[PRCo] Re: tidbits

[mrb190]

all from yahoo-groups, trolleys-which-way

 At the other end of the Keystone State, it was 50 years ago that
                 Pittsburgh Railways
                     went under new ownership.  Much was now happening.
Route 9 shuttle
                 trolley was
                     abandoned, buses were now labeled "Pittsburgh
Railways," and routes 17,
                 20, and 81
                     were now bus.  Herron Hill Car House was closed and
transferred to the
                 Way Dept.
                     Route 85 (Bedford Avenue) now operated from Craft
Avenue and route 22
                 (Crosstown)
                     from Manchester barn.  Route 37 (Castle Shannon)
now operated only during
                 rush
                     hours, but with the Washington and Chaleroi cars
still running, route 37
                 cars were
                     operating on 15-minute headways.  The Pennsylvania
State Highway
                 Department has
                     forced Pittsburgh Railways to give up the Millvale
Car Barn, placing the
                 future of
                     trolley routes 2 and 3 in great doubt.
_______________________________________
    It was 49 years ago April 28 when Pittsburgh Railways petitioned the

                 Pennsylvania PUC
                     to materially shorten its Washington and Chaleroi
interurban routes,
                 together with the
                     abandonment of the operation of the connecting
routes in Washington,
                 Pennsylvania,
                     and between Donora and Monongahela City.  The
Company claimed that only
                 during
                     strikes on competing bus lines did the trolleys
have "enough traffic to
                 justify the runs."

                     The Washington route will be operated as far as the
Drake-Ruthfred
                 Station, 10.7 miles
                     from Pittsburgh and 3 miles beyond Washington
Junction.  The Chaleroi
                 route is to
                     terminate at the Simmons Station, 12.7 miles from
Pittsburgh and .64
                 beyond the West
                     Library Loop.  Considerable delays are anticipated
before the PUC
                 approval is had.

                     The last big red 3700 and 3800-series interurban
cars lined up for the
                 scrapper's torch at
                     Ingram Yard and were gone by Tuesday, April 1,
1952.  Car 3801 was the
                 last one to arrive
                     there, having been towed from Chaleroi carhouse on
Saturday, March 8,
                 1952.  1700-series
                     PCC cars provided all base service on both
interurban routes with earlier
                 PCC's providing
                     tripper service.

                     Trolleys continued to operate on routes 2 (Etna)
and 3 (Millvale) because
                 bus substitution
                     had not been approved, even though routes 1 (Spring
Garden), 4 (Troy
                 Hill), and 5 (Spring
                     Hill) moved in March, 1952, to the Plummer Street
carhouse.  The Millvale
                 carhouse was
                     being rebuilt as a bus garage, and routes 2 and 3
moved to Plummer Street
                 in May, 1952,
                     and operated from there until the buses would begin
to run.

                     Pittsburgh Railways passengers owned totalled
1056:  665 PCC's (plus 1
                 PCC instruction
                     car), 288 conventional cars (plus 1 instruction
car), and 103 high and
                 low speed conven-
                     tional cars in storage.  Buses:  198, plus 30 newly
delivered, of which
                 some will be replace-
                     ments.  In its fare-rise hearings, which became
effective in the fall of
                 1951, testimony re-
                     vealed that the streetcars represented 87% of
equipment used in daily
                 service by Pitts-
                     burgh Railways; only Minneapolis with 68% even
approached that
                 proportion.  Since
                     1944, Pittsburgh Railways purchased 265 PCC cars
providing 8.6% of the
                 cars in the
                     country.
______________________________________

 It was 42 years ago when hearings were held for the substitution of
                 Pittsburgh PCC
                     route 94 (Sharpsburg-Aspinwall).  No serious
objections were raised, so
                 this route will
                     be converted to bus within a few months.  However,
rush hour route 95
                 (Butler Street)
                     trippers will remain PCC after the conversion.
Both routes 94 and 95
                 were eventually
                     converted to bus during 1961.

                     Pittsburgh Railways agreed to convert its West End
car lines to bus by
                 May, 1960.  The
                     Federal and State Governments would pay Pittsburgh
Railways $300,000
                 which would
                     help in the purchasing of new buses for the
conversion.  Routes affected
                 were 25
                     (Island Avenue), 26 (West Park), 27 (Carnegie), 28
(Heidelberg), 30
                 (Crafton-Ingram),
                     and 31/34 (Elliott-Sheridan).

                     From December 8 to 24, 1958, Pittsburgh Railways
operated a new special
                 bus service
                     between the Gateway Shopping Center and 11th Street
downtown via Penn
                 Avenue,
                     Stanwix Street, and Fort Duquense Boulevard.  The
special fare was the
                 same as that of
                     the loop buses marked "Golden Triangle."