Pittsburgh PCC's

[EDWARD H. LYBARGER]

Those who are Pa. Trolley Museum members will note Dave Hamley's articles on
the Pittsburgh PCC fleet in recent issues of Trolley fare.  By the mid-1950s
there were surplus cars.  The 666 number was valid from 1949 until the
Homewood fire, unless one removed 100 when it became M11 (2nd) in 1950.
----- Original Message -----
From: Kenneth and Tracie Josephson <kjosephson at sprintmail.com>
To: <prn-list at sfu.ca>
Cc: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 1999 5:41 AM
Subject: Pittsburgh PCC's


> Note: I am cc'ing this to the Pittsburgh discussion group for
> corrections and/or confirmations. I will get back to you with the
> complete information when the Pittsburgh list members respond.
>
>
> Wolfgang Auer wrote:
>
> > >> [...] Pittsburgh, PA, had built up a fleet of 666 PCC cars by 1964
[...]
> > >
> > >Jim Holland can (and will) correct me if I'm wrong, but by 1964,
> > >Pittsburgh was down to 400 or so PCCs.
> >
> > Oh, that's interesting -- I too thought that the peak of the number
> > of PCCs in Pittsburgh was just before doomsday, which lasted some
> > three years in Pittsburgh, 1964 through 1967...
>
> Pittsburgh's last PCC's were the 1948-49 1700 series all-electrics. A
> number of short shuttle lines closed in the 1950's. By the mid 1950's,
> all the pre-PCC cars were withdrawn from passenger service (though some
> converted to work cars, notably car M-454, were used for "fan trip"
> charters through the 1960's.) By 1955 or so, Pittsburgh service was all
> PCC. A number of PCCs were lost in a carbarn fire during the 1950's. A
> couple more lines were closed in the late 1950's and in 1959, all the
> West End lines were closed when the Point Bridge was condemned and the
> state wouldn't allow the tracks to be relocated to the replacement
> bridge. The earliest PCCs (the 1000's and 1100's) were retired in the
> early 1960's. I may be wrong about the following, but I believe some of
> the 1200's bit the dust just before the PAT takeover. That would leave
> some 12's, the 14's, 15's, 16's and 17's (minus the various cars lost in
> the fire) by 1964. The 14's, 16's and 17's would be about 300 cars, the
> 15's were a 65(?) car order and I'm not sure how many 12's were left in
> service by then.
>
> Cheers,
> Ken J.
>