[PRCo] Fwd: Re: [LRPPro] Re: Pittsburgh 1948 - Part 2

[Bill]

--- In LRPPro at yahoogroups.com, stennyson at ... wrote:

  You describe the Pittsburgh Interurban lines very well. I rode them
seven days a week 1947-49 and rode them occasionally 1940 to 1943.  I
worked for the company that ran them 1947-49. 
   Plans for their abandonment were made in 1941.  The company went
bankrupt in 1938 when the National Labor Relations Board ordered  PRyC
to pay six days pay for five days work. (FD Roosevelt, an anti transit
politician if there ever was one) The City jumped into the federal court
proceedings managing the bankruptcy try- ing mightily to get bus
conversions, They did not want interurban conversion, They demanded PRyC
stay within Allegheny County to avoid any possibility of losses outside
their county.   
     From 1929 or so to 1938 Pittsburgh Motor Coach Compay ran a
Charlerori Bus line parallel to the rail line but at a higher fare and
via Donora and Monessen rather than direct.   Since that was outside
Allegheny County the bankruptcy immediately sold the Charleoi bus to
line to Blue Ridge Bus, a Hagerstown & Frederick Railway affiliate of
the power company there. Blue Ridge was an intercity bus company with
routes from Pittsburgh to Washington PA and DC both on the same route.
   Blue Ridge adjusted fares to encourage longer bus trips and
discourage short trips to speed service and boost revenue.  The
interurban was left with the short hauls of which there were many.  The
rail line earned only 20 cents per car-mile before gasoline rationing
but at 18 miles per hour that was $ 3.60 per car hour. The Motormen then
got 85 cents per hour (indiana RR motormen got 65 cents in 1936 when
they struck)  Motormen were 40 % of the incremental cost so the total
incremental cost was  $ 2.15 per car hour.  That would not replace the
cars or the  track. but it would preserve a little cash flow to pay
immediate bills.
   The management took the position that the Great Depression  was
temporary and revenue would climb about 25 % when    'normalcy"
returned. It did return in 1940 with Lend-Lease activity boosting the
steel industry, In 1942  we got gasoline rationing, Interurban travel
increased about 150 %, far more than city travel increased, (only 120%)
Peak hour trips were double headed and a few triple headed part way, Old
speeded-up city cars were used for trippers to Canonsburg and Riverview
Loop (New Eagle but signed Finleyville) The Office of Defense
Transportation shut the city up about any more buses. 
  The Route 37 Castle Shannon became a hybrid with peak hour and all-day
Saturday service to West Library. The cars made all city stops at city
fares and made all interurban stops Castle Shannon to West Library at
interurban fares.  The motorman had to know and handle both, About 1947
trial PCC cars were assigned to some of the interurban trippers with
cowcatchers, extra trolley pole, and B-3 trucks to permit faster
operation on rough track.
    At the height of World War II new rail was laid from Houston to
Washington PA greatly improving ride quality. Running time was
lengthened to permt more stops for more people who began to move in
along the lines between Washington Junction and Drake and Library
including me, A siding was added at Santa Barbara.The buses did not
appeal to these people. The Ruthfred Acres bus to Drake Road was on a
90-minute headway with a small bus. When Port Authority took over in
1963 they abandoned the bus.
    In 1949, the PCC cars were assigned to the Washington Line but
needed Trolley Phones to contact the dispatcher as block signals were
not reliable with PCC cars. The dynamic brakes did not clean the
wheels and rails enough to maintain perfect contact but the 1917 Brill
interubans were 31 years old and getting tired, Two had been lost in a
1941 head- on collision north of Drake Stop when an emergency brake
application put too much sand on the track insulating the car giving the
opposing car a green block signal to meet the sanded car on a blind
curve at full speed.  The motorman who saw the false green signal saw a
red intermediate signal at the blind curve and slammed the car into
emergency and moved his passengers back so no one was killed but one
motoram died pulling downed trolley wires out of the way.. One of the
passengers was Pittsburgh's weather man who had a lot to tell the media,  
     Back to 1948. after 25 years and a more than doubling of wages,
PRyC needed a 20% fare increase. They eliminated tokens and increased
inter- urban zones 20 %. The zones had been 5 cents with 3.5 cent script
tickets for 20. These went to 6 cents and 4.2 cents each for 20.  It
would not have been a problem except for the ever lovi'n federal
government.  The fare to Canonsburg and New Eagle was 35 cents and the
war required a federal tax of 15 % to discourage unnecesary travel. The
war and gaslonue rationing were over but the tax was not. Blue Ridge bus
had a tax exemption for commuter tickets as the law intended but Uncle
Sam said interurban script tickets were not commuter tickets so the
interurban was taxed but the bus was not, That made a 35 % fare increase
beyond 35 cents. Riders deserted in droves, I asked the CEO, VP and GM
(all the same man) why he did not copy Blue Ridge Bus commuter tickets
to avoid the tax. He said he needed the 20 % fare in- crease system-wide
and any change would bring city lawyers in to hold up the fare increase
as long as possible, A year after that with brand new "interuban" PCC
cars the interurbans took over the local Shannon service off-peak, 
   With the company in bankruptcy they paid no federal income tax which
was then 52 % to 90 % and paid no dividends so money piled up in the
bank until it reached a full year's revenue. When the Guggenheims on
Wall Street found out about that they bought up the bankrupt stock
cheap. The P.Ry.C Reorganization  Plan called for $ 14 million to go to
the creditors  and $ 14 million more to go into a Modernization Fund.
Twin City Rapid Transit also had such a fund and also brought Wall
Street raiders to destory th company to get the money but Guggenheim
used the courts to avoid going to jail like Larrick and Osanna did.
   Guggenheim sued for mismanagement but if it was mismanaged why did it
have so much money?  To finally settle the 12 year bankruptcy. they
agreed to give Guggenheim the Modernization fund and 49% of the
reorganized company's stock and the bondholders got 51 % of the new
stock and kept the management without the money.  In 1950, the company
went back to operate free of the bankruptcy court and in 1952 they cut
back to within Allegheny County as the 1941 Plan called for,  Interurban
tickets were discontinued and city fare zones were extended to Drake and
Library where new loops were built at the county line to turn cars back,
    There was no net post-war ridership decline on these lines as took
place almost everywhere else but there was a shift to more shorter trips
and no long ones,   
   LeRoy must watch as each zone on the interurban was another
passenger. They used zones as a surrogate for passenger- miles. There
were 18 zones to Washington, 28 miles and 22 zones to Roscoe 35 miles.
   Peak hour passengers out of Pitttsburgh im 1947 were 360 toward
Roscoe and 220 toward Washington. In Allleghey County that would be
about 3,600 weekdays on the Charleroi Line and 2,200 on the Washington
Line. Add 50 % for local riders in Washington County if no one has te
actual numbers which only a ride check could produce, 
                 E d      T e n n y s o n

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