[PRCo] Re: Charleroi etc.

[Harold Geissenheimer]

Greetings to all

Its not a situation confined to Western Pennsylvania.

I first encountered this when I joined the Anthracite Division of the
ERA in l947.   Ed Miller and Mike Lavelle were running PCC cars in
Washingron DC, Bill Ellis was working in Phila and Jim Langan
was in the Airforce.

Then when at Fort Meade, Maryland, I became friends with a Regulat
Army personnel sgt, Mel Courtney, from Tunnelton, WVa..  A very
capable guy but when he retiurned home, he could only run a newspaper
distributer route.  I visited with him several times at home.

An early railfan triip for me was from New York City to Bluefield, West Va. to
ride the small Tri-City Traction.  What an eye opener that was!.

Lets go to California.  Its amazing how poor parts of the rural state are.  Go
north
to the Oregon border (Skunk train) or east and south of Sacramento

For urban decline, try Bridgeport, Newark, Gary, East St Louis, etc.

Small Iowa farm towns also very poor.

Not every one has a piece of the pie!

Harold Geissenheimer



"Dennis F. Cramer" wrote:

>     You do not even want to travel to Greene, Fayette or Armstrong Counties
> in the western part of the commonwealth.  No dichotomy of communities there,
> just ones barely hanging on to anything that is left, which is not much.
> Our talented young people leave in droves and never return.
>     On the plus side, we are all within one hour of "dahntawn" and the
> culture there.  The cost of living is much less than Peters & Cranberry Twps
> or the North Hills.  There are still good people who do for others in all of
> these impoverished communities.
>     I do appreciate the fact that I drive 7 miles to school and it takes
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