Pgh. Mail List -- 40-Mt..Washington Revival

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

	This can be a very serious matter which takes root right here!

	Market Street Railway in San Francisco is a reincarnation of the actual
railway by that name and was anathema to the Muni, or vice-versa!

	At any rate, one might consider the reincarnated MSR anathema to Muni
for they actually forced (and forced may be an extremely mild term)
Muni's hand to get the Trolley Festivals going which in turn led to the
F-MARKET.  The latter probably would not exist today were it not for
MSR.
	MSR had some well-heeled participants who had power in such places as
Bechtel which also helped.
	There may be people on this list who have the contacts, expertise,
time, information, experience,  --  all the above, any one of the above,
or a combination of the above or know people with such  --  and all it
takes is someone with organizational skills to get something going.  It
is definitely within the realm of possibility  --  whether or not it is
probable depends more on a positive attitude to face the multitude of
challenges such a project would bring.
	Organization is needed with a definite detailed plan so something
concrete could be offered to the public.  And with the internet, getting
support might be relatively easy.

	San Francisco was fortunate in that much of the track was in place but
a major rebuilding was necessary.  With Arlington double tracked and
possibly the connection to Carson and Smithfield still available, Pgh
has a very good start.  Still think it would be a good idea to have a
viaduct over the current SHJ to avoid conflict with regular operations
but it would be much cheaper just to cut into the current tracks to go
to Mt.-Washington.  The whole line needn't be rebuilt; just the key
inner part.  Cars could be based at a small yard near SHJ.
	San Francisco had the fortune of being standard gauge so cars from
around the world could be brought in.  Any historic operation in Pgh.
would need to be PA-broad gauge to use Arlington.
	So just in this short space we can pick up some of the challenges that
will need to be faced and also realize that for every person who
supports this, there could be several who will oppose it.
	Community support is needed - certainly the business association of
Mt.-Washington could see the advantages; understand that is a very nice
*gas-light* district with horse and buggy.  Need some trolleycars to
complement those carriages.
	Don't dismiss this as a pipe-dream - anything is possible - it will be
made more probable as people participate.

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