[PRCo] Rankin Car House

[Fred Schneider]

Follow up on previous e-mails:

Rankin Bridge collapsed June 26, 1937 and was reopened November 25,
1937.  A sidewalk opened in August.

On July 10, 1937 Rankin Car House closed as an operating facility.
Routes 55, 60 and 61 were moved to Homewood.  Route 59 went to
Glenwood.  Routes 67 and 68 went Craft.  The route cards for each route
began with, "Because of the collapse of the Rankin Bridge, ....."

Unfortunately, we have no information on the factors PRC used in their
decision to move the routes out of Rankin in 1937, or for the failure to
return those routes to Rankin later in the same year.  Perhaps the
company had been wanting to close it for sometime and the collapse
simply made shifting of jobs easier.  Apparently the other barns now had
sufficient capacity for all the routes, and they continued to have
adequate capacity throughout World War II.

Thirty years earlier most operators would have lived in the neighborhood
where they worked ... generally within walking distance.  Perhaps mostly
within one-half mile.  If you moved men to another division, you might
have had to move them to a new home.  West Penn Railways did that when
the Iron Bridge Carbarn was closed; the company moved the men to new
houses at Greensburg or Connellsville.  But this was 1937 and most
families in the state had an automobile (ownership was lower in urban
areas like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia).  Moving men may have been more
of an annoyance than major problem.  My recollection is that most
carbarns in Pittsburgh did not have an abundance of parking for
employees.  This may not have been a problem at Homewood because there
would have been five blocks or more of street spaces beside the company
facility.  Glenwood may have had some space in the 1950s but I don't
know about 1930s.   Space was probably at a premium around Craft Avenue
... certainly the presence of Magee Woman's Hospital next door would
have put a premium on street space.   I would love to see what the rest
of you are thinking.