[PRCo] Washington & Charleroi

[Matt Barry]

from, http://www.erha.org/timepoints/v7n1.htm
July 1953

1.  PITTSBURGH:  On June 10th we began our tour of the crumbling 
interurban system after some morning rush hour general photography.  
(See June TIMEPOINTS for the complete news story on the facts of the 
abandonments.)  At the time of our visit, both of the Charleroi and 
Washington lines were yet in operation for the entirety of their 
distance.  And one of the three local routes within Washington was still 
functioning, as it turned out three days before its demise.

 We rode Charleroi first.  This is the longer of the two interurbans 
main lines.

Service to Charleroi and to Washington was cut some months ago to hourly 
instead of half hourly, with the alternate trips terminating at the 
points where by the time this reaches our readers all service will be 
terminating.

In its full glory, the Charleroi line was a long and beautiful affair 
indeed.  Of course PCCs, which in recent years have entirely replaced 
conventional cars, slow the service somewhat (even though they operate 
at what for PCCs are good speeds), and also make it generally bouncier 
and less inviting.  A superficial appearance of being "streamlined" is 
no substitute for sold riding quality, as a ride on one of these routes 
will testify.

Western readers who know nothing of the East will be unable to imagine 
the luxuriant profusion of greenness which gives the interurbans their 
"scenery" in the summertime, nor the contrast between that and the bleak 
bareness of the same surroundings in long winter months.

The Charleroi line spends a good deal of its time on single track 
right-of-way plunging through verdant woods.  Occasionally it finds 
itself on the streets of a town; and even through the vistas of greenery 
the dingy ugliness of industrial activity may often be observed.

Outbound the trip is nearly all downhill, but there is a certain portion 
of the route that is far more spectacular in this respect than any 
other.  Between Monongahela and Charleroi the right-of-way suddenly 
confronts the Monogahela River from the top of a high bluff, turning, 
the line parallels the water in a rapid descent nearly to its level.  
Three spectacular bridges over ravines enliven the stretch; they are at 
least as high as the Fletcher Drive trestle on the PE Glendale line.

The Charleroi line does not end in the city of its title.  Instead it 
continues via side of the road running to a loop in rural territory near 
Roscoe.  Its entire length is thirty miles; and its recent abandonment 
on June 27 has deprived the railfan of a great deal of highly photogenic 
track.


Returning to Washington Junction, we proceeded to travel on the second 
route to Washington.  There is less of the spectacular to be found here; 
but the right-of-way, which is through agricultural rather than 
industrial scenery, provides many pleasant rural dips and rises and 
curves.  Washington, Pa., has long been famous as the home of a 
toonervillesque local system, one of the three lines of which was titled 
in homely simplicity, "East-West."  But it was later than twilight for 
the orange cars there when we arrived; dusk was at hand and final 
darkness delayed only long enough for us to ride the last remaining 
route, "Jefferson-Maiden," three days before busses of another company 
began serving its patrons.  After the PCCs the few "sawmills," as 
conventional PRys cars are known to the local fans, seemed extremely 
different and pleasurable.  We carried good full loads, for it was the 
evening rush hour.  Spartan wooden seats (no new thing for an Angeleno) 
and slow, grinding motors seemed to fit will into the atmosphere.  
Washington, Pa., had been, since 1951, the smallest American city to 
enjoy local streetcar service of its own.

We returned to Pittsburgh, boarding our PCC at the antique interurban 
station in Washington, into which the cars wye.  Darkness was falling, 
and we had spent an entire day on verdant rights-of-way, far removed 
from the hustle of the huge PCC system that blanks Pittsburgh itself.