[PRCo] Re: Rankin Car House

[Jim Holland]

Good Morning!


> John Swindler wrote:

> And the availability of owl service was the norm. 
> Even into the 60s, route 88 Frankstown had
> half-hourly owl service.

42/38-Owl has Hourly.

Library Interurban had only 1-car on the Owl so it
was Hourly-Plus-A-Half between vehicles.

Encouraging summary, John, of transit usage.

I avoid rail here in San Francisco because of reliability
problems.     Live right on Judah line and only need for
it is to go downtown but when I have used it there were
always problems.     M-U-C-H    E-A-S-I-E-R  And  Faster
to drive to a bus line north of Golden Gate Park to go
downtown.




> In summers of 1968 and 1969, I had a two vehicle commute
> to work in Chicago.   Even a 4am or 5am start was not a
> problem due to existance of half-hourly owl service on
> most routes.  Likewise a pm run that would pull in around
> midnight did not create any problem commuting back to
> where I stayed.

> In 50s and 60s my father used a 64 car, then either
> 60 or 68 to commute to Homestead Works.  In 70s,
> he would use PAT for day shift, but usually drove
> his car for night shift and 4-12 shift.  The reason:
> reduction in transit> service in late evenings.

> It was a different world then.  Today I would not be
> surprised if most bus drivers drive their cars to work.

	I take my car because it is 12-minutes direct
to work.     I would need to take minimum of 2-buses,
3-buses would actually be fastest.

	Judah to 9th where I take the 43-line direct to
work but the 43 usually gets to 9th earlier to drop people
for the 43 so I have to wait for another.     And lrv
service only 10-12--minutes (PCCs were 6-minutes).
43-line goes thru Hate district, not exactly pretty part
of town.


	Take lrv to 19th, 28-line across GG-Park is like
express, and 38- or 1-line to relief point is much faster
than above although I usually walk to 19th because of
infrequent lrv service.     Best in summer.

> John
> 
> >From: Fred Schneider <fschnei at supernet.com>
> >Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >Subject: [PRCo] Rankin Car House
> >Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 18:51:30 -0500
> >
> >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.




<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Waiting for a bus is as thrilling as fishing,
    with the similar tantalisation that something,
        sometime, somehow, will turn up. 
            George Courtauld

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

James B. Holland

• Holland  Electric  Railway  Operation....... 
  "O"--Scale St.-Petersburg Trams Company (SPTC)
	Trolleycars and "O"--Scale  Parts
		including Q-Car
	mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net

• Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
	http://www.pa-trolley.org/
• Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),
	1930  --  1950
• N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190;
	http://www.nmra.org

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>