Pittsburgh Rys 101

[Charles Brown]

Greetings all!  And a happy 4th of July to all of you!  I thought that
I'd take some time off between barbecuing the fireworks and shooting off
the hot dogs to post a few questions that I have.  Please bear in mind
that these are coming from a beginning student of Pittsburgh Railways
101.

1)  I read about the 1949 Lougee report in an old, well 1949,
publication which basically favored streetcars but called for replacing
them with buses on 19 routes.  Was this carried out?  And what, if any,
lines were affected?

2)  On the 42 line, why was the PRW near Dormont paved?  Was it a former
street?

3)  Is or was there any other system that had more bridges and trestles
or more miles of track on them than PR?  It simply amazes me to see the
number of bridges that they had.  I guess that also led to the demise of
many of the lines?

4)  Speaking of which, I understand that the West end lines were
abandoned due to the closing of the Point Bridge.  Judging from comments
on this and other lists, I assume that the bridge was more of an excuse
than a valid reason for the abandonments?  

5)  The block signaling system on the single track segments impresses
me.  Were they installed from the beginning or did it take a serious
accident for them to be installed?  Also, were there any serious
accidents on the single track portions?

6)  In Jim's tape, he shows the interurban PCC's merrily bouncing along
passing stop after stop.  Which makes me wonder; did anybody ride the
interurbans?  What were the ridership levels like prior to their
abandonment?  
7)  And speaking of which, would there be any justification today to
re-extend the interurbans to Washington and Charleroi (ie have those
cities increased enough and would there be sufficient ridership between
them and Pittsburgh to warrant restoration of the lines)?  For that
matter, have any physical obstacles been built since their abandonment
to prevent their restoration?  We kicked around the Washington line on
another list and I believe that there is a housing tract on the old
right of way?

8)  Oh yeah, on a video (can't recall which one) it shows an interurban
in Charleroi battling against one-way traffic.  Was this normal
operation?  I can't believe that they would put a single track line in a
one-way street without a private reservation.  And on the Washington
end, did they have anybody to stop traffic when the PCC's backed out of
the wye station?  If  not, how many accidents did they have?  As I
recall, Jim mentioned that the PCC's were not equipped with back-up
controls (either that or they were not used by the motormen as evidenced
in the tape)?

9)  I had always considered Cincinnati to be the king of the inclines,
but am surprised to learn of the number of inclines in Pittsburgh and
their durability.  The 1949 map shows 6 in operation, a year after the
last one closed in Cincinnati.  I read elsewhere that there were at
least 20 inclines that operated in Pittsburgh.  Aside from the 6 shown
on the 1949 map, how many other inclines were there and where were they
located?  How many carried passengers, vehicles, and/or trolleys?

10)  Was Geissenheimer responsible for the bizarre paint schemes in the
1970's?  And what bug up his anal canal caused him to create such an
abomination (my personal opinion, of course)?  I liked the PR colors and
scheme as well as PAT's gray and white scheme (although it was a bit
drab).

11)  I just read that while PR favored streetcars, the city hated them
and tried to eliminate them as far back as 1933.  Why did the city hate
the streetcars so much?  

Well, the fire trucks have pulled up so I gotta go for now.  I'll
probably have some further questions later on.  Thanks in advance for
your help.  Have a great day everyone!!!  

Charlie

Charlesebrown at webtv.net