[PRCo] Re: Allegheny Valley

[Edward H. Lybarger]

The flood did not do much damage to this line.  It was abandoned a year or
so later because of safety issues...the passing sidings encroached onto the
highway itself, so motorists naturally hit them...and it was all the
streetcars' fault, of course.  Newspapers took up the cause; the road was
called the "Highway to Death" in print (and on billboards, I might add!).

West Penn negotiated a buyout in which it collected $100,000 from all of the
municipalities through which it operated, then relinquished its franchise
(after PUC approval).  This did not approach the circa-$400K the company had
put into the line during the previous 10-12 years, but at least the cars
(which the street railway company did not own) went elsewhere to earn back
their investment.

The only West Penn line to quit because of the 1936 flooding was
Leechburg-Apollo.

Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org]On Behalf Of James
B. Holland
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 6:04 AM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Allegheny Valley


Hi Matt!


Was thinking about this while at work.       Didn't the flood of 1936
disrupt service severely?       I was under the impression that this
ended service because tracks were washed out.       If such was true
then the cars couldn't be moved this way.       Ed probably has this
information.       Maybe the flood just hastened the end.


Jim



Matt Barry wrote:

> Here is an October 2004 article on the Allegheny Valley streetcars,
> that I just discovered.
>
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/history/vignettes/s_2564
68.html