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

[mrb190]

It sure is worth a try!  Who do I write first?  City Council?  County?

Jim Holland wrote:
> 
> 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
>     To e-mail *privately,* please click here: mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net
> N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/