[PRCo] Re: Location for MWP curved-side picture

[Edward H. Lybarger]

All these companies at one time were owned by West Penn Electric Company,
the parent of West Penn Power, West Penn Railways, Monongahela Power,
Monongahela West Penn Public Service and Potomac Electric (Hagerstown &
Frederick).  Wheeling Traction was owned by WPE from 1912 to the bankruptcy,
when the parent refused to rescue the traction company.  The employees then
bought it and ran it as Co-Operative Transit Company.  Pan Handle Traction
was a separate subsidiary, set up to run the interurban to Steubenville.  It
lasted until 1937 or so, when its bonds came due and it was closed down.

If you have access to a public library with a historical collection of
Moody's Utilities Manuals, you can read about the changes as they unfolded.
We have a handful at PTM but not always the right years.  I'd like to
acquire a complete set but don't know how possible that is.

MWP consisted of the Fairmont-Clarksburg-Weston main line plus branches, and
the Parkersburg-Marietta line, which was run as more-or-less a separate
company.  WPE was much more interested in selling electricity in these
service areas and was content not to lose too much money running streetcars
until that became impractical!  About a year ago, Allegheny Energy
(successor to WPE) sold off the electric franchise in Ohio to American
Electric Power, ending a long run in Marietta.

CERA 110 is much more accurate about West Virginia operations than about
Pennsylvania's.  That doesn't make it any more detailed, though (Tell me
from reading it when Fairmont-Clarksburg-Weston was abandoned, for example.
HINT: It can't be done.), and I wouldn't call it good writing.

Ed



-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org]On Behalf Of
Donald Galt
Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2007 10:54 PM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Location for MWP curved-side picture


On 2 Jan 2007 at 13:08, Fredbruhn at aol.com wrote:

> Don't mess with Ed when it comes to identifying photos

As if!

I'm delighted to have the picture located. Wish I'd asked long ago.

I realise now that a little more tekking would have unearthed Wheeling's
Warwood line. And now I know what to look for, I see a picture of
Co-Operative
Transit's 32 on p.26 of the PRMA West Penn book. And a notation about
Co-Op's
31-51 series in the Wheeling Traction roster in CERA 110. Though not, I
hasten
to add, in the roster in the PRMA book. And nobody trusts CERA 110, right?

;-)

In any case, I'm going to plead justifiable confusion. I've never quite
untangled the relationships among West Penn, MWP, Parkersburg-Marietta,
Wheeling Traction (under whatever name) and Panhandle Traction. All but one
of
which ran Curved-sides.

AND I was seduced by the picture on p.138 of CERA 110 which I believe is in
fact MWP and which I took, apparently mistakenly, to be in the same general
area.

Anyway, thanks to both Ed and Fred for the wealth of material.

> You have been talking about colors at Tylerdale and this print sure
doesn't
> show Wheeling's colors very well.  The cars were orange and yellow, with
white
> "safety" ends in later years.  However in later years the grime and smoke
from
> the valley gave them the same color fading that Pittsburgh had.
>

The Co-Op pictures on PRMA pp.25-27 show (apparently) all orange below the
belt
rail and all cream above at least to the window tops. My 33 is obviously
painted differently. Faded or not, more cream would have been prettier.

> Portions of the wye at 10th and Main in Wheeling are just starting to pop
up
> through the asphalt.  If you know the line, the curve in North Main where
the
> line both went from double track to single track and moved off the highway
can
> be figured out, and almost the entire line is now a bike trail and can be
> ridden.  I must
> do that sometime.

Looks like time for another field trip!

Don G