[PRCo] Re: Last Motorman on Verona Line

[Edward H. Lybarger]

But as far as PRC was concerned, the track removal was out of their hands
and that's how they marked the sketch.  They didn't care when Oakmont took
it up after they'd made the deal.  Shades of Trafford and West Penn, where
the railway generously donated the rail to the borough for the wartime scrap
effort.  I drove on that track in the 1970s.

The rail leading to the old viaduct is still in place under the asphalt on
the Verona side, too.  And it's really obvious where the Sandy Creek trestle
stood, even though none of the old buildings remain north of the R/W.

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of Fred
Schneider
Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 9:52 AM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Last Motorman on Verona Line

But the track that was removed by the borough of Oakmont was still the
streets in the 1950s.   They didn't do a stunning job of removal.   You
remember, Ed, that I grew up in Penn Township in Crescent Hills, about a
half mile above that famous bridge at Sandy Creek for which we have the
postcard image.   When I was a kid my dad pointed out to me where that
bridge was one day when we were walking down to the Allegheny River.   

And Oakmont?   Why for years dad had a barber over there.   I remember the
rails in the yellow brick street on the south side of and parallel to the
Allegheny Valley Railroad (aka PRR).   


On Aug 23, 2010, at 8:13 AM, Edward H. Lybarger wrote:

> There's even more to the story, and it's found in the PRC track sketches.
> And both the track sketches and the route cards are incomplete.  The 
> track through Oakmont was abandoned in two stages, and removed by the 
> borough rather than the company.  The northern extremity then was Plum 
> Street, just north of the viaduct.  Then it was cut back to Wildwood 
> Avenue shortly before abandonment.
> 
> All my notes, along with the Allegheny County and George Tucker photos 
> (all of which we located on a recent inspection trip) are in the route 
> file at the PTM Library.  The line was old, but it was early enough to 
> appear on the 15-minute topos, and appears in its entirety in the plat 
> maps.  What's probably not well understood is that for most of its 
> life, the line's southern terminus was not Wilkinsburg, but rather 
> Braddock Avenue, and Hutchinson Avenue was the southmost intersecting
street to which it ran.
> 
> Ed
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of 
> Fred Schneider
> Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2010 9:14 PM
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Last Motorman on Verona Line
> 
> As Paul Harvey said, and now the rest of the story.....
> 
> The newspaper story mentions cutbacks.   On October 19, 1935 service from
> Oakmont to Hulton was discontinued due to construction work and a bus 
> shuttle was instituted.  Then on August 16, 1937, due to construction 
> work on the new Oakmont - Verona viaduct, the cars were turned short at
Wildwood
> Avenue near Front Street in Verona.   
> 
> March 28, 1938 it becomes 78 Laketon Road transfer essentially what it was
> in 1902.   However, until April 2, when a crossover was installed, cars
ran
> along Robinson Blvd. to Dream City Hill to cross over and return to
> Wilkinsburg.   
> 
> 
> 
> On Apr 21, 2010, at 12:40 PM, Barry, Matthew R wrote:
> 
>> March 1938 - Buses replaces trolleys on Verona line 
>> http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KU0bAAAAIBAJ&sjid=D0wEAAAAIBAJ&d
>> q
>> =verona%20trolley&pg=3944%2C4674973
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>