[PRCo] Re: 1954 photo of Drake loop

[Harold Geissenheimer]

Greetings

About the P&LE clock.  It was removed and preserved by the
President of the P&LE  (A Mr Allen I think) and made into a flat
table in his office?  Any one know where it is now?

Also, the interior of the 1700.  Nore the operator seat used
to  replace the small parcel bench.

Good photos.

Harold Geissenheimer

Bob Rathke wrote:

> Greg, I've been looking for the exact date that the
> Pittsburgh-Washington lines stopped operating, but so far I haven't
> found it.  I believe it was in the Spring of 1953, but the line was
> kept open until 1954 when the the three trolleys were moved over the
> line to the museum at Arden. I did find a Museum publication that
> confirmed that PRC operated four city trolley lines in Washington.
> I'll keep looking. I believe that the trestle was removed shortly
> after 1954, but that date also needs to be confirmed.  Until 1984 I
> lived within walking distance of the Drake line, and I rode it to/from
> downtown everyday.  At that time, it was possible ro see many remnants
> of the old PRW south of the Drake loop, and there was still a large
> concrete abutment (that supported the trestle) along the road just
> south of the loop.  I may be visiting Pittsburgh next month, and I'll
> try to get out there and see what still remains from the interurban
> line.  I now live in the Chicago area, about 500 miles west of
> Pittsburgh. Yes, send me any Pittsburgh trolley photos off-line. I've
> been gathering photos referring to some of the topics being discussed
> on the e-mail list, and I will scan them for uploading to Derrick's
> dementia website.  I'll send an e-mail to the list with caption
> information when these photos are uploaded. In the meantime, attached
> are three of the photos that I've scanned today: - PCC 1700 at the
> P&LE station.  I took this photo on February 6, 1966, before the clock
> canopy was demolished. - Motorman Bill Kaiser in front of PCC 1724 at
> the Drake loop.  I took this photo (facing south) on October 10,
> 1965.  Bill was a fan-friendly motorman.   The PCC is signed for
> 35-Library - at that time, on Sundays the cars alternated runs between
> the Drake and Library lines, and they changed signs at each loop
> before heading back to downtown. - 1903 view of Fifth Avenue in
> Pittsburgh, looking east from Liberty Avenue.  This is probably a copy
> of a poster or a magazine cover.  There are two mainline tracks on
> Fifth Avenue, but note the additional two tracks to the right - these
> were for the West End trolley lines which terminated there.  Sometime
> later, the West End lines began to loop at Ferry (now Stanwix) Street,
> which is out of view to the right, about one block west of this
> interestion; the West End lines were converted to buses in 1959. Also
> attached are two photos that I took inside PCC 1724 (at the Drake
> loop) on October 10, 1965. I am sending a copy of this e-mail to Bill
> Myers who was with me on October 10, 1965 when I took the photos of
> 1724. Bob 10/13/01
>
>      ----- Original Message -----
>      From: Greg King
>      To: Bob Rathke
>      Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2001 4:26 PM
>      Subject: Re: 1954 photo of Drake loop
>       Hey Bob, great shot, how long had it been since the time of
>      closure of the Interurban lines (I know it was 53, but not
>      month) before those cars ran out there and, how long after
>      did the trestle come down? Are you intersted in some PCC fan
>      trip phots off-line, taken by Bob Helperin (at least his
>      collection), I think on Trafford line, in colour, an 1100 if
>      memory serves. Greg
>
>           ----- Original Message -----
>           From: Bob Rathke
>           To: Macmarka at cs.com
>           Cc: Walt Smith ; Fred Schneider III ; Bob Schmidt
>           ; Bill Myers ; Frederick J. Sauerburger, M.D. ;
>           Ray Lattner ; Greg King ; Ken Josephson ; Harold
>           Geissenheimer ; Dennis Foley ; Richard DeArmond ;
>           Matt Barry
>           Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2001 4:40 AM
>           Subject: 1954 photo of Drake loop
>            Mark, I searched through my photo collection, and
>           found a print of the scene you were asking about.
>           Because the trolley list doesn't handle
>           attachments, I'm sending the photo to you
>           off-list. The attachment was scanned from a small
>           photo that may be a copy print.  It's from Bill
>           Gwinn, but I'm not sure if he took the photo. The
>           photo is dated 2/7/54 and identifies PCC 1714 on
>           the loop.  WPRy 832 is on the bridge, and PRC 4398
>           is following it to the far right, on their way
>           south to the Arden museum. I will ask Derrick to
>           post this photo and some others that I have on my
>           page of the dementia website, and then I'll
>           explain them all in an e-mail message to the
>           trolley list. Bob 10/13/01
>