[PRCo] Re: The day after thanksgiving

[Boris Cefer]

Do exist any great shots of snow trolleys from that winter?

I don't remember anything like what you described, Harold, but in early 1963
we had a snow calamity in Ostrava. From our group of 144 PCCs, no one
survived in service because of failed traction motors, accelerators and M-G
sets (filled by snow and salt) and buses from other parts of country and
army trucks had to move people from their homes to steel works and vice
versa.

Boris

----- Original Message -----
From: "Harold Geissenheimer" <transitmgr2 at earthlink.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>; <webster1214 at webtv.net>;
<scanlonm at samtrans.com>
Sent: Friday, November 26, 2004 1:20 AM
Subject: [PRCo] The day after thanksgiving


> Greeings to all
>
> Several days ago I reported on my experience of
> meeting John Dameron on the Friday that JFK
> was shot.
>
> Here is another Friday story.  It was the Friday
> after thanksgiving in l950.  I had moved to Pgh
> from New York in Feb 1950 and lived at 2865
> Glenmore Ave in Dormont  I was working as the
> Asst Mgr of Montour Motor Coach in Moon Run.
>
> Montour was a 20 bus property owned by Harrison
> Shields truck lines (36th & PRR in Lawenceville).
> They also owned Citizen's Transit in Oil City, a
> former streetcar operation.
>
> I did not have a car then so I used the trolley and bus
> to go to work.  I took the 38 down West Liberty to
> the Union Bus Terminal at Smithfield & Water streets.
>
> Like Thanksgiving, the day was overcast.  Snow started
> enroute on the trolley about 8AM..  Riding on the Montour
> bus to Moon Run thru Crafton showed snow increasing.
>
> By 9AM, Montour was putting chains on the buses.  Our route
> was out US22-30 across the Thornburg Bridge.  By noon
> it was really heavy snow.  (Editor-Pgh Rys buses used chains
> then also...no snow tires.)
>
> Even tho this was a big shopping day, downtown was shutting
> down.  We sent buses into downtown to bring people home.
> We had a bus off the road in Forest Grove.
>
> By 5 PM it was really bad and we were stopping service.
> But we still had two buses stuck beteen Oakdale and
> Quinn's corner.  Our mechanic decided to go over there
> and drain the water.  Like most lines then we did not use
> antifreeze.
>
> We managed to get there but could not go back to the
> garage.  So the passengers and drivers and the mechanc and I
> stayed overnight in a farm house.
>
> The people there were very nice and we gave them an
> annual bus pass.
>
> Saturday morning, the mechanic and I walked thru deep
> snow the mile to US 22-30 at Quinn's Corner.  It took
> awhile and when we got to the highway, we found it alsmot shut down.
>
> We hitched a ride on a snow plow back to the garage and then
> every thing stopped.
>
> I stayed Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues and Wed nites at a a driver's
> house in Moon Run.  Highway 22-30 was closed until Wednesday nite.
>
> I was eventually able to go downtown midday on Thurs and take
> the trolley home to Dormont.
>
> Quite an experience.
>
> Trolley service was shut down at  the same times.  There was no
> Parkway in Pgh then, the Liberty Bridge and Tubes were the
> only new highways.  Every where else, you followed the
> trolley tracks from downtown.  You could only go on
> local streets to reach the cityline..
>
> Rts 22-30 came thru Crafton and made a right turn on
> SteubenStreet to toward the Thornburg Bridge.  Every
> truck and bus had to go around the stopped Thornburg
> shuttle trolley.  This was really a problem in the snow.
>
> There was no TV and really not much news radio.
> Trolleys were stuck on all streets, lined up 5 or 6.
> The tracks needed to be dug out by hand.  In
> short nothing. moved.
>
> They declared an emergency and made downtown
> off limits.  They used the Guard to police the area.
> Tanks were used to deliver the milk and take care
> of medical emergencies.   Every thing really
> stopped until Wed.
>
> I was in the National Guard then but could not
> get to Oakland to the armory.
>
> It took days to get the trolleys  and streets back
> to normal.
>
> A record snow fall and many problems.
>
> Thats where I was on the day after thanksgiving
> in 1950.
>
> I was in NYC in December 1948 when there was a
> similar heavy snow.  The streets, trolleys and Els
> stopped.  But the subway ran.  I went out to
> Brooklyn and the Bronx to see what was
> happening.  It was good training for my 1950
> experience.
>
> Have any of you been stuck in a major snow?
>
> Harold Geissenheimer