[PRCo] Re: The complexity of Pittsburgh back when

[John Swindler]

51 was a Carson St. short turn at 22nd St. according to 1923 Lewis guide to Pittsburgh.  50 turned at 30th St.  52 was via Tenth St., Carson to 36th St.  All went to CBD.  Later 51 was used to designate Bon Air shuttle and 52 because just the 36th St. shuttle.
 
The 1917 Transit study lists 117 route 50 trips into the CBD between 5am and 12:30 am.  It also lists 104 route 51 trips.  But 51 was one of those route numbers that migrated, in this case to Bon Air.  Likewise 9 migrated, 77 migrated, and 65 migrated.  Also 78 migrated from South Highland via 5th to Oakmont.  
 
I wonder if the two digit numbers were an attempt at an economical way to make sense out of car assignments on the PRC crazy route system during 19-teens.  Economical because of ease of assigning car to different service.  Maybe the problem wasn't in how to designate a car on an outlying shuttle route.  The problem was how to designate a transit service in the CBD.  There were too many different services.  
 
John
 
> From: trams2 at comcast.net> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> Subject: [PRCo] Re: The complexity of Pittsburgh back when> Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 14:41:44 -0400> > 51 never went downtown. Fred and I are discussing it on the phone as I send> this.> > -----Original Message-----> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of Fred> Schneider> Sent: Friday, May 23, 2008 5:20 PM> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> Subject: [PRCo] The complexity of Pittsburgh back when> > When I first journeyed to East Berlin (it was East Berlin in our vernacular> and just Berlin in the language of the D. D. R.) before the wall came> tumbling down, I was amazed by the multiplicity of tram > lines. A huge apartment complex would have routes going to all over > the city so that people didn't need to transfer. You just came out > of your flat and waited five minutes and the car for your destination > would be along. Well, as automobiles came to eastern German after > the reunification, people learned to make do with longer streetcar headways> and to transfer like the rest of the "free world."> > Looking at the Pittsburgh Railways route cars shows PRC operated a system at> one time not at all unlike what I had seen in Berlin in the > 1980s. Only in Pittsburgh it was in 1915 and earlier. Are we to be > amazed at how far behind they were in communist east Germany? Or > how far behind we are? Something to think about. It does not > require an answer.> > Virtually every street in the core section of Pittsburgh's east end > had multiple routes. Highland Avenue had the North and South > Highland lines. North Highland went from Highland Park into > Pittsburgh via Ellsworth, Center, Craig and Forbes. South Highland > went from Highland Park the entire length of Highland over to 5th > Avenue and into town. And there was also the Negley - Highland line > which ran on Ellsworth. There three or four different lines on > Ellsworth before 1915.> > Now remember that 75 Wilkinsburg line? It evolved out of 703 West > Wilkinsburg via 5th and Penn and 704 West Wilkinsburg via Penn. Both > 703 and 704 ran over Penn Avenue from Wilkinsburg to East Liberty. > Then 704 shared Penn Avenue in through Lawrenceville and the Strip District> with the East Liberty Express route. And 703 ran over Ellsworth and 5th> Avenue. What was 75? Well that was 718 which was part of 703 and part of> 704 after August 25, 1918.> > At one time there was enough business between Wilkinsburg and Wilkinsburg> Junction (Forbes and Braddock) that three routes ran through there: 64, 66> and 78.> > I wonder how many of you realize that many or most of the shuttle routes> actually ran into downtown Pittsburgh at one time and they were shortened> because there simply were not enough customers.> A good example was the neighborhood on Charles Street on the North > Side. I remember PRC running a 7 Charles - PRR Station car. They > eventually gave up running it up to 11th Street because there just > wasn't enough business, and then they gave up altogether. Some of > you remember a 9 Charles car that shuttled from Perrysville and > Charles to the end of the 7 line until the early 1950s. But how > many know that 9 was once Charles via Perrysville from dawntawn while> 8 ran to Perrysville and East Streets?> > Route 17 Reedsdale was a remnant of another through route. Once the > Manchester Bridge got route 20, the shuttle on the lower north side was> created to connect 20 with North Side business districts it once serviced.> > 51 Bon Air had through service to downtown at one time. The 52 line > -- the shuttle at the end of East Carson Street -- was once served by Carson> via 10th St as opposed by route 53 Carson via Smithfield Street.> > (See, once in a while Fred will post a Pittsburgh message.)> > > > > > 
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