Trolley--Car Abandonments --- Gleanings From *Trolley Fare*

[Fred W. Schneider III]

"After 9-5-65 it will no longer be possible to ride a trolley to an amusement
park."  Who would have thought then that a quarter century later one would be able
to take a trolley in San Jose to the Great America Park!!!!!!!

Wonder how many parks still have scheduled bus service... Kennywood for certain.
Is Clementon Park still open outside of Camden and does TNJ still run there?  Is
there anything left at Coney Island?  And we've all forgotten taking the trolley
to the Exhibition in Toronto.  Glen Echo party reopened ... do Metrobuses still go
there?  What about Blue Line trains to Wonderland Park near Boston?

I'm reminded of a motorman on the interurbans who remarked, after dropping almost
a car full of teenage girls at the dance hall at Linden Grove Stop north of Castle
Shannon, that he couldn't understand how he could take all those girls there but
he never figured out how they got back home.  And he said so with such a deadpan
look!  And some of the motorman did better than dreaming.

I new a chap in the army (during my German tour of duty) who came from Cincinnati
... was married ... he had been a bus driver before being drafted and he first met
his wife in the rear view mirror.  Claimed he liked the legs.  Could be a whole
new story about operators dating their passengers.

Jim Holland wrote:

> Greetings!
>
>         Gleanings  From  *Trolley  Fare*
>                 August--1965
>
> "*Effective September 5, 1965:*"
>
>         "With the installation of the fall pick on Sept. 5, the axe will be
> swung on several trolley routes, one car house, and one (bletch!) bus
> garage."
>         "Trafford Bus Garage will close and the routes and buses will be split
> between Homewood and Homestead Garages."
>         "Keating Car House will close, to be quickly torn down and replaced by
> a bus garage."
>         "Trolley routes 8, 10, 15, 77/54, and 65/55 will be replaced by buses.
> Routes 6 and 13 will be thru-routed at all times and that part of 13
> from High Bridge Loop IB to Brighton and California will be abandoned.
> This route will have trippers operating to the 6 and 14 loops using
> those respective signs.  Thru cars will be extended past Perrysville and
> Bascom to serve a housing development out that way."
>         "Two bus routes will attempt to replace 10 and 15, but by the looks of
> some of those cow paths that pass for roads beside the prw, its going to
> be a rocky trail."
>         "The bus to replace the 77/54 will be the 54C, and will use the new
> Air-Cond. GM buses.  The present Oakland-South Side 54C shuttle will be
> eliminated, but the new route will still run only to the South Side.
> The 77/54 trackage might be usable for fantrips, but no promises."
>         "The 65/55 will be eliminated by simply running the 55B Homestead-E.
> Pgh. bus all the time, as sufficient buses will be abailable by that
> time.  This route will be missed most by the fans, as its center lane
> single track is unique among trolley lines in this country.  8 will be
> missed too, that stretch alongside Riverview Pari is particularly
> photogenic, as are 10 and 15 as well."
>         "After 9-5-65, it will no longer be possible to ride a trolley to an
> amusement park in the USA."
>         "So you see fellow fans, the curtain is falling fast on America's last
> big trolley system.  The survival, for the time being, of 13 and 21 is
> due only to the lack of funds to buy more buses."
>
> James B. Holland
>
>         Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
>     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/