PRCo Book - Is It Going To Be Published?

[mrb190]

I plan on doing some newspaper research as well (I've already got a
small collection), and will copy and send to whomever, at my expense. 
Like all of you, I would very much enjoy such a publication - or
publications, as the case may be - so I will do what I can to help it
along.  Don't want to sound like some kind of martyr, just want to see
the publication become reality as soon as humanly possible.

I'm sure Pgh Railways wasn't always a delightful Mom & Pop entity, but
from all I have read and heard, they were much quicker to right a
derailed car, to clear snowbound lanes, and de-ice overhead.  And the
company had to put up with a lot of political b.s., too, I am sure. 
Requiring the company to pave and maintain the tracks, ala Idlewood Rd.
is a minor example.

Motorman strikes aside, I thought the operation was for the most part,
was geared toward making the customer happy - but I gotta confess here
and now that I didn't know they took away transfer privileges on
holidays.  And I guess toward the waning years, they did little to
maintain the appearance of the cars, though am I right in stating that
they continued to maintain the mechanics at high standards?   

Articles regarding Pgh Railways accidents crop up now and again, and
when I see them, I'll copy them.  I'm fairly certain that there is
enough info out there already on the most tragic accident of the
company's history which occurred in the 20's, so I'll refrain from
looking that one up.

Not always a pretty picture with regard to service, but I get the
distinct feeling just from reading unbiased newspaper reports that the
company had good intentions but were always at odds with some
municipality or community.  E.g., nothing against the good folks of
Greenfield today, but when I read that they blocked cars coming up
Greenfield Avenue by placing their lawn chairs out on the street to
protest the condition of the cobblestones, I thought that - well -
sucked.  (sorry - first word that came to mind.)  Was the streetcar at
fault for bad paving - or was it the proliferation of heavy trucks?

Anyway, I agree that the book should be "balanced," as you say.  But, of
course, like many of you, want to remember the good stuff.  And there's
plenty of it, thankfully, so let the warts show.

matt

Edward H. Lybarger wrote:
> 
> A lot of folks are eager for this production, but of course a much smaller
> number offer legitimate assistance, and an incredibly small number offer the
> significant management skills it will take to do it.
> 
> Pittsburgh can't be done in one volume and be expected to sell in sufficient
> quantities to make it worthwhile.  A single volume would approach $100 or
> more, and narrows the market significantly.  So we are obligated to consider
> it as five or six books, which in itself is not bothersome, just
> time-consuming.
> 
> The research, after all these years, is still not done.  I discovered upon
> taking over the PTM Archives that no one had even bothered - or considered -
> reading the local newspapers!  If you want a balanced book - one that
> considers the economic, social, political, etc. aspects, the author is
> obliged to go out and find out what others thought of the company, what else
> was going on in the world, etc., etc.  (Of course if you want to produce
> another glossed over railfan production about how wonderful the streetcars
> were and what a shame it was that they went away, there's plenty of material
> available.)
> 
> Anything PTM would be responsible for will be balanced, and will talk about
> why things happened, not just that they happened, and the warts will be
> there.  PRCo was not a beloved company -- far from it, and that fact screams
> at the newspaper reader.  Funny that it's hardly ever been mentioned in the
> railfan accounts so far.  When you herd people in like sheep most of the
> time because you don't have $$ for additional cars....when you take away
> transfer privileges on holidays....and things like that, you are going to
> incur the wrath of the public, and we have to talk about it.
> 
> We now have one gentleman who is making his way through the Pittsburgh
> papers, just as I have been doing for years with the Connellsville Courier.
> Once the reading is complete, the clippings will need to be indexed, and
> text will have to be prepared.  This means that an author will need to know
> what is important and what isn't, and how each item fits with Pittsburgh of
> the times.  I doubt that one person can be expected to do this all, and we
> don't yet have enough qualified people who are both retired and interested!
> 
> I know of two other individuals who have indicated they will publish a
> Pittsburgh book.  One would be a rehash of the 1918 Snow Report which
> laboriously looked at all the underlying companies and established a
> valuation for PRCo in a PSC rate case.  This is a great cure for insomnia (a
> copy of the Snow Report is in our library) but a useful source for facts.
> Most readers don't care about the pedigree of defunct streetcar lines.  The
> second would be who knows what.
> 
> I know what neither of them would be...a legitimate history putting the
> companies in context with their times, and that would be PTM's ultimate
> goal.  Meanwhile, we are fairly close to a greatly expanded revision of the
> 1967 booklet that Tom Parkinson did.  The text is essentially finished but
> we need time to select and caption photos..time that's scarce.  The museum
> has other things going on which unfortunately claim precedence!
> 
> Ed
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> [mailto:owner-pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org]On Behalf Of
> HRBran99 at aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2000 6:35 PM
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Subject: PRCo Book - Is It Going To Be Published?
> 
> The following post was sent out over the "Trolley at Railspot" discussion list:
> 
> <<Please name one book, comparable to the above two on Chicago, about
> Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo) - both a City Transit and Interurban
> system!  I have honestly heard rumors for over three decades that a
> PRCo book is *imminent.*  I have written to people who should have this
> knowledge and while they will tell me that one is imminent, they refuse
> to identify any authors.
>     I recently got wind of a potential author for a PRCo book and mentioned
> that fact here - the book is expected by Spring of 2000.  But a letter
> to this author - with an enclosed SASE for a reply - went unanswered!>>
> 
> Does anyone on this list know, if indeed, a book on PRCo is coming out?
> 
> I know that many years ago (in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s)
> several individuals in Pittsburgh were working on such a book. I also know
> at
> least one of them has died, and another had moved to Washington, DC.
> 
> Can anyone give an answer?
> 
> HrB