Pittsburgh Rys 101

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

	It is a given that a business needs to offer goods/services at a 
reasonable price to produce a return on investment (profit) - get these out of 
balance and there is a good chance the business will experience losses and 
possibly bankruptcy.
	This applies to street railways and PRCo.  It is also a given that the 
physical plant or infrastructure for streetcars wears out and is mighty 
expensive to replace.  It is also easy to see that it would be less expensive 
(short-term) to replace the streetcar lines with ({[buses]}) than to rebuild the 
physical plant.  So it is inevitable that most streetcar lines would be replaced 
by ({[buses.]})
	But that is not to say that *any* method of achieving this goal is right 
and correct.  A case in point:  SF Muni was formed as a city transit system in 
1912 and directly competed against the private-for-profit Market Street Railway. 
 Being part of city government, laws were passed that were prejudicial - 
favoring Muni and against Market Street Ry.  These same laws today would 
probably be considered illegal even though the end result was beneficial(?) for 
The City.
	Then there is an emotional side to the battle.  Fans exist for old 
buildings, all forms of transportation (planes, trains, ships, streetcars, 
({[buses]})), for various aspects of nature, etc etc etc.  Each passionately 
wants preservation for certain items.  Fans of ships might not be Willy The 
Whale fanatics, but hopefully each fan could understand the cause of the other!
	**You  *-*Yourself*-*  have said that you are NOT a Railfan.**   I AM a 
railfan as are many on this list.  The above discussion reveals that I realize 
that streetcars would eventually be replaced (*everything* has its day and then 
*everything* passes into history), but the methods of the early ({[PAT]}) regime 
and their leader who openly belittled  n-o-t  o-n-l-y  railfans but also the 
riding public who preferred streetcars is not acceptable.  Neither is your 
statement here:

>>	Ed Lybarger wrote:
>>	10)	"Everything 'evil' in PAT?" Come on, now!  This
>>		is froth of the worst kind.  These people were doing their job 
>>		as they saw it.

	And I am sure that most people on the list have had a less than 
desirable experience at some firm only to have an employee say:  "Hey, man, I am 
just doing my job!"  While that phrase can be a reason, more often than not it 
is nothing more than an excuse.  DON'T  BUY  IT!!

	Don't you remember the bitter battle of the skybus?  Don't you realize 
that  N-O  rail transit would exist in Pgh today had the Feds not intervened?  
Don't you remember that streetcars were scheduled for abandonment before buses 
were on hand for replacement - so eager was PAT to get rid of the streetcars?

-- 
James B. Holland
       To e-mail *off-list,* please click here: mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net
              PITTSBURGH RAILWAYS COMPANY (PRCo), June of 1949 -- June of 1953
      Pennsylvania Trolley Museum (PTM) member #273; http://www.pa-trolley.org/
N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/