[PRCo] Re: The need for trolley cars....

[Shirley Tennyson]

  I went to Carnegie Tech in 1940 leaving my family's auto in New
Jersey. They kept it.
  I went nowhere except by trolley. In Dec. 1941, Pearl Harbor got hit
and in 1942 gasoline was rationed.  (Exception = I took a Model A ride
from Pittsburgh to New Jersey to save money but it broke down)
   I met my intended in May 1942. I had no car (other than street car)
I lived in the dormatory but did belong to a fraternity that had a
house. Few members had cars.
My new girl friend lived across the city on the North Side   and I was
at Schenley Park.  I got to know the owl street car schedules.  The girl
was a good sport. She never complained about having to travel by street
car.   She gave up an Air Force ROTC officer who had access to a  car.
We spent some late evenings at the fraternity house thern on the Forbes
Street (now Avenue) trolley to downtown and the #6 out Brighton Road to
Davis Ave. I would take her home there and go back for the owl cars back
to Schenley Park.  One weekend day time, we took the Bellevue car to
WestView and walked some country roads to Ben Avon and got the Emsworth
car back.  Another time we took the Charleroi Interurban to South Park
Road and walked to South Park for a picnic coming back after dsrk.  
   I was away in the service 1943-4-5 so we got married in 1944 when I
got my commission but still no car. We moved to Pittsburgh's South Hills
in 1947 with no car.  If we went  anywhere it was by interurban or peak
Library tripper until we had a baby   and a Pgh Ry friend drove us to
the hospital and later back.
  The baby went to church on the inter- urban, a 15-mile trip to
Shadyside  as my New Jersey minister was there and he was fisrt rate.
We accepted it as no big problem,  We  got our first car for our second
baby in Milwaukee in 1950.  I still use transdit and my wife sometimes
as  trips to airports and Union Station.
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