October in the PA Trolley museum

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

	"Slow and bumpy" is an understatement.  I was down there on several fan 
trips, the first one being PRMA PCC 100.  I like a good bounce, sway, and bump type 
of ride but it was difficult to get the car moving on this line - maybe it was the 
tall weeds that slowed us as well.
	Richard C. Albert published a 48-page booklet on *The Trafford Trolleys - 
PRCo & West Penn* in 1980.
	It might be available at the Museum or Mr. Albert's address in the book is 
557 Washington Ave.; West Trenton, NJ 08628.

Vigrass, Bill wrote:
> 
> Consider that we were outbound in mid morning.  I suspect that there would
> have been no service in that direction at that time.  Typical RR commuter
> service was inbound am outbound pm with little or no base service. I can sy
> with certainty that we never considered RR service for that leg of the trip
> even though we did use PRR (from a through Monongahela Railway connection)
> from Brownsville to Roscoe, fare 19 cents.  Maybe Bob Leech checked the PRR,
> but if so, I do not recall it.  That's a while ago.
> 
> Didn't you write a monograph on the Trafford Line?  I think I have it.  We
> were trying to duplicate as closely as possible the route of the former
> trolley service, and in a way, we did.  I think there was still some track
> at Trafford that had been used by WP.  With four new 1600 type PCC's, the
> Trafford line was greatly over serviced.  We were the only ones on the car,
> so had several photo stops (at sidings where they stopped anyhow). It was a
> private fan trip on a regular car. As I recall, it was rather slow and
> bumpy, in an industrial landscape.
> Bill.
> > ----------
> > From:         Derrick J Brashear[SMTP:shadow at dementia.org]
> > Reply To:     pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> > Sent:         Wednesday, October 06, 1999 11:52 AM
> > To:   'pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org'
> > Subject:      RE: October in the PA Trolley museum
> >
> > On Wed, 6 Oct 1999, Vigrass, Bill wrote:
> >
> > > I dunno about what train service there was.  We had planned to take a
> > > Lincoln Transit bus from Trafford to Irwin, but we missed it (it did not
> > > run very often) so took a cab.  With three of us, it wasn't much per person,
> > > except that at that point in our lives, we didn't earn much, so anything
> > > more than a few dollars was a burden.  West Penn cars still went to Larimer
> > > on some trips, but for the trip we connected with, we got a car that ended
> > > its trip in Irwin.  It was a 280-290 type car, as I recall. What RR service
> > > might there have been, PRR?  Bill.
> >
> > There was frequent PRR service from Pittsburgh to Derry (east of Latrobe)
> > apparently until 1963, which passed through Trafford, a bit further down
> > the road from where the 62 loop was. There was also service from North
> > Trafford station, basically just below the Trafford Viaduct, to
> > Pittsburgh, but not east. Some theorize that the 63 Trafford Express
> > (which was apparently discontinued before 1930) never became popular
> > because for people going to town the railroad was available. I don't know
> > the truth of it.
> >
> > The 63 Trafford Express incidentally approximates the 67F Trafford bus
> > route I now use.
> >
> > -D
> >
> >

James B. Holland
------- -- ---------
        Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo), June of 1949 -- June of 1953
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