Memories

[brathke at juno.com]

I have vivid memories of riding the low floor cars on 5-Spring Hill.
Rhine St. was single track and ended in the middle of the street at
Buente St., a block from our house. A loop at the end of Rhine St. as
built in April, 1945, and after that time, PCCs regularly handled the
runs, so I'm recalling the 1943-45 era.  I was small, but my parents
allowed me to ride in the motorman's seat in the back end of the car.  We
didn't own an automobile at that time, so we rode the trolleys a lot (I
also recall a ride on the 17th St. incline, but that's another story). 
There were no operable controls in the back end, but I figured out how to
release the sand as the car was moving.  More than once,  the operator
stopped the car and came back screaming at me to stop releasing sand. 
This was one particular motorman who tended to get excited, and if he
walked in the room today, I'd recognize him immediately - he had a
juitting jaw and a very red face, at least when I was riding his car.

Another reason to ride the back seat was the leather trash bag there.  It
was a great place to find pads of outdated transfers and report forms. 
Sometimes I'd find a banana peel or other remnants of the motorman's
lunch, but the effort always seemed to yield transfers.  I also searched
for transfers on Evergreen and Charles St. cars, and on the special
double-ended shuttles such as the ones used when the 16th St. Bridge was
being rebuilt in 1950.  I still have those transfers.

Bob 6/28

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On Wed, 28 Jun 2000 11:09:16 +0000 Kenneth and Tracie Josephson
<kjosephson at sprintmail.com> writes:
> 
> 
> I was reading the notes on the backs of Roberta Hill's Route 40 pix. 
> She
> seemed elated about capturing 1241 on film on May 15,1962 (her first 
> day in
> Pittsburgh.) She wrote this was the very first Pittsburgh Railways 
> car she
> had ever ridden.
> 
> My first was 1614 during December, 1967. What do you other 
> sentimental types
> out there recall about your first ride on the system? (If you've 
> been riding
> since you were a babe in arms, what are your earliest memories?)
> 
> Ken J.
> 

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On the other hand, you have different fingers.
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