Old PRCo route numbers

[Fred Schneider]

Considerable material has passed through this chat room in the last week
or so regarding car assignments on shuttle lines.  They often involve
trying to make sense out of 1910 routes from a 1950 perspective.   

When trying to interpret the Bion Arnold report, we should not try to
use 1940-1950 memories to aide in the number crunching.  Shuttle in 1950
meant a car that moved back and forth ... pendelzug in German
(pendulum).  Shuttle when the Bion-Arnold report was printed often
indicated a route that matched the 1950 definition in the off peak but
which ran into the city in peak hours.  Destinations and sometimes
streets for a given route often changed over time.  

The high number of assigned cars in the afternoon peak on Charles Street
Transfer, Bon Air, Forbes and Atwood Streets, may very well be
indicative of through service to downtown Pittsburgh.  Route 81 Atwood
was the last of many routes to run downtown in the rush hours; in the
early 1950s it was your typical one-car shuttle but single-end low floor
cars or PCCs were used in the rush hours.  

Of the 1940s and 1950s shuttles, the one that was once the longest was
no doubt Donora.  Yes, it too ran into Pittsburgh, albeit briefly.  The
service shows in the route cards The Oliver Miller Library at PTM has
one print of a 3600 in the wye at the Donora substation carrying a
tin-hang sign for Pittsburgh-Donora service.  

Most of the later shuttle or transfer lines did, at one time, run into
the city.  There are a few exceptions.  Route 32 P&LE Transfer is a
shortened version of route 33 Mount Washington.  At its longest extent
after 1902, it ran from Mount Washington, down the back side of the
mountain, through the present West End Circle, then east on Carson
Street all the way to 36th.  This should give some idea how routes were
truncated to save costs.  It also graphically illustrates why we cannot
compare a 1950 route with the same thing in 1905, 1910, 1915, 1920, and
so forth.  Often attempts to save dollars resulted in fewer routes
serving the same tracks. 

In summary, before you try to make sense of 1910 date, first determine
over which streets the cars ran between which termini.  Make no
assumptions other than, "It ain't gonna be what you think it is."