Finleyville --- Mileage --- Legends

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

John Swindler wrote:

> John

> p.s.  Oh, by the way, Jim, you wouldn't be interested in location of P&CS
> passing sidings or location of PRC passing sidings on West Liberty Ave. in
> Dormont from 1905 Plat Book for City of Pitsburgh and vicinity???  (it's on
> microfilm)

	Please - most definitely for both W. Liberty and Overbrook.

	In the treatise below, you answer the question I posed in a previous
email concerning the standard gauge Banksville line to the West End.
	Here are some quotes from *Electric Railroads* July--1952:

	Page 10, very last sentence:   "The Mellon family had organized the
Pittsburgh & Charleroi Street Railway in 1901 to build an interurban
line from Mount Lebanon, a suburb six miles to the south of Pittsburgh,
to Mon City, a total of 18 miles."
	Page 11, 2nd full paragraph:   "Meanwhile many improvements in bridge
strengthening, track improvement and double tracking were taking place. 
About 9-miles of double track from Castle Shannon south to Finleyville
and 1/2-mile from Charleroi Viaduct #1 to the Charleroi North Boro line
cost more than a quarter of a million dollars."

	These figures kind of put a hole in the 16-mile CS to Finleyville RR.

	Also, pg.11:   "The Pittsburgh Coal Co., principal shipper on the line
[Pittsburgh & Castle Shannon RR Co.], purchased control of the railroad
company in 1900 . . . These [RR & equipment] . . . were leased in 1905
by PRCo, constituting all the property of the P&CSRR, . . ."
	"At this time interurbans from Charleroi were making the circuitous
trip from Shannon to town via Mt. Lebanon, so little time was lost in
planning for the changeover so that broad gauge cars could traverse the
same R/W as the narrow.  Electrification and the placing of extra rails
outside the narrow gauge began in October 1908."

	The first use of Overbrook by PRCo interurbans was July-15-1909 inbound
with outbound service, or full service on the Valley Route as of
Nov.-01-1909.

	Page.11 still:   "Hauling of coal was discontinued on May-01,-1912 and
most of the narrow gauge rail removed except where it was retained as a
guard rail on bridges and curves."

	By the late 1950s this *guard-rail* was extremely flimsy and I often
wondered about its value on the bridges!

James B. Holland

        Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
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