[PRCo] Re: Road Salt

[dfc1 at alltel.net]

They still use cinders on my road here in Armstrong County.  Lots of black dust in the spring.

DF Cramer
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From: Fred Schneider <fschnei at supernet.com>
Date: 2005/05/26 Thu PM 12:04:51 EDT
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Road Salt

I can only give a partial answer.  PRC did have at least one old ACF bus with a
salt spreader therein.  Whether they used it on their own property or on public
streets is unknown to me.  Remember that there was also a lot of paved private
right-of-way in Pittsburgh.  I've not sure who had to do that.  I do remember
that PAT was ordered by the courts to build new highway bridges in places where
their older bridges had been decked for automobiles.

We moved out of Pittsburgh in 1949 ... the winter of 1948-49 was my last.   I
never saw salt but I vividly remember a man in the back of a dump truck with a
shovel ... he was tossing cinders out on PA route 80 in Penn Township.    One
might suspect that cinders, in those days, were cheap if not free to state and
township road crews.  Crushed slag and cinders all appear black against a white
show ... could have been either.

I'm not sure when salting became common.  Pittsburgh always has some snow in the
winter.   Here in Lancaster we can go several years between measurable snows,
then get it with a noreaster.  Sometime in the 1950s I saw salt.

Of course, Ken, this is asking a 65-year old demented individual to remember
what happened 50-55 years ago.

Ken & Tracie wrote:

> Well, my Imperial and my truck are a bit newer than my station wagon. Tracie
> is driving a '99 Toyota, so maybe she has the most sanity. Especially with
> gasoline at $2.50 per gallon.
> I would suspect the El Paso PCCs have/had some rust. Desert winds blow dust
> into nooks, crannies and crevices. During the rainy season, moisture gets
> absorbed by this packed in dirt, leading to some rust issues, but it is
> never as extensive as salt induced rust damage.
>
> When did Pittsburgh begin salting the city streets? Did Pittsburgh Railways
> apply the salt along car lines, or was this completely the responsibility of
> local government?
>
> I seem to remember somebody noting crushed slag was used for a time.
>
> K.
>
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DF Cramer
Teacher-Trombonist-Conductor