanks to
inflation. But when the time came . usually<BR>about 25 years later
.. we were in the Great Depression and almost none of<BR>them had the money
because they had never established adequate sinking funds<BR>to pay off the
mortgage bonds and the fares were probably never high enough<BR>for the
inadequate riding. They also could no longer sell
refinancing<BR>bonds because the public was not buying streetcar bonds to help
broke<BR>interurbans in the 1930s.<BR><BR>So if we begin building the Harmony in
1906 and open in 1908 and then 25<BR>years later the bonds are due (I'm
speculating that was the cause because it<BR>was in so many similar cases), we
get to 1931 and we are in bankruptcy. <BR><BR>Of course it sure didn't
help that all the major highways had been paved<BR>between 1920 and 1930 and we
now had over 1.5 million cars and light trucks<BR>on the state
highways. <BR><BR>Glad my grandparents didn't invest in those bonds
for their retirement.<BR><BR><BR><BR>On Nov 7, 2013, at 2:54 PM, Bob Rathke
wrote:<BR><BR>> Attached is from the Ross Twp. Historical Society - a scan of
a newspaper<BR>article dated 11/2/1908. <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>>
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