[PRCo] Reply to Holland

[Fred Schneider]

Interesting point....  Read down.

Jim Holland wrote:

  Good Morning!

  > Fred Schneider wrote:

  > Open note to Mark:

  > If you are worried about when PAT will open, plan a
  > visit a year later.    Pittsburgh isn't the only place
  > with new light rail transit.

          But Pgh. is Home and for that reason it is #1 for me.
  Actually, have Not ridden the current lrv and  *Never*  would be
  too soon for me, but the rebuilt Overbrook has definite interest
  Specifically Because of the History behind it.    Additionally,
  ({[pat]})  didn't want to rebuild it and denied its value but a
  significant cut in running time over the current 42/38-line
  (sorry, don't know current route numbers  AND  am not interested
  in knowing same!)  should be the result and will probably cause a
  realignment of schedule Not Unlike the old PRCo system because it
  would be more functional.

          Mainline to both Library and SHV should be via Overbrook  --
  who would want to ride the 42/38-line to SHV except those people
  living on that line?!


Great point.  And that is where the people live that are riding to South
Hills Village.   As a rule, people don't live downtown any
more...certainly not like they do in
other cities.  Downtown Pittsburgh is an office / mercantile center.
And the line through Dormont and Mount Lebanon serves homes while the
one through the
valley serves a lot of roadside business firms.   Seems to me that the
significant reason for the line along Saw Mill Run is to get working
people from Bethel Park and
Upper Saint Clair into and out of the city faster.  The 42/38 line takes
people to the mall and downtown.  But the fly in the ointment represents
those people from
McMurray and points south who drive to South Hills Village to take the T
downtown.   So we need to run to the mall both ways.



  > From what I could see this past weekend, the rebuilt
  > valley line in Pittsburgh is being fenced so it cannot
  > be photographed.    Even the sides of the McKinley Park
  > bridge are fenced (as if some one is going to throw a
  > rock at a car 100 feet in the air).

          The fence is more to protect anyone on the trestle than the
cars
  from rocks below the trestle!


Are people supposed to be on the trestle?   We have to protect
trespassers now?  Caution, jumping off bridge may be hazardous.



          From pg.5 (very last full-paragraph) of  *Electric__Railroads*

  #20  July--1952, I quote:::::::

          """The end of 1908 saw the new stretch of road practically
  complete, but new substations at Washington Jct. and Canonsburg
  were not ready, so the first through car could not operate until
  *February__15,__1909.*    The new route was truly a high-speed
  electric line, the greater portion being  *fenced___P/R/W*
  requiring grading or filling almost its entire length......."""

          Believe fencing is a regulation // requirement that once
  installed is rarely maintained and not enforced until something
  happens!:)

Could well be.  When US 30 was rebuilt around Lancaster, it too was
fenced with either concrete noise barriers (to keep the exhaust fumes
inside) or steel fencing.


fws