[PRCo] Re: Overbrook Detour

[Herb Brannon]

Many things could force cars to detour either via the 42/38 or via the 35/36/37.
   
  One time I was working 36 and the car I was operating (forget # but was interurban 100-series) started making strange noises from the front truck. It was also bouncing far too much. I called Traffic Control and they told me to stop and inspect the front truck. I stopped just short of the crossover to the 38A switch (outbound side (southbound) switch so crossover had to be used to get into 38A when going inbound) and looked at the trucks. The track brakes were missing some of the items usually visible such as small springs, bolts, spacers, etc. I looked to the rear of the car and saw rubber bushings nuts bolts, etc. Traffic made me crossover to the outbound rail and take the switch up to 42/38 then back to SHJct for a car change. So a disabled or "crippled" car would be "detoured" to prevent a service stopping breakdown in the single track above Saw Mill Run Blvd.
   
  A single-track blocking breakdown in the Saw Mill Run area would cause 35/36/37 cars to use 42/38A such as the time I had the trolley pole wheel split and tear down the overhead just after I crossed the Saw Mill Run bridge.
   
  The reverse could also happen. The one awful February morning that the bus and the trolley collided with fatal results caused 42 and 42/38 cars to run via 35/36/37 and then reverse loop around Clearview or reverse wye at Dormont Jct and return via 38A and 35/36/37. Many 42/38 cars, that morning, were taken out of service and put away. Buses provided replacement service as best as possible until the track was cleared.
   
  Maintenance was normally preformed at night unless an emergency was declared. The line car was always working 11pm to 7am. They only had to deal with two cars on 42/38 and three cars on 35 and 36 during those hours. If it was late June or early July and I was working a late night run the usual operator on the line car, Ray Kotecki, knew I would be stopping for a few minutes either near the end of 36 or in the Saw Mill Run area when deadheading back to SHJct to pick blackberries. Yes, blackberries. They were nice large, sweet ones and were good eating. I would watch the berry bushes and would tell Ray when I would be stopping so he could work in a different area and I would not delay the overhead maintenance. Today you could not do that. Back in the 70s it was part of what made the job fun. Wire maintenance was an every night thing during good weather. 
   
  The 38A was just like any other single track with Nachod signals. You had to observe all the rules. I never had a problem. For a while the track was very bad. PATransit did upgrade the track in the mid-1970s and it wasn't too bad then. The real danger spot on 38A was the grade crossing with Castle Shannon Blvd. It had flashers but they never wanted to stop and give the right of way to the trolley. Finally the Castle Shannon Police started sitting there and giving out tickets to the auto drivers and realized they could make a lot of money for the borough that way.  
Mark McGuire <macmarka at netzero.net> wrote:
  I've been seeing some photos recently and in the past of Drake and Library cars running on the 42/38 line. The latest was in 1976 and shows a 35 car approaching Dormont Jct. from Mt. Lebanon. No link, but it's on eBay and the car is 1716 in yellow. 
Now I realize that maintenance had to be done occasionally on the Overbrook portion of the interurbans, but how often did this occur?
Does anyone have a schedule of maintenance that took place? I have heard bad things about the 38A line and its signals. Wasn't this an accident waiting to happen? 
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Herb Brannon
   
  Greetings From America's North Coast