[PRCo] Not Quite There Yet?

[Edward H. Lybarger]

Yesterday it was my pleasure to spend nearly four hours interviewing one of
last two living Wheeling motormen.  He is 85 and sharp as the proverbial
tack (the other gentleman is 97).  The good news is that he talked
constantly, and into a tape recorder for much of the time!
One of the items he gave to the museum is a Wheeling Traction Company
rulebook, dated 1924 and issued to him when he went to work for Co-Operative
Transit in 1942.  This was of great interest, since I have never heard of
the existence of, let alone seen a West Penn rulebook.  I thought perhaps
one from a related company would shed some insight, but I'm not sure...

Apart from three pages at the front, which appear to glued on before
binding, and a note on one of them giving the Wheeling printer's name, the
entire book contains absolutely no references to the company name or the
geography in which it operates.  The inside is completely and extensively
generic and was probably published and sold by a street railway supply
house, then bound locally with identifying additions as necessary.  The
headline typeface on the title page dates from the 1800s.  The text is
pompous, even for the 1920s:

"When a dead beat, by dint of dishonesty, avoids payment of fare, honest
people have to pay their own fare and the dead beat's fare also.  It is the
part of Conductor to detect and defeat dead beats."

So...I'm really no farther along toward tracking one down...or am I?  Could
Connellsville have used the same thing?  It's 293 pages long, including the
index!

Ed