[PRCo] Re: West Penn Street Car??

[Richard Allman]

John-as a small kid in early 1950's vaguely rememeber conductors on Route 13 
and 42 on Chestnut and Walnut Streets; 53? if you say so, since you do your 
homework more than I do, though think about it, even by 1950's that was a 
less heavy route than many others. 53 was the route that was the testing 
ground for first PCC's, Brilliners, etc. RICH
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Swindler" <j_swindler at hotmail.com>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2008 5:48 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: West Penn Street Car??


>
> What about two man cars on route 53?  Without digging out old issues of 
> Headlights, didn't PTC still have some conductors on the payroll into the 
> 50s - and maybe even 60s.  The dwindling number of conductors would be 
> assigned different routes based more on how many were still employed 
> rather then actual need.  This is just vague recollection very much open 
> to needed correction.
>
> John
>
>
>> Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2008 16:45:40 -0400> From: allmanr at verizon.net> 
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: West Penn Street Car??> To: 
>> pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> > Fred-not sure anyone would want the 
>> inch by inch narrative for Liberty Bell > line, thoough if there's any 
>> hue and outcry, I'll do it. Two man operation > in PA after 1951? Red 
>> Arrow Center Entrance cars and some West Chester rush > hour service as 
>> well carried a conductor, sitting right behind the motorman > on the drop 
>> seat. RICH> ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Fred Schneider" 
>> <fwschneider at comcast.net>> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>> Sent: 
>> Saturday, June 21, 2008 11:54 AM> Subject: [PRCo] Re: West Penn Street 
>> Car??> > > > The one titled Philadelphia with the red cars is not 
>> properly> > labeled. It is entirely Lehigh Valley Transit Company's> > 
>> Philadelphia Division circa 1950-1951. I recognized a lot of the> > 
>> locations but nothing, of course is in Philadelphia because after> > 1926 
>> the company never entered!
>  the city of Philadelphia and after> > 1949 the cars did not run south of 
> Norristown. I saw pictures on> > the South Allentown viaduct over the 
> Reading Company ... they may be> > the northern most pictures. Rich Allman 
> could easily give us a> > minute by minute diatribe on that film.> >> > 
> The one titled Reading shows the last remaining line of Reading> > Street 
> Railway. For those unfamiliar, most of the suburban routes> > were shut 
> down in the 1920s and 1930s owing to the usual lack of> > riders and too 
> many automobiles out on the farms. I think the Oley> > Valley Division 
> from Boyertown west toward Reading may have been the> > first casualty 
> about 1926. Birdsboro quit about 1932. The RSR line> > to Adamstown in 
> Lancaster County lasted until 1933, one year after> > the connecting cars 
> to Lancaster expired. The Lebanon Division was> > gone in 1931. The 
> Norristown operations were eradicated by 1933 ...> > that's SEPTA's 
> Frontier Division today. And most of the city of> > Rea!
> ding was replaced by buses in 1947. However, one route, from> > Readin
> g to Shillington and Mohnton remained because the company was> > seemingly 
> unable to break the 999-year lease with the Reading and> > Southwestern 
> Street Railway. The courts finally ruled in favor of> > Reading Street 
> Railway and the last poles were hooked down in January> > 1952. All of 
> that line was street running in the City of Reading and> > in the Borough 
> of Shillington. There was a short portion of side of> > the road operation 
> in Cumru Township, Berks County, between Reading> > and Shillington, and 
> it is illustrated briefly. But most of the> > private right of way you see 
> in the Reading film is between the south> > borough line of Shillington 
> and the town of Mohntown. Every other> > car ran beyond 16th St., 
> Shillington to Mohnton ... about every 20> > minutes as I recall. Today I 
> think it is 30 minutes to Shillington> > and hourly to Mohnton in spite of 
> a population three times larger> > than when the trolleys ran!> >> > Now 
> I'll ask one question. Don't you find it st!
> range that Reading> > was running those cars with two-man crews in 1951? 
> Outside of> > Philadelphia, it was probably the last operation with 
> two-men in> > Pennsylvania and without any doubt in my mind, the last 
> two-man cars> > in a small city anywhere in the United States.> >> > Oh, 
> the one quick snap of a steam train at the start of the Reading> > 
> flick... that was at 7th and Penn. Penn Street was the main business> > 
> drag ... t'aint no mo. Seventh Street was the mainline of the> > Reading 
> Railroad from Philadelphia to Reading. All of those> > buildings were torn 
> down in one of those ill-conceived urban ruinall> > schemes a few years 
> back. My last assignment with the state of> > Pennshylvania was at an 
> address called 625 Cherry Street in> > Reading ... the state office 
> building ... which was a brand new> > building in the eastern half of the 
> block surrounded by 6th, Penn,> > 7th, and Cherry. It butted right up 
> against the railroad. But by> > the time I got there, Conrail h!
> ad decided it wasn't going to run> > passenger trains on the old Readi
> ng that were not subsidized, and> > SEPTA made an offer to Berks County to 
> continue the service and Berks> > refused to pay saying it would help 
> Philadelphia. So across the> > street from me was the deserted old 
> Franklin Street Station.> >> > You should see the traffic coming in from 
> Reading every day on the> > Turnpike and on US 422.> >> > Thanks Jerry for 
> letting me see the Reading film. Brought back a> > lot of memories. Just 
> after we moved from Pittsburgh, that was> > briefly where we would go on 
> Saturdays afternoons to shop. Was only> > 25 miles from the house we 
> rented until we bought a place. I> > remember the Mohnton Streetcars. I 
> also remember steam on the> > Shamokin - Tamaqua - Reading - Philadelphia 
> passenger trains and on> > the Jersey City - Reading - Harrisburg trains. 
> Even remember pooled> > CNJ Pacifics on the Harrisburg service. Had we 
> been there just one> > year earlier, there would still have been a 
> Lancaster - Reading -> > Birdsboro - Coatesville gas car!
> .> >> >> > On Jun 20, 2008, at 7:30 PM, Jerry MATT Matsick wrote:> >> >> 
> Ed, Fred, Derrick - Is this in fact a film on the West Penn ?> >> 
> http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eIGHcHeZwrw> >> --> >> From the RIVER CITY 
> by the Sea!> >> Jerry "Matt" Matsick> >> J A C K S O N V I L L E, Florida 
> !> >>> >>> >>> >> >> > > >
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