West Penn today

[Fred W. Schneider III]

The police don't know what a trolley is.  Kind of tells you we're aging, doesn't
it?  I wonder of the Pittsburgh police in Beechview still understand the law that
prohibits passing a streetcar on the right with doors open?  That's about the
only place left in the Pittsburgh area.  I sure hope they know in
Philthy-delphia.

I stopped a policewoman in Salisbury NC last spring to ask her if you had to stop
for a vehicle unloading school students (a van as opposed to a school bus) and
with the words "school students" as opposed to "school bus" on it ... she
admitted that she didn't have the foggiest idea.  "Good help's so hard to find
these days."

Fredbruhn at aol.com wrote:

> The car barn in Uniontown was converted to a sub station sometime with the
> barn torn down.   The transformers and electrical gizmos were put on the
> floor where you could still see the tracks in the concrete floor.  Today all
> that is gone but the site is still used for power transmission  with a new
> floor.   It is not hard to find.
>
> As Ed points out in the July photo of the Museum calendar for 2000 the
> Uniontown station is now a business building and looks quite nice, even to a
> car stop sign attached to the overhang.  You can no longer drive around the
> building  as West Penn did and was possible by car for many years.
>
> The Greensburg terminal is intact, and now the City Hall.  They have made a 2
> story addition where the overhang was for loading and unloading.  The freight
> terminal hasn't changed much and take note of the WP logo that is concrete or
> stone on the top of the front facade of the building.  I stopped in the
> building at the police desk to tell them what I was doing and they didn't
> have a clue what a street car was.
>
> Connellsville terminal looks very much as it did in WP days, and is now a
> bank.
> The freight terminal behind the passenger station is gone.  The main shops at
> Connellsville look like Ft. Knox.  WP Power uses the site as a storage area
> for
> supplies with many new buildings.  I think there may be a couple of the
> original buildings back in the complex but gates, fence and a foreboding
> appearance kept me out of there.
>
> Dunbar will never change.  Easy to trace the route through town.
>
> Next time I'll pick up my Brownsville - Uniontown trip at Republic where I
> left off
> and got some help from Ed to clarify things.
>
> Fred