[PRCo] Re: Home

[Fred Schneider]

Yes.    But Donora is in Washington County. It did not apply there.

There were attempts to clean up the atmosphere in Pittsburgh very  
early but it was not always politically palatable.   In fact the city  
office of the Bureau of Smoke Regulation was closed in 1939.   In  
1941, however the city passed a smoke control ordinance but several  
months later, in response to our entry into World War II, enforcement  
of this city law had to be postponed until 1946.   It applied  
initially only to factories but was extended, with some political  
difficulty, to private homes in October 1947 (because it required  
people to either convert to smokeless fuels (gas or oil) or use coal  
in conjunction with mechanical stokers.   In spite of protests from  
the Pennsylvania Railroad, which made a lot of money haul coal and  
who burned coal in prodigious quantities, a county-wide smoke control  
law passed the state senate on April 30, 1947.    The Pennsylvania  
Railroad had enough diesels to convert their Pittsburgh operations by  
1952, although Pitcairn Yard briefly saw steam again in the summer of  
1955.   The B&O had steam based in Pittsburgh right up to 1956.

What do I remember?   I was born in 1940 so not a whole lot.   We  
lived in those pristine suburbs where the sun shined.   The white  
paint on the house, according to photograph evidence, did turn gray  
in the space of a year, but as a kid I didn't know that.   But I do  
remember seeing a lot of buildings being sand blasted in the late  
1940s (including the Pennsy station).   They suddenly changed from  
"Ostrava Gray" to all sorts of bright granite and limestone shades.

Federal regulations came much later, again with the Republicans  
kicking and screaming.      ☺☺☺

On Oct 27, 2005, at 2:39 PM, Boris Cefer wrote:

> Wasn't there a "smoke control" in Pittsburgh in the late 40s?
>
> B
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <mtoytrain at bellsouth.net>
> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 10:23 PM
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Home
>
>
>
>>   Boris
>>   The "Smog" of Donora i was a 9 year old boy, I remember even to  
>> this
>>
> day, we were at a Donora High school  verses Monongahela High School
> football game and you could not see across the football field  
> because of the
> Smog, yes a neighbor died from it, you could hardly breather.  My Dad
>
>> was employed by the Donora Zinc Works which caused the problem  
>> along with
>>
> the inversion of the
>
>> air over the valley.  It was a bad time and that is what  
>> eventually closed
>>
> that steel city down and the rest of the Steel Industry in the Greater
> Pittsburgh area.
>
>>
>> Jerry
>>
>
>
>