PRC trolleys and schools

[brathke at juno.com]

Derrick's post yesterday about PRC school passes and Central Catholic
High School got me thinking about my high school and the trolleys that
served it - any many other schools in Pittsburgh, I'm sure.

I attended North Catholic High School on Troy Hill in the mid-50's, and
rode the route 4 trolleys to/from school until it was bussed in 1957. 
When school was out in the afternoon, several PCCs were waiting on Troy
Hill Road to be loaded to capacity for the trip down to the mid-North
Side.  Most of the cars carried 6-Brighton Road signs, and went downtown,
and then outbound on their rush hour schedules.  The school had about
1,200 students, and I'd guess that 800 of them rode the trolleys - North
Catholic drew students from Emsworth to Aspinwall (trolley routes 1-21
plus 94 and 95), and north to Wexford and Bakerstown (those guys got to
ride Harmony Short Line and other company buses that eventually became
part of PAT).  Regardless, many students had to transfer to two or three
trolley and bus lines to get to school.

The other trolley item I remember is the weekly pass sales area in the
school.  When the new classroom building was built in 1943, the designers
included four windows (or wickets) similar to ticket windows in arenas. 
Before class on Friday mornings, the four windows would slide open and
teachers would start selling passes for the upcoming week.  It's amazing
to realize that those four windows were used for only about 20 minutes
one morning a week - I guess that's a reflection of the importance of
trolley transportation for students in that era.  And...I still have some
of my 1955 passes which sold for 95 cents.

I went on to Duquesne University and every day I got to ride the
22-Crosstown from the North Side to the layover turn at Fifth and Sixth
Avenues.  At that time, Duquesne was predominantly a commuter school, and
the running joke was that next semester PRC would install car check
(token) machines in the cafeteria.  They never did.

Bob 3/7


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View my railroad and trolley photos at <www.dnaco.net/~gelwood>.
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