[PRCo] Re: 38 Mt.Lebanon/ 42 Dormont

[Jim Holland]

Good Morning!

> John F Bromley wrote:

> Hi Mark.

> 1. Yes
> 2.  Just past the wye, room for one car past the wye, basically, so it could
> back out and not foul the outbound.  I VAGUELY recall that they then pulled
> forward of the wye to lay over and/or pick up passengers.

	The layover point was outbound of the wye where the cars backed out.  
What you may be thinking of, John, is the leaving time recorder.   This was
located about 2-car lengths inbound of the wye and the motormen would stop
here to punch the clock.

> .......There was also a crossover north of
> the loop on West Liberty Av so short 38s could leave the carhouse in the AM,
> go out the 42 and turn left into West Liberty, then through the crossover
> from the outbound to he inbound line and off they went.  Short 38s outbound
> simply turned right on the same curve and went back to Tunnel on the 42.

	This is a new one on me  --  Never saw this - lived right here until
1963!   If an outbound 38-line car turned short here into the 42-Dormont
wye, it would be facing backward on the inbound track.   The car would then
have to pull onto the single track connecting to the 38-line, plug the
spring RR switch or throw it the other direction, back down the outbound
track, and go around the wye again.
	If the spring switch on the wye leg was plugged for the 38-short to go the
other direction, it would be facing backward on the Outbound track.   From
the outbound track the car would have to back up outbound thru the switch
to the single track connection and then go forward on the inbound track.
	With all the 42-line cars waiting to use the wye, this would make for a
real bottleneck.

	Never saw anything like this in any of the schedules - No short cars AM or
PM.

	The Only time I ever saw this used is in the mid-1950s when a 1200 could
not back up.   The X-over was 2-3--car lengths inbound of the wye on
W.Liberty and help was needed to stop auto traffic.   This was quite a hump
out of the wye and the car wheels spun tremendously.

>> From: <Macmarka at cs.com>

>> I was only 1 year old when the 38 line was merged with the 42(1963 I
>> believe). I have a couple questions about this merge. 1) Was the 38 line
>> double track the whole way to Clearview Loop?   2)Where did the single
>> track start outbound? At Dormont Wye?I know it merged with the old
>> 38 line between McFarland Rd. and Peermont.
>> Was there a need for a signal at this point, or
>> was the single trackage short enough not to need a signal? When did it
>> become double track?  Questions, questions, questions.
>> Thanks all!

>> Mark McGuire

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James B. Holland

Holland  Electric  Railway  Operation....... 
___"O"--Scale St.-Petersburg Trams Company Trolleycars and...
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______Pennsylvania Trolley Museum http://www.pa-trolley.org/
___Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.nmra.org

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