[PRCo] Re: Why was the Drake Loop Built?

[Jim Holland]

Berry  Interesting.       Fred's original message never arrived here on 
the Left Coast but was obviously sent out via the list for Ed to reply!
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It should be mentioned that the Walther's / Drake Wye did not always 
exist;  it was built late in the life of the Washington Interurban to 
either shorten the travel distance for rush hour trippers  (which had to 
go to Canonsburg to wye)  O-R  it was built as a temporary turn around 
until the Drake Loop was built, with the latter reason being the most 
likely.
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Jim___Holland
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Edward H. Lybarger wrote:
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> I think, Fred, that those ridership numbers are zone fares rather than 
> actual passenger counts.       You may want to analyze the numbers 
> contrasted against the service...how many per day and how many per 
> trip...that should tell us which.       PRCo records do not.
>
> My mother bought a car in September 1949...she had places to drag me 
> that weren't served by the trolley.       But I went to elementary 
> school, starting in the fall of 1951, with lots of kids who lived in 
> one-car families.
>
> In addition to avoiding future maintenance on Drake Viaduct, which was 
> budgeted for re-decking in 1961 at an estimated cost of $19,000 (paint 
> was not mentioned), there was no good place for a turnaround loop 
> anywhere near County Line.       You might have squeezed one in at 
> Paris Lake but the creek was awfully close and the space was small.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:  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