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

[Jim Holland]

Good Morning!

> John F Bromley wrote:

> Oops.  From 42 to 38 possible, other way not.  I did see some 38s come down
> 42 in 1960 and turn back up W Liberty to go in as 38s.  I rode one and I
> guess I just assumed they could go the other way too but of course there was
> no similar crossover on the 42 north of the loop [wye].

	Maybe something was blocking the outbound 38-s and the 42-line was used as
a detour.   Seems strange to send them back in from the 42-wye rather than
go all the way - maybe the others you saw went to Clearview.

	I rode a Drake interurban up the 38-line on Mother's Day either 1961 or
1962.   Had been on Drake 1723 when the back trucks split the switch at Bon
Air and went on the ground.   Walked back to SHJ.
	Drake just coming out of the tunnel to replace 1723 when I got there and
we went up W.Liberty Express  AND  at speed - we did pass a few autos!  
Even hit some of the broad sweeping curves at speed.   Motorman was a
gentle soul who didn't like moving it this fast but could when the
situation demanded it!   He was also the one in the cornfield meet on the
38A after  ({[pat]})  took over.
	At Clearview, a few strong blasts on the horn brought the owner of the
Chinese Laundry scurrying to move his auto.   The switch into the wye and
loop at Castle Shannon was plugged for us and we went straight through and
out onto the interurban.   When we got back inbound, the crippled 1723 had
just cleared the single track outbound.

> Mea culpa.

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Holland" <pghpcc at pacbell.net>
> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 4:19 PM
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: 38 Mt.Lebanon/ 42 Dormont
> 
> > > .......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.

	X-marks the spot, Listar!

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James B. Holland

Holland  Electric  Railway  Operation....... 
___"O"--Scale St.-Petersburg Trams Company Trolleycars and...
______"O"--Scale  Parts  mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net

______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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