[PRCo] Early loops

[Fred Schneider]

You guys are all grasping for an early loop to prove something ...

Here is one.   Pittsburgh Railways opened the loop at 62nd and Butler  
on November 16, 1915.   When that happened only the 4000s and 4100s  
were on the property.  The route cards for Aspinwall make no mention  
of PAYE cars being used.  They may have neglected to mention their  
use.   They do mention that the Guyasuta Bridge (in O'Hara Township)  
was condemned in 1917 because it could handle "large" cars.

Butler Street at the old Sharpesburg Bridge was probably a pretty  
congested location with 94 and 96 cars trying to run through and 95  
cars attempting cross over to cut back.

For the youngsters on the list, PAYE stands for Pay As You Enter as  
opposed to the older PW or Pay Within scheme.   Under PW fare  
collection, the conductor waited until you took a seat and then he  
approached you and collected your fare.   And you looked at him with  
a perfectly straight face from behind your hastily raised newspaper  
and said, "You already got my fare."   So the PAYE scheme evolved to  
catch the cheats.   The earliest designs had the conductor at the  
rear of the car as in the 4000s and 4100s in Pittsburgh.   Then  
Philadelphia (I suspect that Thomas Mitten might have held the  
patent) about 1911 came along and suggested that we can put the  
conductor at the front the car behind the motorman and collect make  
the stops on the near side of the intersection, hence the cars were  
called Nearside cars.   Because of Mitten's involvements with both  
Philadelphia and Buffalo, both had Nearside cars.   Then the  
Cleveland transit commissioner patented a scheme in which the  
conductor was placed in front of the center door and it was named  
after him:  Peter Witt.