South Side -- Hill Tops -- Monongahela Transfer

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

South   Side   --   Hill   Tops   --   Monongahela   Transfer

"YOU   ARE   PROBABLY   AWARE   that Pittsburg & Birmingham Traction Co.
cars ran in both directions on Smithfield St., crossing the Smithfield
Street Bridge on the east half of the bridge where PRCo cars now
cross.   Cars going to Knoxville and Mt. Oliver carried signs:   
SOUTH    SIDE---HILL    TOPS.    You probably also knew that cars of the
West End Traction Co. operated on West Carson St. between the Point
Bridge and Smithfield Street, the line known then as the   
MONONGAHELA    TRANSFER.    However, it is not generally known that in
those days (probably prior to 1895) the P&LE depot was at a right angle
to its present location; in other words, parallel to the Smithfield St.
Bridge.   Old maps indicate that the rails of the above-mentioned
Monongahela Transfer line turned into the P&LE depot area in close
proximity to a team track of that Road...quite probably thus to
facilitate the loading of supplies.   Maps and other records indicate
that at one time these rails of the West End Traction continued across
the Smithfield St. Bridge on the west half of the bridge (which is now
the roadway), but how far they went into the Triangle is not known.   Do
you have any information?"

P.R.M.A.   *Trolley   Fare*   Vol VII #8,   December 1960.
=========================================

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/