[PRCo] Re: So you can't get to Pittsburgh?

[Ken & Tracie]

Jim Holland wrote:

> 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!)

On a purely emotional level, we're on the same page, Jim. But one thing I
have always noted is had the bulk of the streetcar network been retained in
Pittsburgh (or for that matter ANY of it in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Chicago,
St. Louis, Kansas City, D.C., Brooklyn, etc.), change would have been
inevitable. Had reasonably priced PCCs been available through the 1950s and
into the 1960s, a heck of a lot fewer air-electric cars would have survived
into the 1980s in the cities that still used PCCs.

Street running in densely traveled areas would have been shifted to subways,
underutilized parallel railroad corridors, pantographs probably would have
replaced trolley poles  (except in urban Philadelphia, Toronto &
Mattapan-Ashmont as well know for sure) and K&M overhead hardware would have
replaced most of the familar Ohio Brass fittings.

The changes to Pittsburgh's surviving South Hills lines were relatively
minimal (not counting Early Action) during the 1971-1981 as plans for the
future were fluid. After losing over three quarters of what was there in mid
1964, I believe we were more acutely  aware of what we still had and what
seemed to be its impending demise.

Had Mr. Swift remained at the helm of PAT from Day One, even a pro-rail
attitude wouldn't have stopped some of the abandonments, reroutings, changes
in route designations, etc. It's an unfortunate reality, but we can still
hold on to our dreams.

K.

P.S.- I wonder if we would have accepted early 1960s models of PCCs with
dual or quad headlights and slanted "Fishbowl" style side windows? :-)