[PRCo] Re: West Penn Railways 1950 on YouTube

[Barry, Matthew R]

Thank you.  I missed the 2 weeks ago email, sorry.

But, I hope we start to see more of these.  Very interesting.   Looks like the motormen stood most of the time on these rides!

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of Schneider Fred
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 12:25 PM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: West Penn Railways 1950 on YouTube

At the risk of being sarcastic son-of-a-bitch ... same line it was  
two weeks ago when the last person asked.    Irwin to Greensburg.    
The street scene at the very end is Otterman Street in Greensburg.

Those cars (286-297) were built for service in McKeesport.   When  
that division was abandoned, they were advertised for sale.  That is  
a pretty clear indication that West Penn didn't plan to stay in  
business for ever.   Not finding a buyer, the elected instead to  
scrap the wooden Stepenson cars that were 20 years older, and take  
the trucks from under those cars and place them under the newer  
280s.   The Stephensons had Brill trucks like the 700s.   The 280s  
originally had arch bar trucks like the Pittsburgh low-floor cars,  
much more suited for city streets.

Not all of the cars were converted.   Ed knows which ones were not.   
I think 294 and 295 were not.   Basically, those that were not were  
either spares in Greensburg or worked in Connellsville on the local  
line to South Connellsville.   The rebuilt ones worked the Greensburg  
- Irwin - Trafford line.

Trafford?   Yes, briefly.   Maybe a year from the time they were  
rebuilt until the line was abandoned from Larimer to Trafford.

On Feb 26, 2009, at 11:22 AM, Barry, Matthew R wrote:

> This is a West Penn Railways color video, quite good for 1950.    
> I'm just not sure which West Penn line this is?
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIGHcHeZwrw&feature=related
>
> Matt
>
>