[PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh Railways maps

[Fred Schneider]

I've mentioned this individually to a lot of people but probably  
never to the list.  I had an acquaintance in Pittsburgh named Charles  
E. Schauck ... sort of a second father.  At the time I was a  
practicing Presbyterian and so was that family.  He graduated from  
CIT about the same time as my dad and Sam Lybarger and also with a  
degree in electrical engineering.  He had two kids, a daughter my age  
and daughter my sister's age.  And it seems that every time I went to  
Pittsburgh I wound up out in Bethel Park in their home for dinner.    
Now the key connection ... Schauck was the final Superintendent of  
Power and Inclines for Pittsburgh Railways and the first one to hold  
post under the Port Authority.

Many times he told me different little tidbits of the financial  
condition of Pittsburgh Railways ... all sorts of things ranging from  
a suit with Duquesne Light Company because they were no longer using  
enough electricity and the one-time member of the family was now  
billing demand charges to what it was like to sit in on the annual  
budget meetings with Charles Palmer and have one item after another  
chopped from your budget.

That last statement should sufficiently illuminate why PRC only  
issued one transit map after the 1949 reorganization, or why some  
routes (62 Trafford comes to mind) had public timetables printed on a  
mimeograph machine.

I just can't remember when Donohue in P. R. first gave me a copy of  
the map but it was probably around 1954 or 1955.



On Sep 14, 2005, at 9:32 PM, Bill Robb wrote:


> Thanks Fred, Bob and Edward for all the information.
>
> Yes, this is the map with the 1700 PCC and the GM
> diesel on the cover. I checked, 63 Corey Avenue isn't
> on the map, neither is 12 Evergreen. But it does have
> the 206/216 Manchester Evergreen feeder bus so that
> narrows it down more.
>
> Bill Robb
>
> --- Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>> Pittsburgh Railways was not given to wasting their
>> breath telling you
>> where their trolleys and buses ran.  If you lived
>> there you knew.
>> I remember one map in the 1940s and another in the
>> 1950s.  If you are
>> talking about one with a 1700 PCC and a GM diesel
>> bus on the cover,
>> it was probably issued about 1952 - 53  and they
>> were still being
>> handed out in until stocks were depleted.  I know
>> they were still in
>> stock in July 1958.   I organized a fantrip in 1958
>> and we gave them
>> out to all the participants.   I think I recall
>> that, at one point,
>> they might have inserted a scrap of paper altering
>> the fares.
>>
>> It would take me more time to find a copy in this
>> "dump" than it
>> would just to offer you meaningful generalizations.
>> The diesel buses
>> were acquired to replace the Millvale and Etna cars
>> on Labor Day
>> 1952.  So you know it was after that.   I'm pretty
>> sure that the
>> interurbans are not on that guide, so that moves it
>> to after August
>> 29, 1953.   And that juncture, the logical point
>> would have been to
>> withhold release until after the last shuttle /
>> transfer routes were
>> abandoned ... the 12 Evergeen car (lower north side
>> via East Street)
>> was replaced by the Manchester - Evergreen bus (it
>> didn't go in East
>> Street but over the top of the hill), and that
>> happened in December
>> 1953.
>>
>> Your guess about the initiation of a 20 cent fare is
>> as good as any.
>> If 63 Corey Avenue in Braddock shows as a rail
>> route, it quit the
>> same day as the Washington interurban:  August 29,
>> 1953.   Of
>> course, you didn't mention Washington and I don't
>> remember that it
>> was on the map.  I thought the map came after that.
>>
>> fws
>>
>> On Sep 14, 2005, at 5:45 PM, Bill Robb wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> I was given a Pittsburgh Railways Transit guide by
>>>
>>>
>> a
>>
>>
>>> friend on Monday night.  There is no noticeable
>>>
>>>
>> date
>>
>>
>>> on the map.
>>>
>>> I've been able to narrow it down to between
>>>
>>>
>> 12/27/53
>>
>>
>>> and 1/1/56 by the 20 cent trolley and feeder bus
>>>
>>>
>> fare
>>
>>
>>> and the 25 cent cash or 5 ticket for $1.15 through
>>>
>>>
>> bus
>>
>>
>>> fare.  Using the March-April 1975 Motor Coach Age
>>> article on Pittsburgh Railways I can narrow it
>>>
>>>
>> down
>>
>>
>>> further to after 6/7/53 when the P&LE Transfer
>>>
>>>
>> went
>>
>>
>>> bus.
>>>
>>> Is there any hidden indication of the date this
>>>
>>>
>> map
>>
>>
>>> was issued?  I see a code at the bottom of the
>>>
>>>
>> front
>>
>>
>>> cover: 10316-26X.
>>>
>>> Bill Robb
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
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