[PRCo] Why was the Drake Loop Built?

[Fred Schneider]

In addition to being a picture of a switch, this picture is very  
interesting because it shows the Drake loop being built.   Pittsburgh  
Railways' intent was apparently to shorten the interurbans and get  
them out of Washington County where accident law suits always favored  
the plaintiff and never the railways company.   County Line Siding   
was roughly 10,000 feet south of Drake Loop.   The Loop was actually  
south of Drake Wye which was situated just south of Walther stop.      
At the time the rails were torn up in 1953 there were already a lot  
of new homes between Drake and Cremona Siding and Paris Lake stops.    
It was already substantially developed.

One look at the interurban revenue chart between 1945 and 1952 would  
have made you want to shorten it too.   At the end of the war the  
Railways Company was hauling more than 30 million passengers on the  
two interurban lines plus the Donora shuttle and the three Washington  
city routes.   By 1949 that had dropped to about 21 million.  In 1950  
it was about 19 million.   In 1952 it was down to 15 million.     
Remember guys ... this was small town and suburban America.   By  
1948-49 the auto manufacturers caught up to the pent up demand for  
cars after World War II and by 1949 they were advertising to women to  
buy a second car for the family so that they didn't have to suffer  
with the bus or trolley.     People like Mrs. Samuel Lybarger got the  
message ... ultimately there was a second car in their garage.   Ed  
can tell us if his mom waited until after the trolley line was torn  
up in 1953 or if she bought it before.

So it was obvious that the railway had good reason to shorten the  
interurbans to some point but where?  The picture is worth a thousand  
words.   The Drake viaduct was a 470 foot long maintenance nightmare  
that stood 44 to 45 feet above the valley floor at McLaughlings Run  
in Upper St. Clair Township.   Had it remained, the Port Authority  
would have no doubt been forced to replace it just as they did the  
three other viaducts along Saw Mill Run.   So much for not running  
the remaining 2 miles down to the Allegheny - Washington county line.

I think any manager who looked at what was happening would have done  
the same thing.



http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/03-Track%20Drake% 
20Loop%20Construct%201953xxxx%2001.jpg