[PRCo] Iron Bridge

[Fred W. Schneider III]

First:  PLEASE CHANGE THE SUBJECT LINE WHEN YOU CHANGE THE SUBJECT.  

ROGER Jenkins wrote:
> 
> I have never even seen a pix of Iron Bridge carhouse even in the CERA
> book or know where it was other than near IB .  What was in it if
> anything ?

And Caustic Fred responded:

  It was a car house.  A place for storing streetcars.  Located about
1/4 mile north of the mainline at Iron Bridge, north of Scottdale and
south of Mount Pleasant.  It was a Pittsburgh. McKeesport and
Connellsville railway barn ... active until some time in the first
decade of the century. I don't have time to research when it was
closed.  Cars and crews were reassigned to Greensburg and Connellsville,
so it had to have closed after the competing Pittsburgh, McKeesport and
Greensburg was absorbed because the old Huff barn in Greensburg was a
PMG property.  

Crews were simply told that they worked in a different division and it
was up to them to move if they wanted to keep their jobs.  Remember,
this was long before unions, prescription plans, hospitalization,
vacations, personal days, sick leave, dental plans, etc.  You worked,
you got paid.  You didn't work, you didn't eat.  Very simple rules.  

Thereafter West Penn used it to store cars that were not needed.  In
1932 or 33 (I'm not going to try to look that up either), West Penn
retired the last two-man 700s when they converted the mainline from
Connellsville to Greensburg to one-man operation.  I think they were
cars 701-707 and 716-720.  They needed about seven cars and spares for
the north end.  If they had enough one-man cars to institute the
service, the old two-man cars were simply surplus.  I think West Penn
may have already realized that the end was in sight in 1933 ... it made
more sense to operate older 600 series and low 200 series cars than
spend money to rebuild the 700s.  So where do we put the junk?  It got
rammed into any place where it would fit ... some cars were probably in
the tin storage barn in Connellsville and the remainder in Oakford Park
(between Jeannette and Greensburg) and at Iron Bridge.  When the
McKeesport Division was abandoned in 1938 there was a similar problem. 
The wooden cars were promptly scrapped.  Same with the two ex McKeesport
and Irwin steel cars (298 and 299).  But the newer 286-297 series were
mothballed and advertisements were published by their owner in hopes of
selling them. At that time the 831-842 series of Cincinnati-built curved
side cars had been moved to Connellsville and, since they were only
seven years old, the company tried to make what use they could out of
them and sell the older 280s.  

Eventually the 830s appeared to be troublesome in Irwin - Greensburg
service (We don't know why; we have a lot of railfan dribble on the
subject but little that makes sense.  So lets just stop with the railway
was not satisfied with some aspect of their performance.)  The 286-297
cars were removed from storage, rebuilt with 27F trucks from low 200s
that were being burnt, and placed in service on Irwin. At least two of
them retained arch bar trucks, maybe three (292, 294, 295 come to mind
but, for the third time, I'm not taking the time to look because it is
peripheral to the carbarn issue).   

When World War II required West Penn to come up with more seats, the
company dragged out the stored 700s and began rebuilding them with
folding front doors and steps, deadman control, and whatever other
features were needed for one-man operation. The last car rebuilt may
have been 720 in 1945.  But even some unrebuilt two-man 700s ran during
the war to take military inductees to the train station in Greensburg.  

By 1945, Iron Bridge only had two cars in it ... 701 and 702 were still
in their two-man configuration.  Oakford Park had been sold to a
trucking company (a guess because I've seen pictures of it with trucks).
Iron Bridge was emptied in 1951 and those two cars were run down to
Connellsville for scrapping, possibly the first time they moved in 18
years.   

Oakford Park barn has since been dismantled.  There is a pallet
fabrication operation going on in Iron Bridge.