PRCo Fraction route 22/85 & (35/36) & 46 & 49

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

	Very sharp observation - I never gave the map a second look.  As Ed has 
mentioned about the gray roof paint on the 17s, route 22/85 might be one of 
PRCos abberations!  There may be other experimentations with routing and 
equipment for which we should keep an open eye.

raymond at nauticom.net wrote:

> On the back of Trolley Fare dated March April 1999 there is a June 1936
> downtown PRC trackage route map. Did anyone notice the route 22/85 which
> crosses the sixth st bridge, then to liberty to sixth st to wylie ave? Is
> this a typo? Why would PRCo run a route from the hill district to Fineview?

	Actually, the route did not go to Fineview but combined the 22 Crosstown 
and 85 Bedford lines into one.  There is a *sense* in which the near North Side 
could be considered downtown because of all the business activity so extending 
the 85 line to loop downtown North Side makes sense.  Both were short lines and 
by combining the two they may have saved overhead costs by providing the same 
service for both lines with fewer cars on the line.

	A case in point are the interurbans, Library and Drake, in the latter 
years of PRCo, late 50's and early 60s.  On Sunday, each of these lines operated 
once an hour with a total of three cars - an inbound Library would go outbound 
on Drake and an inbound Drake would go outbound Library.  Dedicating equipment 
to one line would have required four cars to maintain the same service.  By 
combining the operation of the two lines PRCo saved 25% in operating costs on 
that day!

	Also, on the same map both routes 46 and 49 are listed and *presumably* 
both are the same route, just a different name.  I have a photo of 1154 signed 
*46 BROWNSVILLE*  by M. D. McCarter (N20834) dated 1944; I understand that it 
was a few years later that the line officially became the 49.

	I would *assume* that the routes were typed in long after the map was 
originally produced and the 46 and 49 listings might be typos.

-- 
James B. Holland
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              PITTSBURGH RAILWAYS COMPANY (PRCo), June of 1949 -- June of 1953
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