[PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh City Paper Article

[Fred Schneider]

How about Fairchance or Martin or Brownsville or Uniontown to Elkhart Lake Wisc
... farther on both ends.  How late.  Until the Pittsburgh Harmony Butler and
New Castle and Penn Ohio Public Service.  made two cuts in 1931.   The far
northwest end, from Plymouth to Elkhart Lake WI disappeared in 1927 but the
Plymouth to Sheboygan portion of Wisconsin Public Service still ran until
December 1938.  The TM line into Sheboygan WI lasted until 1940, the Milwaukee
to Port Washington (about half the line to Sheboygan) lasted until 1948.   The
North Shore was around until 1963, I think.  The South Shore is still there.
The Chicago, South Bend and Northern Indiana's interurban from South Bend ot
Elkhart lasted into 1934.  Winona Service Corporation quit between Elkhart and
Peru in 1937.  Indiana Railroad's line from Peru (proun. pee-rU) to Indianapolis
quite in 1938.  Even though the direct route from Indianapolis to Dunreith was
gone in 1932, you could still get from Indianapolis to New Castle to Dunreith to
Dayton, Ohio until May 9, 1937 (I have friends who did it).

The last link out of Dayton would have been the Cincinnati and Lake Erie to Lima
and Toledo and then the Lake Shore Electric to Cleveland, both of which quite at
different times in 1938.  The Dayton and Troy to the Toledo, Fostoria and
Findley was shorter but quit earlier.    Northern Ohio Traction and Light
(NOInterurban at the end) appears to have continued the entire Cleveland -
Cuyahoga Falls-Kent-Ravenna-Warren service into 1932.  Penn Ohio broke the
Warren - Youngstown connection in 1931 but continued Warren to New Castle until
1932.  Pittsburgh, Harmony Butler and New Castle ran into Pittsburgh into early
1931.  Pittsburgh Railways ran to Trafford until the 1960s but the West Penn
connection from Trafford to Larimer was broken about 1942, and from Larimer to
Irwin in 1948.  The rest of West Penn was gone in 1950 and 1952.

Note that local bus companies were still active into the 1950s, and without even
looking, there is no doubt in my mind that you could have connected all the
pieces of rail by bus as long as there was any rail running (other than the
North Shore and South Shore).  Certainly into the 1950s you could have made a
mixed bus and rail trip from Uniontown to Sheboygan.

And don't forget some of the other places you could go ...

Pittsburgh to Cooperstown or Utica NY via Cleveland.

Pittsburgh to Louisville via Indianapolis

Pittsburgh to Northern Kentucky also via Cleveland and Columbus

And if you didn't mind a short lift from a farmer in eastern Illinois, you could
get all the way to west suburban St. Louis.

As much as I love to travel, much of this sounds like 20 mph torture with some
pretty grisly nickel sandwiches and coffee in interurban terminals

I think I would have liked to have sailing along in an Indiana Railroad High
Speed might have been nice.  The Scotia Valley third rail interurban out of
Columbus.  I think.  And who would ever refuse hammering down the four tracks
through Watts on the Pacific Electric in a Catalina Boat train, and then a day
out on Catalina Island.  Chico to San Francisco on the Meteor sounds OK.   And
after all that,  ITS or Interstate Public Service sleeper trains from
Indianapolis to Louisville or Peoria to St. Louis would fit nicely.


Bob Rathke wrote:

> I believe that PTM's reprint of its 1959 Pittsburgh trolley route map
> contains a notation that at one time it was possible to ride trolleys from
> Pittsburgh to Milwaukee.  That possibility probably existed for a rather
> short period of time.
>
> Bob 4/9/04
>
> -----------------------------
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Holland" <PghPCC at pacbell.net>
> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> Sent: Friday, April 09, 2004 2:39 PM
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh City Paper Article
>
> > Matt Barry wrote:
> >
> > >This is new to me.
> > >
> >
> >http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/prev/archives/newsarch/ask/ask03/ya011503
> .html
> > >
> > >matt
> > >
> > Good Morning!
> >
> >              Have seen this very topic  --  Pgh to Chicago and beyond
> > --  Very Recently  --  maybe even here.     And there is a book
> > published about New York to Chicago by trolley  --  yes, many transfers.
> >
> >              Very interesting article here but I never like it when they
> > say the TrolleyCars run by  ''Overhead Cable''  --  twould be one
> > horrendous amount of arcing if such were the case!
> >
> >              Very much like his explanation of Interurban  --
> > Interurban is really an adjective modifying TrolleyCar which then
> > renders a specific meaning.     Interurban is used as a noun which then
> > clouds its meaning.
> >
> >              Wish he had given more of a description of the actual route
> > Lytle used, if that is available.
> RR