[PRCo] Re: Unattended trolleys

[Bob Rathke]

Eichelmann's Store was on the west side of Rhine St., and the loop was on the east
side of the street, about 150 ft. north of the store.  The motormen had to cross
Rhine St. and walk a short distance south to get to the store.

I forgot to mention that many times when my family boarded a trolley setting in the
loop, the car would be EMPTY - not even the motorman on board.  He was over in the
store getting something to eat or drink.  We would take our seats, and when the
motorman returned to the car, we'd go to the front of the car to pay our fares.  This
happened many times.

Eichelmann's closed in 1957 (six months before the end of route 5 trolleys), but
became a succession of other retail stores over the years.  The store is still there,
and until 1999 it was a floral shop.  The "loop" is also still there, though it's
paved now and seems to be a parking lot for residents' cars.

The "Eichelmann" name is on their property identified on the1925 Hopkins map (26th
Ward).  The trolley line is also shown - the end of the single track line was in the
street right in front of the store in 1926 (the loop was built to the north in 1946).

On the 1925 map, the future loop site is shown as unimproved land owned by
Hespenhide.  Until 1956, the Hespenhide family lived in a large house on Buente St.
They owned much of the open land on Spring Hill.  They were probably among the
original landowners, and subdivided and sold their land over the years.  They also
had(have) the largest monument in the cemetery on Buente St. - it's a tall. obelisk
resembling the Washington Monument.

Bob 6/9/01

-------------------------------

Jim Holland wrote:

> > Bob Rathke wrote:
>
> > In the late 1940's and early 50's I hung around the 5-Spring Hill loop at Rhine
> > and Buente Streets..  Most cars had a layover there, and if it was mid-day and
> > the motorman had 8-10 minutes, he would go across the street to Eichelmann's
> > Store for a pop or snack.  Most of the motormen consumed their purchases in the
> > store.......
>
> > I also remember the ritual before the motorman left his car - check the padlock
> > on the money box locked to the dash, and remove the coin changer from the
> > transfer pedestal
>
>         I was at the 42-wye daily in the mid 1950s to early 1960s.  There was
> an Isaly's directly across from the wye.   NEVER  did I see an operator
> go over there!   I was the  *go-fer*  to fetch sodas and ice cream and
> got a roundtrip ride from the deal as well as the duty of punching the
> time-schedule clock inbound and outbound!
>         From the pictures, the store on the 5-line loop was almost a part of
> the loop  --  could see an operator going in there.
>         My Sundays in the summer saw me on the cars at 6-AM with a Sunday Pass
> (and that after I had already delivered the Sunday Morning Paper) and I
> wasn't home again until almost midnight in the summer (except for lunch
> and supper freebies!)  Was often on the 56-, 87-, 88-, Drake, Library,
> 10-15--lines and others and never saw an operator leave the car except
> to go to the restroom.
>
> >>> HRBran99 at aol.com wrote:
>
> >>> . . . [if] a car had to be
> >>> left unattended the reverser handle should have been placed in the 'locked'
> >>> or forward position and removed to prevent moving of the car. Again, sounds
> >>> like urban legend to me. If it did happen, the operator most likely was
> >>> unemployed after that.
>
> >> Jim Holland wrote:
>
> >>         In all my travellings on PRCo, I can't remember a car without an
> >> operator in it.  *One--time*  on Library the operator had to use the
> >> rest room and he did exactly as you mentioned  --  put the reverser into
> >> the forward position, removed it, and took it with him!
> >>         One time on  ({[pat]})  --  and Paul may have been there at the time
> >> --  the 49-line was operating to SHJ and looping at Palm Garden.  The
> >> motorman brought the car back to SHJ  --  1600-series city car  --  and
> >> made the turn onto the outbound 44-48.  He allowed us to board and then
> >> the operator left.  We were sitting in the back.  There was a loud bang
> >> and when the motorman returned he blamed us for fooling with his car -
> >> the hand brake had apparently released.  We never touched the car but he
> >> repeatedly accused us!
> >>         The time frame was probably the late 1960s, very early 1970s.
>
> --
> 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/